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The final days of our vacation are spent in Sydney. We have a room at The Russell, an older hotel/bed&breakfast right in the heart of Sydney in an area called The Rocks. The Rocks is where the first convict ships anchored and the take-over of Australia from the Aborigines began. There are not many rocks left but the area is a very bohemian mix of old and new with little alley ways and lanes leading all over the place. A veritable rabbit’s warren! It is much fun exploring this area dominated of course by the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. By the end of our first day we are comfortably ensconced in our room after a several hours walk around the area.

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On our second day we take most of the day wandering around. Believe me you can spend several days here and still not discover everything. We visit a very nice museum called The Rocks Discovery Museum. It is very good at describing the history of the area and for getting a feel of the development from the first inhabitants to present. The hardest thing we do today is deciding where to have lunch and supper. Oh the stress of vacations!

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We are very busy on our final day in Australia. We booked a harbour cruise the day before and start our morning off with this. Sydney Harbour is the second largest natural harbour in the world. And even though our tour is over two hours long we still do not see the half of it. What a wonderful place to live.

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After all that ocean air we have built up quite an appetite so we are off to meet one of our friends from the Overland Track for lunch. We met Chris Carlon and his dad Graham on our first day on the Track, when they arrived at the first hut quite late in the evening, wet, shivering and just a little hungry. They had started their trek right from the bus at 3:15 in the afternoon and didn’t arrive at our hut until 7:30 in the evening. That meant several hours hiking in the dark. Combine that with the wind and the rain, and as they say over here, good on them for even making it. Anyway they have their own stories to share and we hope they take some time and add them to our travel adventures in the comments.

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Chris took us on a brief little tour of the banking district of Sydney. It’s amazing, one minute we are walking down this busy street full of the hurly burly of business and with just one turn we are in a back alley all by ourselves. The building Chris showed us was the main waterworks for Sydney from the first days of settlement. You can still see the original building which now serves as a fancy nightclub and a very good eatery. We can vouch for the eatery because we have lunch there. A very enjoyable hour or so is spent with Chris finding out more about him and a little bit more of Sydney.

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Chris points us in the direction of King Street Wharf and the Queen Victoria building. The Wharf is in Darling Harbour and is okay but the Queen Victoria building is something else. Three floors of Victorian and Edwardian charm and all kinds of shops and stores. It also has the best men’s room I have ever been in!

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With afternoon coming to an end, we take ourselves back to the Russell for a shower and change because tonight … tonight we have tickets for the Bohemia concert in the Sydney Opera House! After seeing pictures for so many years, it is so hard to believe that we are actually here and can touch and marvel at the splendor of this magnificent building. The interior is nothing like we had imagined. My command of the English language is not good enough to convey the magnificence of the inside. Suffice to say that the inside is all curving and soaring concrete supports and carpet and wood and glass and windows, oh it is so inspiring. And the symphony is just as magnificent as the setting, with flashing bows, thunderous horns and wonderous woods. Just the perfect ending to our fabulous visit to Tasmania and Sydney.

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We’ve decided to revisit the town of Ross. Whilst on our cycling tour we spent about an hour there, but felt rushed so now we have an opportunity to take our time.

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We happily browse this very quaint place for about three hours and then travel on to Oatland. There we find a great little cottage to stay the night. It is called Thimble Cottage and I gather it has a thimble collection, but I totally missed it! Lawrie noticed though, so we weren’t both oblivious. There is a knit wear industry here, Casaveen by name. Missed the last tour by half an hour, drats! Still, there were two lovely sweaters that found their way to the car with us.

The next morning we amble about the partially restored flour mill and then find some topiaries that are in the development stages, but worth taking pictures of. All in all, Oatlands is a nice surprise and has an authentic historic appearance to it.

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After a small debate we decide to go back to Carrick via the main highway. We haven’t seen Tasmanian devils nor platypuses in the wild and know that there are interpretation centres where we can get a close up look at these unusual creatures. We also thoroughly enjoyed this area and look forward to spending the last couple days here. On the way to Carrick we stop in at Woolmers Estate and National Rose Garden. Very interesting and worth the time for the tour and a pleasant hour in the Rose Garden. Beautiful!

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Unfortunately Innes and Nicole at The Stables are booked for Saturday and we are shunted off to Westbury. This shunt finds us in a wonderfully appointed historic bakery redone into a cottage and having the best dinner ever at a restaurant called Hobnobs. Bonus!

Our final full day is spent at the Tasmanian devil research centre just a stone’s throw from Mole Creek. In addition to the devils there are wombats and kangaroos and spotted quolls and koalas. There is even a bird aviary as well as a few snakes and lizards.

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Then it’s a quick walk to view the Alum Cliffs nearby. The sun was in the exact wrong position to get any really good pictures so they don’t do the place justice. Nevertheless you do get some impression of the depth and size of the cliffs.

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Another cross country marathon finds us at Beauty Point to view another of the Australian marsupials - the duckbilled platypus. We don’t manage a picture that is worth including, but it has certainly been quite a day filled with some wonderful animals and the ever present incredible scenery. At the end of the day we are back at The Stables, just where we started almost a month ago. Sigh! We are not really looking forward to leaving tomorrow and hope there is something that prevents us from getting on the airplane!

The last day dawns very bright and sunny. Our airplane doesn’t leave until 1:20 pm so we take these few extra hours to go in search of a picture of the rare and elusive Tasmanian Panda Cows. After much driving about the countryside we do locate a small herd and here they are for you … the rare Tasmanian Panda Cows (LOL) Good bye from Tasmania!

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