Australia 2019 - Day 13 - 15

Day 13 - Tue 9th July 2019 - Bundeena

Spent the morning doing washing then once it was all on the line we headed down to Bundeena for a walk along Jibbon Beach.

Josh of course had his shoes off and was in the water within minutes - really should have brought a change of clothes.

We walked around the beach to the headland.  Lexie Josh and I headed around the rockpools, rock hopping.

We were going to try and rock hop right around the headland and meet up with Mum and Dad on the otherside, but we got stuck about halfway around and had to go all the way back. 

 Thankfully Mum and Dad had also realised we weren't going to make it around and met us back at the beginning of the headland.

Lexie and I still wanted to go and see the Aboriginal engravings, but Mum and Dad had already been there and decided not to walk back - Josh had hurt his ankle slightly rock hopping so chose to stay with them whilst Lexie and I went to see them.

 I remember coming to see these on a field trip at school - they have put in boardwalks since then which do actually give you a better view.

Just to the left of the two pools there is a sting ray engraving

Kangaroo engraving

When we were walking back we saw a whole flock of black cockatoos.  I've never seen that many of them before. 

It was a hard slog back along the beach to the car - Mum fell at one stage and broke her watch but we made it.  We then drove around to the other side of Bundeena to Bonnievale to have a quick snack before heading home for lunch.

Easy afternoon playing train again, then some more trip planning, dinner of cottage pie and some escape to the country before bed.

Day 14 - Wed 10th July 2019 - Kurnell

We did another short day trip today.  This time out to Kurnell.  We drove down through Cronulla, out to Kurnell and then around to Cape Solander lookout.

This is a big spot for Whale watching.  I wan't expecting to be able to see any - we didn't last time we were here.   But this time we got lucky,    According to the official sign 12 whales went past in the time we were standing there.  They were fairly far out so not the greatest view but you could definitely see them splashing and we had remembered to bring out binoculars and telescope so we were able to see them a bit better with those.  We also saw 2 dolphins actually jumping out of the water.

It was quite windy out on the cape, Mum and Dad were lucky to find a little rock seat out of the wind to sit in whilst we watched.

Once we had had our fill of whale we headed back to the picnic area for lunch. 

We found a working BBQ and cooked sausages and toast and tomato.

We tried to walk around the beach after lunch but it was rally windy and cold and the beach was covered in rubbish so we headed home instead.

Day 15 - Thur 11th July 2019 - Cockatoo Island

Once again we drove over to Mels house, arriving around 9:30 am.  Mel and Nick were still out at the RTA - Nick was going for his learners drivers license. They got home just before 10am - Nick was triumphant.  Mel quickly made sandwiches for all her troop and we were ready to go.  Nick decided to stay home since he had caught Ernie's bug from last week and wasn't feeling great.

We walked to Marrickville train station and caught the train into circular quay.

From Circular Quay we caught a ferry out to Cockatoo Island.

Waiting for the Ferry at Circular Quay

Waiting for the Ferry at Circular Quay

Since it was a beautiful day we sat out the back of the ferry (or the river cat to be precise) to get a great view of the harbour.

and the opera house

Looking back towards The city

and the harbour bridge

We started our tour of Cockatoo Island by walking down past the campground to the slipway and powerstation.

Chimney for the powerstation

 

 Unfortunatly despite telling us that the powerstation is still relatively in tact they would not let us in to see it which was a bit sad.  We walked down past the Sutherland Dock.

 To the old turbine workshop. Unfortunately almost everything had been removed from here and it was just a big empty building.

It was however the place where the movie Wolverine was filmed so that caught peoples attention.

 After checkout out some of the cool old cranes.

And the docks - I can't believe they used to build destroyers here - It really doesn't look big enough.

We stopped in an old shelter shed for lunch.

After lunch we headed back past the old machine shops - some beautiful stone work

 - and to the upper levels of the island.

The old residence at the top of the island was done up as a bit of a museum.

this was interesting to see old photographs of the ship building years.  It's amazing that this place was in use right up till 1990.  Its a shame it's not still being used.

We then wandered around to the old convict quarters.  This island was also used as a convict prison.

 The kids were all pretty bored by this time and had had enough history.

 but when we found the isolation chambers they played for quite some time.

Overall Cockatoo Island was interesting but I would really have like some more signage telling me what everything was about.  I still can't even find out what is behind the name cockatoo Island - we certainly didn't see any cockatoos on the island!

We caught the ferry back to Circular quay and after a quick stop at maccas for shakes fro afternoon tea - the train back to Mel's.

I love the reflection of the Harbour bridge in the train.

Not a bad view from the train!

Mum and Dad headed home but the kids and I stayed for a sleep over at Mels house.  After pork rolls for dinner we all sat down and watch the movie "The Dish" together.  It's all about the radio telescope at Parkes that we are going to go see next week and how it was used to broadcast the landing of the man on the moon.