Whales in Woollahra

Sunday was a perfect Sydney winter day: cool and sunny, with a brilliant blue sky. On winter days like this, water in the harbour is extra beautiful, so we went for an afternoon adventure in the eastern suburb of Woollahra.

Woollahra is about a 20 minute bus ride from our apartment. We didn't have a plan beyond jumping off the bus and doing some wandering alongside the oceanside walk. So when we got off the bus, we walked through the neighbourhood for a while before getting to the edge of the land.

Even in winter, there are plenty of flowers

From the bus route, we cut through some residential streets to the Macquarie Lighthouse and the cliffside walk that is beside it. 

The cliffside walk goes along the water, and once we got up to it, we saw lots of boats out in the water. Around this time of year, Humpback Whales and Southern Right Whales migrate up north form the Antarctic feeding grounds and go to right along the east coast of Australia. So it's a good bet that when boats are gathered in a clump outside the harbour, there's some whales to be seen!

And sure enough, there were at least a few whales out in the water breaching. We stood and watched for a while, and our patience was rewarded with some coming in really close to the shore. We would first spot them by their spouts, but the closer ones we could easily seem them breaching above the water. Unfortunately, I didn't get any great pictures of them with my phone camera. =/

We watched the whales for a while, and then we headed further up the path, through the sport fields and back toward the bus route. 

The succulents are loving the sun

Before we made our way back to the bus stop, we explored the South Head Cemetery, on top of the hill. It's a mixture of really old gravesite, and some from the 90s. It's a peaceful spot, with views back out to the ocean and the whales. 

And then we caught our bus back home. 

On the alert for the bus

Not on the alert for the bus

It was a short but happy winter afternoon adventure, and our day was really made by the whales sighting! I hope they have good journeys up north, and maybe we'll see them with their calves in a few months!

Canberra times - Part 2

The second half of our time in Canberra was just as full as the first part. Some might say too full...

Too much walking, too little food

But any reasonable person would say it was just the right amount of things to do. I even managed to fit in a Saturday afternoon nap at the hotel - that's what weekends away are for, right?

Canberra continued to be mostly empty...

But then an event happened right next to our hotel that seemed to bring all the Canberrans out! It was a food truck festival during the afternoon and evening of Saturday. It brought out more people than we'd seen all day.

Toby said it was like an anthill had been kicked over, and he wasn't wrong. But we went out and joined the crowds. It was a perfect surprise activity, as there were lots of local farms, wineries, and restaurants at the event.

Everyone was feeling much better after getting some snacks at the festival. It held us over to dinner, which - turns out - you have to book a table for. It was strange that for such a quiet down, EVERYONE comes out for dinner! Luckily a nice server let us sit at a reserved table if we promised to leave within 60 minutes!

The next day we checked out of the hotel and headed to the weekly Old Bus Depot Markets before we headed out of town.

But along the way, we drove through the Kingston suburb - photo stop!

The markets, as the name suggests, are held every week in a big empty building that used to be the old bus depot. They also seemed to be a big draw for the locals: we got there right as they opened, and when we left, there wasn't a parking spot to be seen!

But the markets were fun. There were lots of local food vendors and people selling the usual crafts and such.

Market time!

Right next door to the bus depot is the Canberra Glassworks. It's located in the old power house building. In this picture, you can see how they've redone part of the old smoke stack: the brick was replaced with glass to tie the new use of the building to its history. 

Inside the glassworks, there are big areas dedicated to different types of glass work. We stood for a while and watched some people taking a glassblowing class. And then we could walk through the other studios with other classes happening too. It was really interesting!

Displays for all the non-craftspeople to look at in the working areas

A work station in the studio

Some Aussie humour in the bathroom

Before we left Canberra, we walked down to the lake. Lots of people were out on the nice Sunday morning, and the lovely lakefront was perfect for a morning walk. 

Then it was time to head back down the road to Sydney!

But we did make one final stop on our weekend of fun! About an hour out of Sydney, we pulled over for a roadside sign of "best Riesling in New South Wales." I'm not sure we'd agree with that, but our little winery visit was fun!

This is how you get the credit card machine to work in the country

Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

It was a great weekend adventure!

Canberra times - Part 1

After the craziness and busyness of the last few months, we decided that this winter should be a little more low-key. We want to take a beat, enjoy Sydney and areas nearby, and mostly chill out a bit at home. So this weekend we rented a car and took the three hour journey inland to the ACT: Australia Capital Territory.

The ACT is pretty much like Washington DC. It's technically a state, but it mainly consists of the capital city, Canberra. And even though Canberra is the capital, it's not very populated. It's the eight largest city in Australia, which is really saying a lot about how small it is. Mostly people live there because they work for the government, so visiting on a weekend can be an interesting experience. There are massive roads, tons of museums, and huge green spaces, but often no one else to be seen. T loves Canberra, and I think this is why.

Wide roads, no traffic

Basically zero crowds at any given museum

There's lots of public art in Canberra - primarily visited by wildlife

We went to Canberra a couple years ago around this time of year and went to a truffle farm to watch them harvest truffles. This time, we thought we might focus on some of the museums and galleries in the city. But we really went without much of a plan: besides relaxing and see what the weekend brought us.

First up on the Saturday morning after our arrival was to head over to the National Museum of Australia. It's a free museum that does a great job of capturing the key parts of Australian culture: the nature & wildlife, Aboriginal history, European history, and how Australia culture has evolved over time with all those influences. It was really well done and we both loved the Aboriginal exhibit the most.

National Museum of Australia 

The Uluru Line: symbolically connecting the museum to Uluru

Inside the museum foyer

Part of the Aboriginal portion of the museum: message sticks

It wouldn't be Australia without some slightly weird things. Like the wool of a sheep who was lost for three years and set the record for wooliest sheep once he was found.

We also booked tickets for a VR experience, where we could watch a David Attenborough documentary made for VR. It was a little surreal, just sitting in a room with a bunch of strangers and then putting your goggles on. Maybe this is the museum of the future?

Even though it was a little odd, we really liked the experience! Part of the film was about the Great Barrier Reef, so it was fun to feel like we were diving there and experiencing it again.

We'd planned to rent bikes and bike around the lake in the afternoon. But that day was the coldest day of the winter, and T wisely said it would be too cold to be fun. So we just had a stroll by the water instead.

The view really was pretty without our weird faces in it.

While we were nearby, we checked out a couple other public places. The kids discovery museum, Questacon, is a huge draw in Canberra, and it was a shock to the system after being in the quiet National museum. We didn't have the courage to actually go through it, but we walked around outside. 

We also checked out the Treasures Gallery and the National Library of Australia. Again, there wasn't a line to get in the door, but it was an interesting place. The "treasures" were mostly historic documents, but we did see a writing desk used by Captain Cook. And, no surprise, one of the Olympic Torches from the Sydney Olympics. 

View from the steps of the Library 

More to come....