Home again - for a while

We came home a couple of days early from our holiday as Bill is still not a whole lot better and needed to see the doctor again.  The upshot of that is that we will fly back to Brisbane to see a spinal surgeon on Melbourne cup day - there goes the prawn and wine lunch, darn!  We don't think he will need surgery but probably some fancy injection into the lower back.

We did manage to have lots of fun, despite Bill spending lots of time on his back.  My sister was there so went of on our own to various places.  If you don't want to see lots of photos stop right here.

 We stayed with Bill's cousin at Marks Point, Lake Macquarie, just south of Newcastle and struck wonderful weather - the day before we arrived the maximum had been about 9 and they had sleet, we came in sunshine and max 24 - crazy weather.  This is the view we woke to.  They have a very beautiful property right on the lake with the most horrendous stairs imagineable!  The blocks are extremely narrow and go from the water's edge up a very steep slope to the street.  Only one building is allowed on each property, except for Pat's where there have always been two inhabited dwellings. 

 This used to be a boatshed on the water, built about 1920, now renovated into a B&B cottage.  It is lovely, but there are nearly 80 steps down to get to it, and they are very uneven,

 This heron was poking about in the water feeding only a few feet from us.

 This is a view of the boatsheds along the waterfront, some restored, some very decrepit.  I think the owners are working out if they want their home at the  top or the bottom of the property!

 Bill insisted on struggling down to the bottom, then considerably later, back to the top.  He was on very strong pain killers so could not even celebrate with a wine!

 This is a view of the Blue Mountains on our way to Orange.  The mountains really do have a blue haze from all the eucalyptus oil in the air, and it is easy to see how dangerous the fires in the summer months can be.  Fortunately none to see that day, but a different story when we were flying back to Sydney from Canberra, smoke haze everywhere.

 Orange is a beautiful city, we probably made a mistake in visiting mid-week as most wineries and galleries and country restaurants are only open from Friday to Sunday.  This winery above was open for sales but not the cafe and we were starving!  I think we ended up with Subway rolls instead, a bit of a come down,

 My sister and I walked around some of the very extensive Orange Botanic Gardens.  There is a lovely apple orchard which was in full flower.

This photo of the billabong was taken from the rose garden which had only a few buds, still too cold there for the flowers to open.

 This was another lovely park in Orange, mush older than the Botanic Gardens -  many of the trees are over 100 years old.  Elm trees everywhere, thank heavens they haven't been affected by the disease which wiped out the European trees.

 We couldn't find out a lot about this fascinating sculpture and the cultural centre behind it, library, gallery, visitors centre and theatre all in one complex.  The exhibition in the gallery left much to be desired as far as we were concerned.  Bill would have been horrified - almost blank canvases with a long winded artist's statement!

 I had to take a photo from Mt. Canobolas - just so I could write the wonderful sounding name, if for no other reason.  The mountain is not far out of town and you get a 360 degree view, which also includes strong winds, hence the bent and twisted trees.
 

This photo is out of order, but at least it is there.  This is the sensory garden in the Orange botanic Gardens.  I think most of the work must be done by volunteers, and at the weekend.  There was no sign of any worker there while we were around.  I hope they have lots of volunteers as the garden area is massive,
Time is marching on, I will post some more photos tomorrow (I hope), there is lots more to tell.  All the photos should enlarge if you click on them.