Northern Beaches, Sydney

We were met by our good friends Alan and Debs at the airport.  They then took us for a drive by Sydney’s best sights and a stop for lunch at a Sydney institution in Woolloomooloo (I just love that name Woolloomooloo, Woolloomooloo – Just rolls off the tongue!)

Harry’s Cafe de Wheels has been a favourite for over 60 years.  Sitting by the naval dockyard it was used by sailors on shore leave and it’s reputation soon grew.  The speciality of the house is ‘The Tiger’ – a meat pie topped with a ring of mashed potatoes and mushy peas.  Well, we had to really, didn’t we?

A leisurely and picturesque drive brought us to our hosts house in Avalon in the area known as Northern Beaches.  We were blown away.  Alan and Debs bought this place a few years ago for their retirement (which hasn’t happened yet), it’s a gorgeous white beach house on three levels with decks on each level and a view of the bay  through some trees.

The most amazing thing for us poor Europeans is the array of bird life.  Cockatoos, parakeets and kookaburras are just out of hands reach squawking away all day.  We wake each morning to the sound of the kookaburras laughing loudly, it seems, just next to our ears but although they are loud and shrieking, I can’t help it but wake up laughing at this infectious giggle coming from a bird!

Yesterday afternoon, our friends hired a ‘tinny’, a little tin boat with a motor and took us out into the bays on the inland side of the peninsular.  The houses are just amazing from the shore side and each has a boathouse, most of which have been converted into guest rooms or dining rooms.  It was a wonderful couple of hours on the water.

The weather has been very warm but, fortunately for us pale skins, not too sunny so far.

Nearly there!

I picked up a book the other day that I maybe should have read before.  Bill Bryson Down Under.

I like Bill Bryson, his acerbic, witty commentaries on the UK, Europe and the USA have kept me amused from time to time, so I was looking forward to this book.  I do confess that I’ve had it for some years and just never got around to reading it properly.  A little dip in here and there maybe – actually, I lie, I have picked it up quite a few times and not got beyond about page 15.

I thought as we are en route, I should know a little more about Australia and get stuck into it.

I have now progressed beyond page 15, quite a long way in fact, but I thought I would share with you his observations on page 19:

“Of the world’s ten most poisonous snakes, all are Australian.  Five of its creatures – the funnel-web spider, box jellyfish, blue-ringed octopus, paralysis tick and stonefish – are the most lethal of their type in the world.  This is a country where even the fluffiest of caterpillars can lay you out with a toxic nip, where seashells will not just sting you but actually sometimes go for you.  Pick up an innocuous coneshell from a Queensland beach, as innocent tourists are all too wont to do, and you will discover that the little fellow inside is not just astoundingly swift and testy, but exceedingly venomous.  If you are not stung or pronged to death in some unexpected manner, you may be fatally chomped by sharks or crocodiles, or carried helplessly out to sea by irresistible currents, or left to stagger to an unhappy death in the baking outback.  It’s a tough place.”

Thanks for reminding me, Bill.  I was fully aware of sharks, crocodiles, snakes and stonefish but hang on!!!!

Seashells and a PARALYSIS TICK?????????????????

Ah well, I’m up to page 79 and not put off yet!