Author: Glendon

Retired Australian Lawyer having worked representing the innocent and the not so innocent in Australia and some of the remote parts of the world and having travelled widely through Europe, Western Russia, Canada, USA, New Zealand, Thailand Malaysia Solomon Islands northern China, Hong Kong and the UAE So now that I have the time I am writing about my travels present and past. Hope you enjoy exploring off the beaten track.

The Retirees go Abroad – Berlin by bus to Pergamon and the Dom

I was keen to visit the Pergamon Museum. My book “the Ghost Empire” had whetted my appetite for more on the middle east and that’s what I got. The Pergamon Museum houses monumental buildings such as the Pergamon Altar, the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, the Market Gate of Miletus reconstructed from the ruins found in Anatolia, as well as the Mshatta Facade. The museum is subdivided into the antiquity collection, the Middle East museum, and the museum of Islamic art. I was bowled over by the Ishtar Gate of Babylon. The following photos include all of the main exhibits. The museum of Islamic art felt somewhat overwhelmed by the displays below it and really deserves its own preserve. I found myself just unable to compare it fairly. For me the most interesting of the museum of Islamic Art was the rug making and the development of the designs and the ages of some of the earlier pieces.

Outside of the gate were some standing stones called “steles”. These had been excavated from Ashur in ancient Mesopotamia  which were but a few of the 140 excavated and the purpose of the steles is unknown. They were found in two rows one row being for Assuryian Kings and queens and the other for lesser nobles dating from 1350 BC to 650 BC. Steles were a common structure in Mesopotamian times and were more often used to record major events like victories over other civilisations. From there we saw the archeological finds of many civilsations with many of the exhibits being conserved but in a way that you could see what was original. Paintings of archeological diggings and minatures of camp sites all making intriguing viewing. Before going upstairs to the Museum of Islamic Art we saw more from Ishtar.

From Ishtar we moved to the Art of Islam through the ages. As commented above I did not see it as being as impressive as the Assuryian history but still impressive for other reasons. The Mshatta Facade was one example which was very impressive. The Mshatta Facade is the decorated part of the facade of the 8th century Umayyad residential palace of Qasr Mshatta, one of the Desert Castles of Jordan, which is now installed in the south wing of the Pergamon. It is part of the permanent exhibition of the Pergamon Museum of Islamic Art dedicated to  Islamic art from the 8th to the 19th centuries. There was a section dedicated to carpets and the skills of Persian carpet makers – one example being dated from the 15 century and one other being the remnant of a burnt carpet.

After the Pergamon we visited the Dom (Berlin Cathedral), the cathedral that is not a cathedral. It has all the grandeur but has never been the seat of a bishop and is in fact a protestant church. I am not sure how the church justifies this departure from the austere plain houses of worship typical of the protestant religions. We attempted to climb to the top of the dome. When about 100 steps from our final goal the staircase narrowed to a one-way track and passage became almost impossible. We abandoned the quest and returned to ground to meet Rod and Kerry as we were off to the Reichstag.

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The Retirees go Abroad – Berlin by foot

Our apartment includes a croissant breakfast. The breakfast arrives at 8.00am and that is when our day starts. Following breakfast we try our hand at the underground (our Berlin pass includes the Uline as the Berliners call it) to get to the ferry terminal. Arriving at Murkisches Museum stop we alight and make our way to the canal. It is cool but serene as we walk along the embankment to find the ticket office. A large canal boat with the word “Tickets” above the boat identifies our destination. An elderly woman is working in the ticket office managing the assembled patrons with aplomb. We are the obvious out of towners and English so she announces to us that the lock is broken (river lock) and the canal cruise does not complete a circumnavigation of the island. A change plans. We will walk back to Alexanderplatz through the old village. We walk past the Murkisches Museum (nowhere near the Uline stop of the same name) with it Teutonic knight at the front door and the radio/tv tower in Alexanderplatz is clearly visible as our beacon to guide us home.

As we stroll in the sunshine, we notice a hot-air balloon rising in the distance. We had passed the tethered balloon site on our Segway tour. It seems the balloon goes up and down on its tether giving the occupants in the cage suspended below a view of the city. There are much easier ways than that.

On we walk to cross another bridge and view the troublesome locks. Crossing under the bridge we find the queue of ferries turning around because the lock is not open. As we climb a set of stairs, we are greeted by two recumbent lions marking the entrance to the oldest surviving part of Berlin. What are now fashionable eateries were once the warehouses of the river. Shortly we come upon a square with St George slaying the dragon in the midst of the square. A closer examination reveals some pock marks very likely from WWII. There is some eclectic street art throughout the village one piece of which portrays Rudolf Heinrich Zille (10 January 1858 – 9 August 1929) a German illustrator, caricaturist, lithographer and photographer. There is the water pump once the central water source for the village. Clean and tidy as you would expect of a German village. Further on is the statue which was to become city’s emblem – a bear holding a shield with a phoenix on the face of the shield. The village is within site of the Alexanderplatz Tower so we use this as our guide back stopping at Haekeresker Market for lunch.

It always surprised us how close everything appeared to be. The radio tower acts as a central point and we always seemed to track from that point. So we spent the afternoon making our way to our apartment for a siesta as we planned on dining on the rooftop of the Monkey Bar in Charlottenburg. We planned that we would all share a tasting plate of the menu whilst taking in the zoo below through into the Teirgarten spreading across Mitte. Sunset was moving further into the evening so that the view remained with us to the very end. The tasting plate was disappointing. Where we had expected a diverse choice of new tastes what we got largely revolved around hommus. Still a unique experience particularly when nature called.

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The Retirees go Abroad – Berlin – West and East by Segway

We had booked a Segway tour to show us the East and the West and it commenced from Alexanderplatz, so we bussed it back to Alexanderplatz just in time to commence the tour. There were 7 of us, 4 Aussies (us), two Norweigans and two Japanese women with no ability to speak or understand English. You need a drivers licence in Berlin for a Segway as the vehicles are registered for use on the road. Unfortunately, Kerry forgot her licence and had to run back to the apartment in a window of about 10 minutes. I offered but there was no way I was going to be able to complete the task in that time so off she went. Kerry returned just in time to undertake the obligatory training. During the training Kerry H clipped the wheels of a bike and took a tumble off her Segway. An easy thing to do even for experienced drivers. They say things happen in 3s so our tour guide was on edge particularly as regards the Japanese girls who were first timers on Segways.

We set off following her like ducks in a row. As our vehicles are registered, we travel on the road in the bus lanes but we can cross a road at pedestrian crossings apparently. That is where it happened – the Japanese girls being inexperienced and not understanding instructions fell behind and commenced driving on the footpath. Kerry H had been obstructed by them and was blocked from keeping up so at our first check point our guide had to back track to find them. Kerry H made her way and caught up with the group. Meanwhile the Japanese girls drove down the footpath against instruction and the law and greeted us with dumb grins of relief followed by a distressed tour guide. Kyla (our guide) rang her boss and told him that she could not continue the tour with these Japanese because they could not follow instruction – mean while we waited with bus drivers annoyed that our vehicles were parked against the gutter in the bus lane. Kayla then had to try and explain that they could not continue the tour and that the boss was coming to collect them and refund their money. The boss turned up and took the Japanese back to the office and we will never know if they understood what had happened.

We recommenced our tour driving in the bus lane down to Lustgarten Park, Museum Island and the Dom (Berlin Cathedral). Berlin Cathedral is the common name for the Evangelical Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church and is located on Museum Island in the Mitte borough. The Dom is a parish church of the organisation Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia. Berlin Cathedral has never been a cathedral in the actual sense of that term since it has never been the seat of a bishop. Museum Island is the name given to the northern half of an island in the Spree River in the central Mitte district of Berlin, the site of the old city of Cölln. It is so-called for the complex of internationally significant museums, all part of the Berlin State Museums, that occupy the island’s northern part:

The Altes Museum (Old Museum), The Neues Museum (New Museum), The Alte National Galerie (Old National Gallery), The Bode Museum on the island’s northern tip, and The Pergamon Museum(the Pergamon contains multiple reconstructed immense and historically significant buildings such as the Altar and the Ishtar Gate of Babylon). I will talk more about the Dom and the Pergamon after our visit later in this trip. The Humboldt Forum will open in 2019 in the Berlin Palace opposite the Lustgarten Park.

We drove around to the entrance to the Pergammon the Old and the Neuse Museums to view the bullet marks in the gallery fronting the museums and then moved onto view an old French church from Napoleonic times and then to Checkpoint Charlie – not the original checkpoint between East and West but a replica in the same location surrounded by tourist souvenir shops. Checkpoint Charlie (or “Checkpoint C”) was the name given by the Western Allies to the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War (1947–1991).

East German leader Walter Ulbricht agitated and manoeuvred to get the Soviet Union’s permission to construct the Berlin Wall in 1961 to stop Eastern Bloc emigration and defection westward through the Soviet border system, preventing escape across the city sector border from communist East Berlin into West Berlin. Checkpoint Charlie became a symbol of the Cold War, representing the separation of East and West. Soviet and American tanks briefly faced each other at the location during the Berlin Crisis of 1961.

After the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc and the reunification of Germany, the building at Checkpoint Charlie became a tourist attraction. It is now located in the Allied Museum in the Dahlem neighbourhood of Berlin. There are displays of events of the days when it was a genuine hotspot and the trigger of the Cold War. You will see in my photos a line of bricks in the road – this line replicates the position of the Wall.

After hunting for a souvenir (not a chip of the Wall) we moved on to the last remaining section of original wall in an as is condition following the breaching of the wall and the end of east and west. The wall has been hacked at with all sorts of instruments and remains in that condition. This is also the point of one of the most dramatic escapes across the wall. A guard with his family used a flying fox to escape over the wall which heightened the tension on both sides. Moving on from there we went down a back street to the last remaining guard tower hiding behind an office building and roadside landscape. Remember everything happens in 3s – the Japanese did not eventuate into a disaster and we relaxed. I was following one of the Norwegians and was stunned by uncovering a true guard tower taking my sight off the Norwegian in front of me who stopped, I swerved but clipped his vehicle and this sent my vehicle out of control into a spin throwing me to the ground. I hurt my pride, my left knee, my right knee and left palm in that order. I got some pictures of the guard tower (not the injuries) boarded my Segway and we moved on to the Bunker.

The Bunker – well its actually the site of Hitler’s bunker. The bunker has been destroyed but a sign has been erected describing what was found when they dug it up. The Führerbunker was an air raid shelter located near the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. It was part of a subterranean bunker complex constructed in two phases in 1936 and 1944. It was the last of the Führer Headquarters used by Adolf Hitler during World War II. Hitler took up residence in the Führerbunker on 16 January 1945, and it became the centre of the Nazi regime until the last week of World War II in Europe. Hitler married Eva Braun there on 29 April 1945, less than 40 hours before they committed suicide. After the war, both the old and new Chancellery buildings were levelled by the Soviets. The underground complex remained largely undisturbed until 1988–89, despite some attempts at demolition. The excavated sections of the old bunker complex were mostly destroyed during reconstruction of that area of Berlin. The site remained unmarked until 2006, when a small plaque was installed with a schematic diagram. Some corridors of the bunker still exist but are sealed off from the public.

The site is presently a carpark and attracts people believing in the principles of the National Socialist regime much to the disappointment of the residents of the area. Only steps away is Peter Eisenman’s famous Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe – our next port of call.

This monument is also known as the Holocaust Memorial and is a memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust and surprisingly just 150m from the site of Hitler’s bunker. It consists of a 19,000-square-metre (200,000 sq ft) site covered with 2,711 concrete slabs or “stelae”, arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field. The stelae are 2.38 metres (7 ft 10 in) long, 0.95 metres (3 ft 1 in) wide and vary in height from 0.2 to 4.7 metres. They are organized in rows, 54 of them going north–south, and 87 heading east–west at right angles but set slightly askew. An attached underground “Place of Information” holds the names of approximately 3 million Jewish Holocaust victims. Building began on April 1, 2003 and was finished on December 15, 2004. It was inaugurated on May 10, 2005, sixty years after the end of World War II in Europe and opened to the public two days later. It is located one block south of the Brandenburg Gate, in the Mitte neighbourhood. The cost of construction was approximately €25 million.

From the memorial it is a short walk and even shorter Segway drive to the Brandenburg Gate. The Brandenburg Gate is an 18th-century neoclassical monument, built on the orders of Prussian king Frederick William II after the (temporarily) successful restoration of order during the early Batavian Revolution. One of the best-known landmarks of Germany, it was built on the site of a former city gate that marked the start of the road from Berlin to the town of Brandenburg an der Havel, which used to be capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg. It is located in the western part of the city centre of Berlin within Mitte, at the junction of Unter den Linden and Ebertstraße, immediately west of the Pariser Platz. One block to the north stands the Reichstag building, which houses the German parliament (Bundestag). The gate is the monumental entry to Unter den Linden, the renowned boulevard of linden trees, which led directly to the royal City Palace of the Prussian monarchs. Throughout its existence, the Brandenburg Gate was often a site for major historical events and is today considered not only as a symbol of the tumultuous history of Europe and Germany, but also of European unity and peace.

On the occasion of our return visit 3 days after our Segway tour it was also the site for a public walk by Charles and Camilla much to the delight of the “Royalists” amongst us – I sat outside a souvenir shop as that seemed fitting and appropriate.

Our Segway tour continued to the Reichstag Building. We were at the furthest end of the park in which the building is located peering through chain wire however a few days from now we would visit the building to see the new dome (designed by an Englishman).

Almost at our journey’s end and with 3 events of misfortune behind us we set sail for Aleanderplatz and the Segway base. However, one more surprise awaited us – my Segway battery failed but within walking distance of the base so after breaking some laws by taking our vehicles across a public open space we returned thoroughly satisfied that we had done it all on the segways.

The weather has been good, cool in the morning warming up by 1.00pm until about 4.00pm when it chills but sunset is after 8.00pm so we find ourselves doing things and walking places until it is dark and then looking for a place to eat. I haven’t got much further with my book at this stage but between travel and exploring Berlin I am pretty tired and footsore. We plot tomorrow’s adventure of a river cruise around the island in the Spree and then to bed to sleep.

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The Retirees Go Abroad – Brisbane Singapore Helsinki & Berlin

Things are different now. Our holidays have to fit in with the other things in life whereas it was the other way around when we were living in the UK. We both miss that time but it was too good and we knew it could not last. So, we had our New Years in Sydney and our tour of the N.S.W highlands at Xmas/New year and we have done a few odd things thereafter (odd as in various not “odd”) and now we are preparing for the “big trip” – 25 days in the Scandinavian regions and central Europe.

As we pack, I pull out my copy of the “Ghost Empire” by Richard Fidler. A thick tome all about the Byzantine Empire and the author’s bonding with his son on a trip to Istanbul and back in time to Constantinople (the Second roman empire of the East), I have put off reading due to the business of life. I expect some of you reading this will know Richard – he was host of “Conversations” on ABC radio. I found his show fascinating and did not listen to it often enough.

Our trip to the airport and our wait for the plane gave me the opportunity to start reading. From the moment I read the Acknowledgements (who does that?) I was hooked and did not want to put it down. Knowing the author’s voice, I felt as though he narrated the whole book to me. At the airport in Brisbane, on the plane to Singapore, in the airport at Singapore, on the plane to Helsinki and then on the plane to Berlin I read the book lost in the world of the Romans from the time of the Assyrians through the birth life death and resurrection of Christ to 330AD when Constantine I founded and built Constantinople. I did have dialogue with Kerry and I did commune with the world but always I could not wait to get back to Constantinople.

Thirty-eight hours of travel and we landed in Berlin. We had a brief stopover in Singapore and then in Helsinki where we boarded an EasyJet to Berlin. Our travel plans worked well, but all seemed to unravel when we land at Tegal Airport in Berlin. We caught up with Kerry and Rod Hayes who were to be our travelling companions. Kerry H had booked a taxi for us at Tegal but the driver was not waiting with his sign for us when we exited the terminal. Low level panic ensued with all of us searching the terminal and Kerry phoning him. Thirty minutes later our driver presents – he did not have a cab and therefore had to park some distance from the terminal at another terminal. Of course, we made it to Flowers Apartments in Mitte the centre of Berlin.

Berlin is strange in that it does not have a central business district. This may be a result of the city being divided after the Second World War. The east is being revived and the west is somewhat stagnant. Our apartment was large for a studio apartment. It was long and narrow, so we got the benefit of many windows pouring in daylight. This proved somewhat of a trap in that the sunset was after 8.00pm at night. Knowing we were only here 5 nights we got the necessities from our suitcase showered and changed into fresh clothes and set off exploring. Strangely there were a number of empty blocks around the city. Immediately across the road from us was an overgrown vacant block, at the end of our street Mulack Strasse. Where it joins Alte Schonhauser Strasse, is a street with tram lines and no tram except in emergencies. No traffic either. Really strange for the centre of the city. The buildings are all low rise but 20th century architecture – this once was East Berlin.

Everywhere there are push bikes. Some have been abandoned. There are scooters lying about like drunks just as we have them in Brisbane and community motor scooter/bikes and cars sitting around waiting for the next driver. We walked along Alte Schonhauser Strasse to Weinmeister  Strasse in the general direction of Alexanderplatz one of the major squares in Berlin where we found the Metro which would be handy later on and Rod and Kerry discovered Father Carpenter their favourite coffee shop. It is tucked inside a small square at the end of an alley. At the very end is evidence of the old East Berlin.

 

Our goal was in sight – Alexanderplatz has a major television tower planted in the middle of it and it stands as a directional landmark above all surrounding buildings. In the square it is market day (Saturday and Sunday the markets set up to tap into the tourists milling through Berlin). Food is a central theme. Huge wok like frying pans containing prepared sausage dishes to mushrooms to chips are available at reasonable prices. A few vendors provide the foods in a bread shell. It can form part of your meal or if discarded it does not pollute the environment but feeds every kind of bird. There were the traditional BBQ and deep fried something stalls but no strudel stalls. How disappointing.

We decided to have a more substantial meal and went back towards Weinmeister Strasse encountering Bistro Kneipe. A small establishment brewing its own beers and providing pub meals. Rod and I tried one or two of the beers and each of us enjoyed our substantial meals. Again, the price was quite reasonable.

I noticed that Berlin (in fact the whole of Germany) was in the midst of an election. Angela Merkel is retiring so the political advertising was everywhere. One of the things we went to the Platz to obtain was our public transport “Berlin Card”. Berlin has buses, trains and trams and this card for 30 euros each gave us travel on all public transport for 4 days. The key bus routes are the 100 and 200 routes. These routes terminate in Charlottenberg but there is an immense amount in between – the museum sector, the Teirgarten (Berlin’s Central Park), some embassies (the picture of the Aeroflot Building hides the Russian embassy), and the Brandenburg Gate ( close by the American embassy, beside it the French embassy and around the corner the British embassy). The 100 line bus takes its passengers  past the Reichstag and Bundestag through the Terigarten past Charlottenberg Schloss (palace), past the memorial to the unification of Germany by Bismarck to Charlottenberg whereas the 200 line skirts the Teirgarten passing through Pottsdammer Platz and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe back to Brandenberg Gate and onto Aleanderplatz.

Charlottenburg is now a suburb of Berlin. It is home to the Berlin Zoo and includes a remnant of WW2 in the form of the shattered remains of a church. However, our goal was to find the Monkey Bar. We circled around a bit before realising any place that advertises it is open 25 hours a day has to be monkeying around. A non descript hotel concealed on its top floor a bar with fabulous views back towards Mitte overlooking the zoo and the Teirgarten. But this was not all half of the floor included the restaurant “Neni” with similar views and atmosphere. The food seemed interesting and reasonably priced but no booking available. We decided to return to our apartments crossed the road to pick up the 200 line bus and while waiting entered an arcade to find a weird water clock. We arrive 5 minutes before 12.00 noon so we could wait to see the culmination of 12 hours of water dribbling into various flasks and beakers.

 

The Retirees, the Bison and the Knight

I had planned that we would venture to the 4 points of the compass while staying at Rothbury. So today it was south west (my compass points are not the traditional) to a lookout the name of which I have forgotten and which judging by the state of the road most other people had forgotten. We headed into Pokolbin passed Barringbah Wines and Ivanhoe vineyard up into the mountains. A steep narrow road but sealed all of the way until we came to a hairpin bend. We had a choice; follow the bend or turn right into a forestry road. We chose to follow the bend and ended up on a rise with the road ducking down once more going God only knows where. I was satisfied that this point must have been the lookout the tourist guide referred to but who knows – there was nothing there to indicate anything, however the road did widen to allow parking on one side. It did provide beautiful views of the Hunter.

Evidently the lookout had some notoriety locally. One of the fence posts served as the resting place of at least 3 memorials of former residents of the valley. I don’t know if the persons identified had been buried on that stony ridge or relatives had just placed a memorial and their ashes spread on the winds. If there be an afterlife then this is one spot I would choose to look at forever. We spent some time taking in the view. I don’t know if it was the thought of the winding road or whether to explore and verify this was the lookout but finally we broke the spell and returned down the mountain passing a bison – Yes bison on the way.

the Buttery
High St Barnard Castle
Charles Dickens visited everywhere
Bowes Museum

Photos

We stopped at Barringbah Wines for a devonshire tea where we were told that the bison herd (not just one a herd) was run on so and so’s farm up the mountain. Another surprise, Kerry saw grapes on the vine. Now we are normally visiting vineyards in May after vintage so apparently, she had not seen grapes hanging from the vine before! Baringbah is nestled in the foothills of the imposing Brokenback Range, surrounded by rolling vineyards and the cellar door and cafe is built in an early bush slab hut style in a picturesque part of Pokolbin and a complete contrast to its neighbour Ivanhoe Vineyard. After the devonshire tea we went to the cellar door where I bought a liqueur muscat called Liquid Christmas Cake – something to sample at the appropriate time.

Owned and operated by Stephen and Tracy Drayton since 1996, the Ivanhoe Estate is renowned for its gutsy reds and great whites. A fifth-generation member of the famous wine making Drayton family, Stephen brought the historic Ivanhoe vineyard to life with his own style and passion. Ivanhoe is picturesque and manicured to within an inch of its life. From the strident colour of the cellar door building to the stainless-steel entwined hands standing 3 m high at the front door this vineyard suggested expensive. We were delighted that our impression was wrong as we topped up the suitcases even further.

Our last day in the Hunter and we headed north east. I had noticed the Rothbury cemetery was marked on the tourist maps so I thought it must be interesting. However, finding it was another matter indeed. We even went into one of the vineyard cellar door to ask where to find it. Admittedly the cellar door was closed, and we spoke to two electricians doing some repairs but they had no idea. They did not have a clue. As we drove out of the cellar door driveway ready to give up, we noticed an old weathered directional sign pointing back in the direction from whence we had come but on a different track. There behind the cellar door building and the machinery shed was the cemetery. It holds the remains of many of the early settler families of the Hunter, many in family plots holding generations of the same family. Murry Tyrrell the famous wine maker of the Tyrrell family his dad and his wife all in the same plot.

I also saw a memorial to a coal miners strike marked on the tourist map at North Rothbury. Before wine the valley was mined for coal and in 1929 – 1930 there was a strike and a miner was killed leading to this memorial. On 16 December 1929, New South Wales Police drew their revolvers and shot into a crowd of locked-out miners, killing a 29-year-old miner, Norman Brown, and injuring approximately forty-five miners. The incident became known as the Rothbury affair or the Rothbury riot, and is described as the “bloodiest event in national industrial history. The memorial was not much to look at sitting on the side of the road probably ignored and forgotten about but clearly significant to the people who once mined coal in the Hunter a long time past.

We drove to the edge of the valley and found a pub serving cold beer and hot schnitzels in air-conditioned comfort. After lunch it was time to think of heading home to Brisbane. So we returned to our apartment for the last time as the next morning we were meeting Clive Jnr (Sonny) to hand over the car and fly to Brissie. Once again, the GPS guided us to the airport outside Newcastle. Now you might think that meeting someone at an airport that you had never met before might present a problem. We were told we would know Sonny when we saw him. That statement was so correct. If I told you the car was a Masda 2 and I did not think Sonny could fit in that might explain. With the car labouring off we went inside a very pleasant country terminal for a gentle ride back to Brissie and the end of a very busy 10 days on the road.

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The Retirees rock up to Rothbury

The following morning, we left Bowral and hit the road headed towards Hunter Valley, Rothbury and the vineyards. Again, the GPS made the trip uneventful until we got to the Vintage and our next hotel – The Sebel Vintage. The GPS took us right to the front of the Apartment complex but there was nothing like a reception to find out which apartment was to be ours. We made a decision to go further down the road as we thought we were in the wrong hotel. Essentially, we drove for 10 minutes to end up at the same spot. We had noticed a real estate agent at the corner of the road into the road leading to the apartments and this time we saw in small print on the face of the agency “Reception The Sebel Vintage”. Pissed off explains how we felt.

With our keys in hand we found our apartment and moved in. The apartment was very comfortable and roomy. Essentially it was a single level one bedroom apartment with kitchen dining room garage bathroom separate toilet and laundry in a cupboard. All of our needs met but there was more – we had a small garden off a patio but the weather was so hot and miserable the air-conditioning was more enjoyable than outdoors. The Vintage is a planned community with a golf club at its heart a gym and pool and surrounded by golf course and hotels/apartment hotels. There did appear to be private homes too. Kangaroos abounded. Without playing the golf course to understand its layout it looked to be very disjointed with players having to cross the main road to go from fairway to fairway.

Ye Olde Sweet Shop
Hexham Abbey

My plan was to break up the valley into 4 segments and do a segment each day. However we started our day by visiting some cellar doors. De Bortolli was our first port of call. We had passed the cellar door twice trying to find our apartment but we were way too early. Not that we needed a vino fix but the sun was up and we wanted to make the most of our visit. The weather hot so we did not need to be waiting for the place to open. However Kerry had a great idea to use the cellar door as a background for photos of one of her suitcase covers for Cover my Case facebook page and website. After De Bortolli we moved onto a cellar in a shopping centre called Monkey Place Creek . Kerry had seen a restaurant advertised and was looking for that particular restaurant which she thought was nearby the shopping centre so that how we ended up here. Good thing too. In the back of the local IGA we found a honey shop and like Winnie the Pooh, Kerry had to have her honey. The range was glorious but standing out was the honey made from pollen from Lemon Myrtle Trees. We have just such a tree in our yard at home and the scent of Lemon Myrtle is just divine. Bees who make honey with lemon myrtle pollen produce divine honey.

Further down the road we encountered the Hunter Distillery. A few more snaps for Cover my Case and then into the distillery we went. Famous for their gin made with botanical ingredients, Hunter Distillery is the only certified organic distillery in the Hunter wine region. Locally owned and operated, it produces an exceptional range of top shelf spirits, including Vodkas, Liqueurs, Schnapps and of course GIN. We sampled and selected but they were out of stock. I however had my eye on the butter scotch schnapps and I got lucky that day. Following the same road we found our way to a brew house where a tour bus had already landed. Kerry wanted a photo with the suitcase cover in front of the purple tour bus much to the alarm of the tour guide who suddenly appeared beside me curious as to why we trying to get into the bus. Huh? We stood in the blazing sun explaining that all we wanted was some photos and she settled down. But that meant I now had a thirst and it needed quenching. Unlike a vineyard cellar door this business combined the concept of cellar door brewery and tasting room restaurant and gift shop (clearly a tourist trap). This was a Matilda brewery selling the bottled beer from Freemantle but they did brew a ginger beer. So I quenched that thirst with an alcoholic ginger beer. Not bad but I think the alcohol content was similar to Green’s ginger wine. Whew! We then tried the cellar door but it had a selection of local wines none of which it produced. So we did not find anything of interest.

Just to show you that it was not all cellar doors, distilleries and breweries we went to the Zoo. The day continued to be blistering hot with clear blue skies. We skipped from shade to shade to try and keep cool. In doing so I disturbed a large thick knee which surprised me as well as me surprising him. I had never seen one of these birds so large. there is a nesting couple in Mowbray Park at home but they would be 30 cm high this bird was 1 m tall.

We were just in time for the Meerkat show – basically a keeper feeding the little critters and talking about being a meerkat.  After the meerkats we wandered past a giant land tortoise with some little pals, a resting Lace Monitor (heavens knows how much more there was to this beast), a frilled neck lizard, another native Australian (lizard), and either a paddy melon or small wallaby in their rocky dens. The next show was right up the other end the zoo. The walk to the next show took us passed all sorts like alligators, crocodiles, ostriches, geese and other sorts ultimately standing in front of the South American Wolf Fox. This strange fox like creature is actually a wolf and it looks like it is on stilts. The highlight had to be the monkeys and their antics with new born clinging on for dear life. The heat was getting to us but we were determined to see the remainder of the animals – a pair of sleeping cockatoos, a riot of lorikeets, a cloud of small finches and a mob of kangaroos. We had an enjoyable time but as the roos show relaxing in the shade was the way to go.

On the way back to our apartment Kerry wanted to stop for a photo opportunity for the Cover my Case label. Spotting some vines, we drove in and found ourselves at Hungerford Hill Cellar Door. After taking some snaps we decided the sun was too hot to not stop for a cool beverage. The host was quite taken with the suitcase covers and allowed more photography and wine sampling. Refreshed we ventured to the car which I had parked under the shadiest bush around and ambled home to fill our suitcase again with more bounty from the cellar door.

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The Retirees chasing the Red Cow

The Red Cow is a unique cool climate garden set on 2.5 hectares in the picturesque rural village of Sutton Forest. The simplicity of its presentation disguises a garden of sophisticated structure and ambitious schemes. Developed by its creative owners Ali Mentesh and Wayne Morrissey around their historic 1820’s cottage, the garden is abundant and secretive.  We were greeted by Ali as he opened for business. He directed us to the wondrous walled sanctuary where solitude invites quiet reflection. Red Cow Farm features an exuberant cottage garden, monastery garden, abbess’s garden, a stunning collection of rare and unusual perennials, woodland, old fashioned roses and clematis, beech walk, lake, bog garden, orchard and kitchen garden. The gardens also attract local wildlife particularly birds. The chook pen was popular with galahs and red parrots. With all these gardens and the festival of birds inhabiting the gardens it is a stark contrast to observe the ploughed fields on the adjoining farm.

detail of the carving
painted screen
West Australian
changing moods
Baroque clock
and again
the staircase
to the ground
a caravan chair
see
and again
more fashion
high fashion
modern stained glass
baroque setting with modern overlay

From Red Cow we travelled to Bundanoon and the Buddhist Monastery in the forest outside the village. Sunnataram Forest Thai Monastery was commenced in 1989 and has been built by the monks living there over time. The centre of the Monastery is the Gratitude Pagoda finished in 2013. The monks teach Buddhism in schools and Universities in the district and the monastery operates as a retreat for Buddhist adherents. It is open to visitors and you can sit in on a presentation by one of the monks. We took the opportunity but found it was rambling and at some times unclear, but we sat through it though enlightenment evades us still. This was a first for me and something I did not expect in Australia. The Pagoda has niches on all four sides and different statues of Buddha from different cultures and countries stand in these niches. There is an entrance into the Pagoda through a glass door. I felt uncomfortable to just stroll in flashing my camera about but no one seemed to mind.

the earrings move
Hadrian’s Hotel Wall
carving from a disused church
Bowes Lyon lineage

We returned through Bundanoon which is divided by the rail line to Sydney. Feeling like some lunch we checked out the cafes (all 3 of them) and a rejects shop where we were given the tip to cross over the railway to get a decent pub meal. So we crossed the line, passed an early home still in use today and we found a fabulous old hotel behind the railway station. This hotel must have been built for all of the travellers from Sydney holidaying in the Southern Highlands. The timber panelled dining room the upstairs accommodation and the lounge bar resplendent  with lounge chairs leather sofas and timber panelling with a large fire place all seem in contrast to the tacky tiled public bar tacked on the end of the hotel closest to the station. We chose the dining room and tucked into a succulent lamb roast and a glass of local vino which filled an empty spot before we returned to the Sebel in Bowral.

Interior of the lounge

And that is all folks! The next day we spent sitting in the air-conditioned room doing much of nothing and relaxing after an enjoyable visit to the Southern Highlands.

 

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The Retirees exploring the Southern Highlands of NSW

After our first big day out in Bowral and resting with a cold G&T on the sofa we mapped out our route for the following day. First stop would be Bendooley Vineyard and Berkelouw Bookstore.

We have been to many a cellar door and vineyard over the years but we were surprised at the enormous carpark behind the cellar door at Bendooley Vineyard. An unusual congregation of buildings – a stone cottage and timber bookstore hid this carpark which must have been big enough for over 100 cars. It turns out the vineyard not only produces pleasant wines, but it has cottages for holiday makers, a tasting room in that stone cottage along with a fine restaurant and a bookstore. We tried the wines at the cellar door whilst awaiting a table in the restaurant and once we were comfortably seated we shared a delicious pizza with a glass of their Rose (our preferred choice from the wine tasting). After lunch we explored the bookshop which appeared to be in an old but renovated stable. The shop was littered with tables and chairs not just for the readers’ but it too offered an dining experience. Further the books were not your usual newspaper stand at the airport selection but rather a library of historical, autobiographical, geographical, mineralogical – all kinds of books. A rare bookstore in the bush outside Berrima.

The story of Berkelouw Books begins in Kipstraat, Rotterdam, Holland, in 1812 with Solomon Berkelouw. Solomon’s young son Carel carried on his father’s trade by opening a bookstore at the Niewe Market in Rotterdam where, Berkelouw Books prospered and later moved to a larger premise at Beurs Station, also in Rotterdam. Carel’s son Hartog Berkelouw continued to expand the family business. He opened a new shop at Schoolstraat, Rotterdam. It was Hartog who first began issuing the catalogues that gained Berkelouw an international reputation. However, the Second World War intervened, and during the siege of Rotterdam, Berkelouw Books’ premises were bombed, and its entire stock destroyed. Its owners became casualties of the war and the once thriving business was brought to a standstill – the work of four generations of Rotterdam booksellers virtually wiped out in just a few years.

Immediately after the war, Isidoor Berkelouw began to re-establish the firm but, Isidoor was keen to move the business out of Europe. In 1948 Isidoor made the long journey to Australia. Arriving in Sydney, Isidoor issued a catalogue, generating immediate interest amongst book collectors around the country. He set up shop at 38 King St, then headquarters was relocated to 114 King St and Isidoor began to share the management of the business with his two sons, Henry and Leo. By 1972 the Berkelouw collection move to Rushcutters Bay, then in 1977 took a quantum leap relocating entirely to ‘Bendooley’, an historic property just outside Berrima in the Southern Highlands of NSW.

In 1994, the sixth generation, Paul, Robert and David Berkelouw, opened again in Sydney, at Paddington. Since then, Berkelouw Books has opened further stores in Sydney and Eumundi on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland. Today Berkelouw Books claims it is Australia’s largest rare and antiquarian, second-hand, and new bookseller.

pocket watches
entry to the upper floors
another amazing time piece
time pieces down the centuries

Whilst in Berrima we visited the Berrima Courthouse. Surprisingly grand sandstone building for a bush court house it stands beside Berrima Goal also constructed in local sandstone. It is now a museum. Berrima Courthouse was built between 1836 and 1838. The first quarter-sessions were held at the court house in 1841, and the first trial by jury in the colony of New South Wales was held there. The assize courts were continued for only seven years. In 1850 the district court moved to Goulburn, south of Berrima. Minor courts continued at Berrima until 1873. Notable trials were of John Lynch, who was hanged for the murder of at least nine people, and of Lucretia Dunkley and her lover Martin Beech who were both hanged in 1843 for the murder of Dunkley’s husband. Their trial is simulated in the present-day museum courtroom with realistic manikins and an audio commentary. Dunkley was the only woman to be hanged at Berrima gaol.

Berrima Gaol was built over five years with much work done by convicts in irons. Conditions at the gaol were harsh, prisoners spent most of their days in cells and the only light was through a small grate set in the door. During World War I the army used Berrima Gaol as a German-prisoner internment camp. Most of the 329 internees were enemy aliens from shipping companies. There were German officers from Rabaul, German New Guinea (what is now Papua New Guinea) and also officers from the light cruiser SMS Emden. Captain Müller had taken Emden to raid the Cocos Islands, where he landed a contingent of sailors to destroy British facilities. There, Emden was attacked by the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney on 9 November 1914. Most of the survivors were taken prisoner.

After Berrima we returned home to put our feet up and plan the following day at Red Cow Farm.

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The Retirees blow into Bowral

Of course, we found the car. It was on the last floor we searched. If it wasn’t a manual drive care then I would have been banned to the back seat. But it was a manual so taking the helm, I set sail for Bowral in the southern Highlands of NSW. Using the GPS we drove directly and trouble free to our apartment at the Sebel Apartments in Bowral. Our apartment (contained in the building in photo 4) is part of a settlement of self -contained houses set in a pleasant surrounding with undercover pool and gym.

the carpenter’s mark
how is your roman numerals
the north range and the bays
the south range
formerly the kitchen now the coffee shop

Bowral’s history extends back for approximately 200 years. During the pre-colonial era, the land was home to an Aboriginal tribe known as Tharawal. The first European arrival was ex-convict John Wilson, who was commissioned by Governor Hunter to explore south of the new colony of Sydney.

The town grew rapidly between the 1860s and the 1890s, mainly due to the building of the railway line from Sydney to Melbourne

Gardens and European plants flourished from 1887, when citizens of Bowral started planting deciduous trees to make the area look more British. This legacy still lives on throughout Bowral. Notably, the oaks at the start of Bong Bong St are a characteristic that makes Bowral distinct from other rural towns, giving it strong autumn colour. The town became somewhat affluent, as many wealthy Sydney-siders purchased property or land in the town and built grand Victorian weatherboard homes.

As our apartment was within walking distance of downtown Bowral, we went walking through town in oppressive heat  through to the Coles supermarket to stand in front of the open refrigerator cabinets and pick up supplies including a different make of gin and saw some of its historic buildings like the Town Hall on the way.

Hall
Chapel

Cootamundra was the birth place of Don Bradman, but he played his early cricket at the Bowral Public School and later the Bowral Cricket Club. After a most successful career as a cricketer Bradman has been immortalised at the Bradman Museum Bowral. The Bradman Museum has evolved into the Bradman Museum & International Cricket Hall of Fame. It was Sir Donald Bradman’s vision that ‘cricket continue to flourish and spread its wings. The world can only be richer for it.’ To honour this vision, the museum has been expanded to not only show the importance of the Don’s contribution to cricket and Australian history, but also cricket’s important role throughout the world.

Outside of the museum is the statue of the Don and the Pavilion of the Bowral Cricket Club.

Wall paper in Little Parlour
Little Parlour
Great Parlour

Bowral and the Southern Highlands are known for their wines and there is a published wine trail for tourists like us to follow. In fact, there are Coffee, and Pie trails as well but these are seasonal. After the museum we explored around Bowral stopping at Blaxlands Estate, Cuttaway Hills Estate, and Cherry Tree Hill Estate. Our favourite by far was Cuttaway Hill.

Fireplace in Great Parlour
garderobe – phew
Chapel chamber
Making a Tudor floor
Hold on Kerry

It is also known for its National Parks such as Morton National Park and its water falls. Fitzroy Falls is one such place. In the rugged Southern Highlands, we discovered the Visitors Centre for Morton National Park. Entering the centre we felt we were being watched from up above. Leaving the Visitors Centre the falls are a short distance along a well maintained path. Before getting to the falls the path divides one track going east and the other to the west. We chose the West Rim walk across a footbridge and out into a lookout opening up the valley below. Bending around to look east I capture a view of the beauty and grandeur of Fitzroy Falls. The West Rim walking track provides wonderful vistas of gorges and waterfalls and sweeping views across Kangaroo Valley at the Manning lookout. We decide to back track and taken the Eastern Rim walk to see the spectacular waterfall that dramatically drops more than 80 metres more clearly. There is a lookout on the Eastern Rim walk looking directly at the falls and we take lots of photos. After appreciating the magnificent falls, we explored the enchanting wilderness on well-marked walking tracks. We passed a gnarled old tree which had lumps and bumps all over it. The East Rim and Wildflower walking tracks took us to lookouts with superb views of the valley and sheer drops of dry waterfalls .

more useful information
Long Gallery – looking east
Long Gallery looking west

From Fitzroy Falls we moved onto the village of Kangaroo Valley which was bursting at the seams with visitors. Quite a number of old buildings have been re-purposed with a new use such as an old bank into a café. The first inhabitants of Kangaroo Valley were the Aboriginal Wodi-Wodi people. The area was first settled in 1817 when Charles Throsby, an explorer and Captain Richard Brooks, a cattleman, opened the area for white settlement. The felling and exporting of cedar trees quickly became the main industry in Kangaroo Valley. By the 1870’s activity had begun to concentrate in the area that is now the village. The local public school was built in 1884 of local sandstone. The local courthouse was built c.1910, also of local sandstone. The main buildings include a residence and lock-up as well as the courthouse itself. The local school and the courthouse are both listed on the Register of the National Estate.

The valley has changed very little in the past 130 years with reminders such as the Hampden Bridge, the oldest suspension bridge in Australia completed in 1898, and old Barrengarry School serving as a testimony to the past when Kangaroo Valley was home to a flourishing dairy industry. Agriculture still exists, though other industries such as tourism and outdoor recreation have since taken over as the primary source of income.

From here we moved onto Shoalhaven, and the beach. Without any knowledge of the area and relying on maps from the café in Kangaroo Valley we arrived at Cunjurong Point, I think. Anyway, there is a beach where a creek/river runs into the ocean and a point of land or an island (not sure). Again, a stinking hot day so a walk along the beach was nice. We relaxed under some trees and consumed our chicken sandwiches and a flask of coffee before returning to the road and home.

the Pots
Another satisfied customer
Gates open
the Gates
Steamboat Pub

However, as we journeyed back to Bowral we discovered the Illawarra Fly Treetop Adventure – a tree top walk not for the feint hearted. A sign on the side of the road and a little knowledge from the tourist brochures in our room we thought it would be worth a visit. We were not the only ones to stumble across it. After paying the entry fee we walked passed a donga where other visitors were being briefed on the use of the zip line. Dotted along the forest walk to the treetop bridge are fairy houses – why I don’t know because I did not see any fairies so that I could ask them. The sky bridge is cantilevered at each end of the bridge and in the middle is a tower reaching another 30 metres above the trees. After proving that heights did not bother her but they tested me, we went back to our apartment in Bowral to turn on the air-conditioning have a gin and tonic and contemplate our day. We were stuffed.

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The Retirees travelling in Australia – New Year 2019 in Sydney

After seeing in the New Year our son and family arrived for brunch. This was the farewell and hand over of the car. The kids particularly Francis made me cringe at the thought of their forthcoming flight overseas. Francis can be boisterous and the confines of a plane – eek! Brunch passed relatively smoothly and after, I took possession of the car parking it in the Parking Station behind the Apartment.

Later that day after the kids had left we decided to take a trip by ferry to Manly perhaps to swim and cool off. We walked to the Pyrmont ferry past the Maritime Museum and boarded the ferry for Circular Quay. It was far more pleasant on the harbour than the previous evening (the humidity had dropped) and we enjoyed the sights at each stop. However we were not the only ones going to Manly that public holiday. Hundreds of other people had the same idea and we found ourselves sweating in queue for the ferry to Manly. On a good day it is always pleasant to cross the harbour to Manly and this was one such day. It brought back memories of my 50th birthday at Doyles on the Beach and our visit to Manly on NRL Grand final day a few years back.

 

We had thoughts that we would have a swim, but the surf was disappointing and the sun by lunchtime was stinging hot. Kerry found a table under the trees which we shared with a Jewish couple visiting Sydney on a ship. They had viewed the New Years Fireworks from on board – probably one of the ships tied up across the harbour from Pirrama Park. Others from their ship were seated around. Rod and I purchased the fish and chips whilst the girls enjoyed chatting with the visitors. Well maybe I did more than chat with the visitors and eat fish and chips.

Autumn colours
bush walk
bush walk
view from the end of Wellingtonia Ave
greens
yellows reds and browns
The Pyriamid
the god protecting the tunnel
Autumn colours
Cheshire cottage

Having abandoned the idea of swimming, we thought of an air-conditioned pub with views where we might pay a few hands of cards. On the corner of the esplanade and the mall we found the perfect spot and it has a rooftop Gin Bar meaning the girls were happy too. A few hands of cards a couple of drinks finishing with a tasting plate of ice creams in air-conditioned comfort. Tough life. I tried my hand at taking some more shots of the locals enjoying the beach from on high. I did not have the same success as earlier.

ferns in the glen
Wal of stumps
the Stumpery
along the Watchtower

Photos

The trip back to Sydney was arduous after an afternoon in the pub and waiting for the ferry to arrive. once on board and sailing it was again refreshing with cooling sea air blowing through the cabin. Back at the Apartment it was days end and we were rewarded with a brilliant sunset. We looked from our balcony across the roof top gardens on the building beside us (the carpark with apartments on the roof ) and with the sun setting the sting of the sun was now bearable. A gentle breeze caressed our languid bodies slumped with exhaustion in the balcony chairs. A perfect setting to end the day.

to the Glen
the temple
bridge to China
the lake
another deity
crossing to the temple

Next day we farewelled our fellow travellers checked out of the apartment and went to find the car in the adjoining carpark. Age must be wearying my memory. Although I could remember perfectly where I had left the car, I was very unclear about which floor that was.

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