Katoomba Winter Magic Festival

Saturday June 21st was the Katoomba Winter Magic Festival. Katoomba is located in the tops of the Blue Mountains, and hour and 40 minutes by train from Sydney. Those that went on this activity met in the parking lot of the flats and car pooled to the train station at Granville where there is a lot of parking available. We then rode the train to Katoomba together. Those that attended the festival last year opted not to attend this year. That should have been some indication to the rest of us "greeneis" of how the day would go!
To begin with it was very cold in the mountains with a nice breeze blowing! None of us felt we were dressed warm enough. Jay left his sweat shirt he planned on wearing under his coat in the car at Granville so the first hour was spent looking for a cheap but warm sweat shirt. Of all the booths lining both sides of the street not one sold sweat shirts. So we ended up walking to KMart and finding one for $7. What a bargain!
By then the streets were packed and looking at the booths was a joke! We opted for hot chocolate in a "quiet" cafe. We finally walked up to the top of the street, found the only worthwhile booth and shop and bought some jewelry. We then watched the "parade" which consisted of two or three floats, lots of people dressed in funky costumes and one band.
Afterwards we walked to the IMAX theater, ate lunch and watched The Edge, a movie about the Blue Mountains.
We missed the 2:20 train back to Granville so we had to wait for another hour. We passed the time in the Carrington Hotel watching the people dressed in very weird costumes come and go.
To sum the day up - we wouldn't do it again next year even if we were going to be here.
Carolyn Wooley, Wendy McKnight, Elizabeth, Jay at the Granville train station.
Clint and Joyce Warby, our partners for the day!
Katoomba train station high in the Blue Mountains.
Weirdos!!! Typical of the costume for the day!
The crowds.

A cute little girl all dressed up.

The Parade.



Even the dogs got in the act.

Carrington Hotel
Weirdos at the hotel.

Toukley Ward Talent Show.

This is a senior couple, the Vanasperens, from Brisbane and their 21 year old daughter Debbie who has Downs Syndrome and is serving with them in the MOC - processing microfilm for Family History. They live across the hall from us.

The video of As I Have Loved You. Tabernacle Choir we are not but we try and bear in mind this video was taken by Jay with his point and shoot camera. He has gotten in the habit of singing along quietly in church when the choir sings, or someone sings a solo. I've told him to stop but he doesn't pay any attention. So if you listen closely you can hear him singing in the background. Now this is really funny because he won't join the choir because "I can't sing". He can sing the melody but can't read music or parts. Now no one who has listened to the video believes he can't sing.

You Raise Me Up sung by Wendy McKnight from Boise, and Claudia Clark from North Salt Lake.

The Entrance, Nora's Head Lighthouse, Pelicans

One big pelican.

This is how the pelicans keep warm on a cold day.

Inlet at Nora's Head.
LightHouse at Nora's Head.
Light House.
Ocean at Nora's Head.
Where are the whales? Rough ocean.

The Entrance. Beyond the break water is the ocean.
Pelicans waiting to be fed at The Entrance.
Great day for a pelican swim!
Rough waters at The Entrance.
Brother and Sister Allen, our hosts.

Sounds of the ocean.

Toukley, NSW, Australia

Our trip to Toukley began with a drive from the flats to the Epping train station where we boarded the train for the Wyong station, 20 minutes from Toukley. It took about an hour and a half. The scenery was beautiful as we left the suburbs of Sydney. Unfortunately the windows of the train were really scratched and dirty so I couldn't get any pictures. Suffice it to say that landscape was tree invested with a lot of lakes and inlets. The trip was arranged by Malcome Arvidson, a church employee at the Buckland House who lives in the ward in Toukley and heard about our famous senior choir. Their ward was having a talent night and he invited us seniors up to perform and spend the day. Then he arranged to have members of the ward host each couple for the day and take them around to various sites in the afternoon before bringing them to the church for a potluck dinner and the talent show, during which we would perform two numbers, Waltzing Matilda, the Aussie National Anthem (not) and As I Have Loved You. Two of our members also sang a duet. A good time was had by all. However, the weather was not great - very windy and cold and in the afternoon when we were all out sight seeing it clouded up and rained and the waves were very rough looking on the ocean.
Paul Bartholomew and Jay at the train station.
Jay and Platte Clark do not sing in the choir. They were along for the fun of it.

You might ask why I have included this picture in our blog. The man in the hat is Dave Osborn. His wife is president of our choir and organizer, etc. She decided that we would practice on the train going up to Wyong so we were told to try to get an empty car. That did not work so there were people sitting in the car. As soon as she got out the keyboard (which she brought for the purpose of practicing) he moved to the rear of the car and the expression on his face says it all!!!


Just so you know what the Osborns look like I have included this picture taken as we got settled on the train.

Botany Bay National Park

The following pictures are self explanatory.
Plaque on Capt. Cook's monument.

Elizabeth & Lurleen at Capt. Cook's monument.
Botany Bay from the monument.

Botany Bay National Park

Botany Bay is a beautiful, peaceful place. The wind was quite brisk so the waters were choppy. We did not see any whales but the wind on the water made it look like there were whales out there.
We asked one of the whale watchers to take our picture. Note how he cut the men's heads off!! I thought that was pretty funny!

Botany Bay National Park

As I have mentioned before, Australia has beautiful birds. They are everywhere. You just have to look.
Kookaburro
Rosellas