But when does it stop? It just keeps on pouring, pouring . . .
I hope it won’t keep raining like this next month when my brother Peter Uwe and his wife Astrid are going to be with us. I am very much looking forward to their visit from Germany. Yesterday Peter and I drove up to Mt.Keira. The rain had stopped for just a little bit and Peter could take some pictures with his phone. After a while he also took his tablet out and took a picture with that. We were thinking we could take Peter Uwe and Astrid to the top of Mt.Keira. This should be an interesting outing for them to see the Wollongongs coastline from up there.
View of Mt.Keira from Wollongong Hospital: I took this picture last week when Peter was in Wollongong Hospital for an operation.
When we first came to Australia people told us that they would say it’s raining ‘cats and dogs’ when there were extremely heavy downpours. Well, today it has been raining ‘cats and dogs’ quite often, then there’s some drizzle, then it stops for a while, but not for long, and then it starts all over again. Not a good day for doing my washing . . .
We spent a bit more time on the walking tracks of Mt Keira. The next lookout was totally closed off too. But the sculptures we were looking for were all there. We rested on some rocks. Peter discarded his long distance glasses on one of the rocks while he was busy doing something with his camera. When you have a very close look at one of the pictures, I think you can make out the glasses. But they are really hard to see.
After we had walked back on another very even track to where our car was parked and Peter wanted to put on his glasses for driving, he couldn’t find his glasses. He figured out that he must have left them on this rock near the sculptures where he had been sitting. So he went back all the way. Sure enough the glasses were where he thought they might be. And he assured me that they were awfully hard to see on the rock. Interesting that later on in the photo I could barely make them out. They absolutely blended in with the rock!
Back to the sculptures now. while we were sitting there a man with two kids appeared. The kids were full of beans and straight away started climbing around on the sculptures. They were overjoyed that they had found them. Apparently their Dad had told them they would be looking for the pyramids. And there they were in all their beauty! It didn’t take them long to look around. Soon all three of them disappeared again on another walking track.
So this big lookout to the Five Islands was closed off too. Nothing we could do about this. We sure didn’t want to risk falling down the cliffs!
After Peter had found his glasses again we could leave the mountain. Our way back led us along the Freeway. The Nan Tien Temple is close to where we had to pass. We hadn’t visited this temple for a while. So I suggested we could stop there for a cup of Chinese tea. Reluctantly Peter agreed. But a cup of tea doesn’t cost all that much, right? – Wrong.- We ended up each having a great vegetarian meal as well. The meal was excellent and, I think, really worth the expense. It’s just that Peter wants to save up for our trip to Germany. This trip starts in about three months! We really have to try a it harder to save some more money.
At the temple we took heaps of pictures again. This time we didn’t enter the temple. Walking around the gardens outside there were lots of motifs for taking pictures since the gardens are full of sculptures. We went along a way which leads the the Pilgrims’ Lodge. This is a place were ‘pilgrims’, that is visitors to the temple, can find overnight accommodation.
All in all, we had a truly lovely day. Afternoon coffee we had at home with Danish Apple cake, a frozen cake that we baked for half an hour in our oven. The oven warmed up our kitchen. And the cake was delicious.
Can you see the glasses on the rock?
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At the cafe at the foot of the Buddhist temple we had a lovely meal.
Peter took this picture in the cafeI took quite a few pictures inside the cafe
Quite a few ornaments were for sale
Looking out through the glass doorsWhen we arrived we noticed the walkways were a little bit wet, but the rain had stopped already.
Where is Peter?The cafe is downstairs on the left of this picture
From where Peter sits he can look at the big staircase to the templeThere’s a roof above Peter’s seat
I sat next to Peter and took a few more pictures of the steps
Lots of sculptures greeted us along the way
Further up is the entrance to the Lodge
Calm waters in an autumn landscapeBack to where we came from
It’s actually called a ‘Tea House’ not a cafe. But you can have coffee also.
Walking along a secluded way back towards the carpark
This is what we saw first on the way in from the carparkPeter noticed some fish in that pond on the way to the lodge.
Today in between uploading these pictures we had a nice soup for lunch as well as coffee and the rest of yesterday’s cake, which was delicious warmed up a bit and topped with custard.
Thanks to Peter for letting me use some of his photos.
Here in Australia the month of June is the beginning of winter. With sunshine during the day the winter can be quite pleasant. However yesterday it was totally overcast and showers were forecast. Early in the morning Peter and I walked up to the newsagent to get the paper for the weekend. I mentioned to Peter I would like to walk a bit in clean fresh mountain air. I suggested to drive up to the highlands. Even if there was no sunshine it would be great to walk for a bit up there. Peter hesitated to agree. Then he came up with a compromise. He suggested to drive up to Wollongong’s Mt Keira. I happily agreed, that yes we could go there for a walk.
One of the tracks up there turned out to be a bit difficult for me. Peter frequently had to help me out along rocky steps. His strong hands gave me support. At one stage he drifted off a bit to take pictures of some wild flowers. I looked around. Suddenly I noticed a huge stick in the bush. It looked like some one had dropped it there for it didn’t seem to fit in the surroundings. I picked it up. It looked to me to be suitable as a walking stick, even though it was a bit long. It was easy to grab. I was very pleased with its very strong white wood. When Peter saw me with it, he wanted to take a picture straight away. Then he said he would like to put it on Facebook.
Uta with walking stick. It reminds Peter of ‘Rübezahl’s Stick’
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When we arrived at the top of Mt Keira we noticed that the restaurant/kiosk up there had changed owners again and was still closed. It didn’t look to us as though it was going to be opened some time soon even though a sign told us it was going to be under new management in mid 2012.
It didn’t look to us as though the kiosk would be reopened some time soon
As I said the sky was overcast but it didn’t rain yet. We took some pictures from the lookout. It’s difficult on these photos to make out where the ocean is and where the sky takes over. There were some boats on the water but you can hardly see them in the photo.
This is a view to Lake Illawarra
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We decided we would negotiate one of the walking tracks to another outlook. When we arrived at this outlook we found out it was closed off because of danger!
We were looking for these sculptures. After a while we actually did find them!
AuntyUta 