Zoofari and motor racing

A few more pictures from the travellers. They stayed in a small town called Dubbo. It has a type of savannah zoo, and you can actually stay in the zoo in tents. It is called a zoofari.

 They were able to feed the giraffes and the rinos. 



Time for a dip.



Oh got this one sideways...sorry....

The tent in the middle of the safari zoo.

They also went to the small town of Bathhurst, to Mount Panarama. They both drove the circuit, a circuit used for professional races.

  

 

 



Mount Panorama is a racing track that goes up a local low mountain and around the top and back again.
It is part of the State Roads, so anyone can drive over it. There are people who live up here too.
You get a terrific view from the top of Mount Panorama.

 

 

 

Keeping cool and sumo wrestling.

This house sit has a lovely pool. It has to be hot for me to get into the water, but it is now mid summer hot enough for me and the pool water is warm. Of course, its oooohhh and ahhhh to start off with, but once in, it is lovely.

This house sit is in a cul-de-sac, and the back yard backs onto 3 or 4 other homes. They all have pools. This home is well fenced so you can’t see anyone else, the privacy is good.

Most homes in Australia have a very good outside area. Because the weather is so hot, outside living is part of the daily routine, with an outside dining area, paved, with a barbeque somewhere on hand.  At this house sit we are enjoying eating outside most of the time, and of course the pool.

Our previous house sit on the Gold Coast had a good pool too, but this one is a little smaller, easy to care for, but has some palm trees in flower and the little flowers drop off into the water. Even so, keeping it clean is not a problem.

 

A nice size pool...you can see the palms at the end that drop the flowers.

 

A typical outside area for an Australian home. Pool fencing
regulations are very strict here, toddlers especially are at risk
of drowning, and even with good fencing this still happens sometimes.

 

Outside table and chairs. These chairs are actually very comfortable to sit on.

There is one thing that this house sit has that I have never seen before. It is a Wertheim vacuum cleaner. It works well, but has a cleaning head the size of an elephant….well not quite, but you can see from this picture that it is almost the size of the little table with a pot plant on, and it is so so heavy! It must weigh several kilograms. Like an old ad on television in New Zealand for the Toshiba vacuum cleaners, it has a ‘very sucky  motor’, so it is very efficient at cleaning, but by the time you have finished the floors you feel like you have done battle with a sumo wrestler.

The head of the vacuum cleaner is really big and heavy.

Wertheim vacuum cleaner.

 

The fisherman's table.

We had lunch at one of the most popular restaurants in the Kapiti area, The Fisherman’s Table.  It is right on the ocean front, and has really good food. I notice this time that the prices have gone up again, but still, that’s life.

 There are two Fisherman’s Tables in the Wellington area, one right in the city and this one. The service is good, and it is always busy, a sign of a good restaurant.

 

From the front of the restaurant looking West. Kapiti Island in the distance.

Kitchen area and studying the menu.

 

From the salad bar. You can go back as often as you want.

Donna bought a new phone, the first time she has had a smart phone. You know what it is like trying
to use these things for the first time. The air was a little blue, and there were lots of
'stupid phone' and 'why wont this thing work!'.

I had their seafood chowder. Even the small serving is very filling. It is a thick soup. I reckon they
have changed the recipe a bit, it was not as nice as I remember it.

Donna had fish mornay. She said it was just delicious. Good fresh fish and plenty of it.

 

Looking south towards Plimmerton.

This is a big restaurant, with several eating areas.

The diving bell welcomes you.

Popeye and his wheel.

The restaurant from the outside.

Mount Kaputar.

Note from my daughter-in-law - what they did today.

 

Today we took a drive up Mount Kaputar to the plateau. We had read about how horrible the road was so were prepared for the worst. Well they obviously haven't driven NZ roads!! No windier and narrower than some of them. It was a 100k round trip, 5 k's in the middle was gravel but in pretty good nick. The view made the whole trip worth while. Wow!!! You can see 10% of NSW from the top. We stopped at some other viewing platforms on the way too and also did a 3 k bush walk with other lookout points. Was a great day. So much cooler up the mountain. Just perfect.

 

 

 

I tried to find a map showing where this national park is, but this is all I could find.  If you want to search further, maybe look for Narrabi.

 

 

 

Bees...amazing.

This is an amazing series of photos...follow the link here

.

Here is one of them...look at the rest of them......

Goondiwindi.

My son, a very handsome man (I am allowed to say that, he is my son) and my fabulous daughter-in-law (I am allowed to say that because she married my very handsome son), and their daughter, almost sixteen, who is a very beautiful young lady, (I am allowed to say that, she really is pretty and gets her good looks from my handsome son), are on holiday.

I will post one or two of the pictures they send. They are travelling from Brisbane inland to Sydney, having a few days in Sydney then travelling up the coast road back to Brisbane. They will be gone for about two weeks.

Their first stop was Goodiwindi.....said..Gun dah windy. Here is the Goondiwindi Hotel, a rather impressive building.

Then they went on to a place called Sawed Rocks near Narrabri..said Narra.br eye.

 

These rocks certainly look like they are logs that have been sawn in half.

 

From Porurua to Paraparaumu by train....come on a little journey.

You might like to take a trip with me from Porirua   ( said...poh...ree...roo..ah) train station to the Paraparaumu train station. We had been to see Mum and came back to Paraparaumu by train.

 I took these pictures through the train window, so there are a few reflections. But this will give you an idea of the New Zealand countryside.

Just left Porirua...and looking at a street called Gloaming Hill.
I always liked that name.

Swans and other birds live on this part of the estuary. This is tidal, but doesn't empty completely.

Coming into Mana station. A large marina is here.

Some of the houses in Plimmerton. Many are old beach houses that
have been renovated. Land around here is pretty expensive, being right on the beach.

This is where the estuary opens into the open ocean. There is a lovely swimming beach here.

You can see Mana Island, very flat on top.

There is a large area of swamp along here. This is the bottom of the gully, and water collects here.
This area is called Taupo swamp. It goes right from Plimmerton to the top of the hills, quite a big area.
The flax industry used to provide all the linen New Zealand wanted, and was  exported too. It was top quality linen
made from all the flax around the Levin, Shannon and Manawatu areas.

The flax is just coming into flower here. You can see the motor way on the other side of the flax.

The hills in this area are quite high. The train slowly winds its way to the top of the ranges.

 

This is still farmland here, steep, usually sheep country.

We've reached the top of the hills. Looking west is Kapiti Island.

Starting our descent. There are 3 or 4 short tunnels on this stretch of the line.

Getting close to road level. You can see some of the rocky areas.

 

Almost at sea level.

Back at sea level. You can see the barrier in the middle of the road. The number of people killed on
this stretch of road has decreased. There were constant accidents along here.

Paekakariri shops. (Said..... pie.kok a reek ee)

Paekakariki Hill. There is a road going over the top of here, from Paekakariki to Lower Hutt.

Coming into Paraparaumu.

We had a coffee at the mall. The eyes looking at you from the bottom of the cup come as a bit of a shock
when you are not expecting them!