Blue Mountains

In the last few days that my parents are in Sydney, we had to take them to some more sights. So we drove to the Blue Mountains. Because we have visited the Blue Mountains a few times before, we tried to find some new spots to visit.

We had coffee and cake in Leura. Then drove to some nice viewpoints (Evans lookout and Govetts leap). After that we drove to the Jenolan Caves, being the oldest discovered open caves in the world.  We took the drive back via the northern route (the Bells line of Road). All together it was a 400km drive.

 
Govetts Leap

Jenolan Caves

    
Imperial Caves

Just some of the Blue Mountains countryside

Melbourne

The Easter weekend we went to Melbourne with my parents.

Friday

Friday we flew into Melbourne and drove to Philip Island to see the penguins come to shore. Unfortunately it's not allowed to take pictures there, so you'd have to come see for yourself.

    
Cowes and the Philip Island coastline

Saturday

Saturday was a day in the city, shopping and seeing the sights. In the afternoon we went to see Aukje (see my separate post).

Mum and Dad at the Yarra river

Sunday

Sunday we drove quite a bit of the Great Ocean Road. The weather was quite good at the beginning of the trip, and we managed to see a few koalas in the wild. Unfortunately we had some showers in the late afternoon, so the 12 Apostles where a bit wet.

    
The Great Ocean Road and wild Koalas in Otway National Park

 
Cape Otway Lighthouse

Monday

Monday was reserved for sleeping in, more shopping and a trip to St. Kilda beach.

a Dutch visit

This Saturday we visited our friends Aukje and Arthur and the girls, who now live in Pakenham-Upper (near Melbourne). We admired their big house and even bigger garden, knowing that they will move to the place they recently bought soon, which is even bigger! We had a cuddle with the chickens, watched the feeding of the snake and Aukje cooked a lovely Ossobucco. We had a lot to chat about, and left in total darkness, back to our hotel in Melbourne. Be sure to read Aukjes Blogpost about our visit (in Dutch).

 
Arjan cuddling the Chicken!

 
The house and the grounds

The snake!

 
Tjits serving the Sticky Date pudding

Parents Visiting

Thursday the 13th Hans' parents arrived in Sydney. We spent the first day getting them acclimatised and up to speed. Over the weekend we took a car from the car-sharing plan out. Saturday to the Hawkesbury river region, Sunday to The Royal National Park and Wollongong.

 

The first breakfast.

     
The Hawkesbury river.

 
Wattamolla Beach

 
Sea Cliff Bridge

 
Wollongong Beach

Bike Stolen !

Friday we discovered that my brand new bicycle was stolen from the buildings basement. Hopefully our insurance will provide cover for that. Although we are used to bikes getting stolen in Amsterdam, I never had one stolen over there.

Mardi Gras 2008

Thousands of revellers turned out to help celebrate Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras's 30th anniversary. The parade had over 10.000 participants spread out over 150 floats. The parade started at Hyde Park and went all along Oxford Street and Flinders Street. It took almost 3 hours for all the floats to pass by. Since we had media passes, we could see and photograph the floats and its participants from within the fenced off area, so a great opportunity to see it all up close.

Some of the highlights in the parade where:

• The 78'ers, people who joined the first parade 30 years ago in 1978 and were arrested by police;
• Craig and Shane, two boys that were recently abused and bashed in the area after holding hands;
• World famous comedian, Margaret Cho, the Chief of Parade;
• Our Lord Mayor, Clover Moore;
• The Australian Defence Force, the first time they were allowed to join the parade, but not in uniform;
• The NSW police and fire brigade;

   

 

Some of our friends from Amsterdam
where here in Sydney for Mardi Gras.

     

    

Our Lord Mayor,
Clover Moore was also in the parade.