DIARY

I think my poor husband has enough for a while of me always editing and uploading pictures for new blogs. I finally managed to put a stop to inserting pictures about our recent trips, the trips when we went about in this rental car. I am happy now that the task is finished even though it was great fun doing it. Writing about where we had been and what we had experienced is really good for refreshing memories. And to look at all the pictures really does help to remember more and more.

Yes, Peter for sure doesn’t like me to spend too much time with the computer. He always urges me to do something else. Ah well, I think we’ve been doing a few other things recently besides spending time with the computer. And for beginning of next week three more trips are planned: Two to Sydney and one to Warrawong. But more about this some other time.

Wishing now everyone a very good weekend!

A town called Hay

We had come from Gundagai along the Hume Highway. After a little while we turned into Sturt Highway where we went past Wagga Wagga. Then we reached Narrandera for our overnight stop. The next morning we were on our way along Sturt Highway towards the town of Hay. Before we left Narrandera we had to make sure that we ended on the right Highway, for we noticed all of a sudden that our motel had actually been on the Newell Highway and not on the Sturt Highway. There was a beutifully situated Information Centre on our way out where we found some toilets or should I say some facilities?

Arriving in the town of HAY — Arriving in the town of Hay.

This building in Hay is still being occupied by a bank as far a we could tell.

It was such a beautiful morning with a clear blue sky. We sat outside this shop were we were being served a nice cup of tea..

Above the shop counter it said: “Bringing the tastes of an outback experience to you.” So this was an outback experience. They also wanted us to enjoy

a long paddock experience whatever this is!

We thought this balustrade looked magnificent.

And here some displays in a shop window:

So it looks like that Hay is just a few years older than NARRANDERA!

Before we left Hay we had some gelato in a place that was crowded with seniors. It looks like a lot of retirees live in Hay. They told us more and more come because properties are still very affordable if you compare it with what you have to fork out for a place in a coastal town. They have just opened a hospital in Hay that is especially geared towards the needs of elderly people. But if you need an operation you have to be transferred to another town. This hospital in Hay doesn’t cater for operations.

NARRANDERA

We were in Narrandera on the 10th of April. So we missed out on the big celebrations. However it was quite interesting to have a look at this 150 year old outback New South Wales town where we stayed overnight in a motel.

This bakery opened at 7 in the morning. We had a lovely breakfast there.

These stood for sale in front the Chemist Shop.

This is the motel where we stayed for one night.

I guess the motel has been named after this monstrous tree.

Now, these roots tell you something about the size of the tree.

Peter ponders this section where obviously a branch was cut off that had been obstructing the neighbour's drive-way. — Peter ponders this section where obviously a branch was cut off that had been obstructing the neighbour’s drive-way.

This motel is situated right at Newell Highway. Till 2 am there was a constant stream of trucks going along this highway. I would wake every couple of hours as I heard the roar of the trucks. But I always went straight away back to sleep because I still was very tired.
When I woke at 4 am there were no more trucks. But I had enough rested by then. Peter had even woken up before me and had taken this picture:

Peter claimed he had never heard any trucks. So he slept well from about 9 pm to 4 am. After a good breakfast soon after 7 am at the NARRANDERA BAKERY we were on our way again heading towards the town of HAY.

Dog on the Tuckerbox

The Dog on the Tuckerbox is an Australian historical monument and tourist attraction, located at Snake Gully, five miles (8 km) from Gundagai, New South Wales.

After our breakfast stop at Moss Vale ‘The Dog on the Tuckerbox’ five miles from Gundagai was our next stop.

At this FRESH FOOD CAFE we bought some local produce, for instance prune jam and honey.

Along the Hume Highway we had seen a few windmills.

Our Rental Car

How wonderful it was to have this rental car for a period of twelve days! What did we do with it? On the pick-up day, Tuesday 9th April, we travelled in it around locally. The following day we started our big trip through the outback of New South Wales and from there into the state of Victoria, where we first stayed at Mildura and then we travelled on to Melbourne.

On Wednesday, 10th April, we started before sunrise. We went up Macquarie Pass. Macquarie Pass is an 8 kilometre long section of the Illawarra Highway passing through Macquarie Pass National Park. It was opened in 1898. It is a very winding steep road through this beautiful National Park. Peter knows this section well for he travelled up and down this path every day when he worked at Robertson Station which is at the top of the escarpment. We went through Robertson on the way to Moss Vale. Moss Vale was our first stop. We had a lovely breakfast up there on that Wednesday morning.

There’s one picture of Moss Vale Station. The train from Sydney stops at Moss Vale on its way to Melbourne! We took a few pictures in the vicinity of the station. First of all we went to have some breakfast not far from the station where we stopped.

Inside the cafe where we had breakfast were some remarkable posters. The service was very friendly. The owner agreed to have his picture taken by me.

A beautiful restaurant near Moss Vale Station

Travelling around in the Illawarra

Today is already the first of May. There are still some more pictures of last month I wish to publish. Right now I am going to publish some photos we took on Tuesday, the 9th of April, the day when we picked up our rental car in Wollongong. At Austinmer Beach we stopped for a cup of coffee.

This is the place where we had coffee right opposite the beach.

There's a Swimming Pool at Austinmer Beach. — There’s a Swimming Pool at Austinmer Beach.

And here I am being photographed with a happy young woman from China!

This young woman had come with a whole lot of other people from a tourist bus that stopped near the beach just for a few minutes. This friendly young woman asked Peter to take some pictures of her. And she also wanted to be photographed together with me!

After this interlude we drove further up north. There is this little beach that we can always see from the train on the way to Sydney. We stopped briefly near that little beach and then we went up to Bald Hill where we could see this little beach from the top and we could also see the Sea Cliff Bridge.

This is near that little beach where we had just stopped the car.

From Bald Hill we had a great look at the little beach.

The Sea Cliff Bridge as seen from Bald Hill

On that Tuesday we also went from Bald Hill up the escarpment to Bulli Lookout where we had something to eat at the Cliffhanger Cafe.
All these places are in our area. We were back home in the afternoon and started getting ready for our big trip away from home. We were away from home for ten nights (eleven days). Peter saw to it that we could have a rest after every two hours of driving. This rental car was pretty new and more powerful than our small thirteen year old car that Peter usually drives. I was glad that we hired this rental car for our big trip. It made for much better longer distance driving. I am afraid we took an awful lot of pictures during our trip. So there are still some more to come in my next posts!