Back in the Old World....!

The blog hasn't been updated since last December.... We're not in Sydney anymore, so the title needs changing really, will have a look into that. Quite a few things changed, I arrived back from Australia in February and Lisa and I now live in Venlo Gardens, Cheadle Hulme in Cheshire.

Decoration/renovation is still underway, the 3 bedrooms upstairs are pretty much finished, after a lot of wall paper stripping and getting rid of smelly curtains.



Early april, my parents came over for a visit and to help with decorating. It was still very wintery, at least in the back garden.


Work started mid-April, in Billingham near Middlesbrough. During the week I'm staying in Yarm, a pretty little town on the river Tees.
Not far from work is Redcar, on England's east coast. A bit further south is Saltburn-by-the-Sea, which a few nice buildings on the seafront.




The North York Moors, with some good walking trails, start just south of Saltburn.
Bert came over for a visit on his bike and after work we went for a walk in the moors to Roseberry Topping.
The first Monday of May was a bank holiday, Arjan came over from NL for a day and we went for a walk from Edale, which is at the start of the Pennine Way.

14-17th December: Warrumbungles NP

This weekend my parents and I went on a road trip to the Warrumbungles, a national park about 7 hours NW of Sydney. We went car camping and stocked up in Mudgee on the way up. The next stop was Gulgong, a small town which had its hayday in the 1870s in a short gold-rush period. A high number of pubs and hotels and some other historic buildings is all that's left nowadays.


We went to the local museum which was full of displays with daily-life items, which kept us occupied for quite a while.




We stopped for the night in a caravan park in Dubbo which had basic but cheap cabins.


Dubbo's highlight, the Western Plains Zoo.



We got to the campsite at the end of the afternoon, apart from us there were only a few other parties.


The wildlife around came closer to us than the humans.





On sunday we went for the 14.5 km Grand High Tops walk, which lived up to the expectations.


Just after coming back to the campsite a huge cloud built up. It attracted a few spectators on our picnic bench....


....But not for very long.


We watched the spectacle from inside the car.



After about an hour we had the brilliant idea to leave the campsite and look for somewhere dry to stay for the night. We didn't get very far as the road out of the park was flooded. We drove back to the campsite but couldn't reach our tents because of the water....



....So had a cosy meal under the veranda at the visitor's centre. We managed to walk to the tents later on, but had to leave the car behind.


All peaceful again the next morning.


Lots of mud and branches, left behind by the water.

17th November: Snorkeling!!!

This Saturday the eight of us went for a swim at Gordons Bay. The water is not really cold anymore so the wet-suit is pure luxury now and those without one could stay in for over half an hour. As usual, all top quality under water pictures taken by Allan (the Dane).


Catfish hiding in the vegetation

The Blue Groper was still there of course

Bill above and behind the Blue Groper


A huge school of fish. From a distance they looked like a giant creature, it protects them from large predators


Blind shark


The beautiful FiddlerRay, well spotted by Allan who saw this one near the reef a little bit out of Gordons Bay