Family Reunion in Australia - Day 17

 Saturday, 5 November 2016

 After breakfast, Eileen and I connected with cousin Tracy who lived in Canberra. Tracy along with her son, Nate, picked us up in front of the hotel.

We drove up to the Telstra Tower on Black Mountain, the highest point, for a great view of the capital city. 

We even went to the uppermost outer balcony where we were almost blown away! Beautiful views! 

My brother called from home in the U.S. to wish me a H.B. via FaceTime. Glad to fill in family about the wonderful time I was experiencing down under. 

We came home for a lunch of sandwiches. 

We were out again to see more of the city parks and lakes.

 We drove about the Red Hill Nature Reserve up to the Red Hill Lookout. More great views of the area.

We went out to Tuggeranong Town Park next to the lovely Lake Tuggeranong. Here is some of the action and nature we came across.

Looks like someone was having a party/game with

these giant body bumper balls. How fun!

I loved the area with the trees in blossom. We came home for take away Chinese dinner. Tracy and I are Jane Austen fans. We watched Emma and then Sense and Sensibility back to back.

Tourist in Australia - Day 16

Flight to Canberra

Friday, 4 November 2016

Eileen and I were up early and had breakfast in the hotel restaurant. I was excited to see our same waitress from the last 2 days. I was excited to share with her my photo of her Holland Queen Maxima. See previous post. I enjoyed enjoyed my porridge.

We checked out and arranged for a taxi to take us to the Sydney airport for our flight to Canberra. I saw my first sign of Christmas at the airport. 

Flying south over Peakhurst Heights

We were on a commuter smaller plane to the capital of Australia. I had a window seat! 

Flying over Lake Illawarra.

The day before, when we asked about Hiltons in Canberra, there were none available. I looked online on my phone and found a great deal and arranged for a room close to airport, yet, not too far from where my cousin, Tracy, was located in the city. I had also previously connected with her to make arrangements of seeing her for the weekend. I was so looking forward to getting to meet her family face to face, also, as they were unable to make it to the family reunion. 

We landed around 1:30 and arrived at our hotel. We both crashed with exhaustion after 2 days of extreme walking, as least it was for me! We later had dinner in hotel and walked around a few blocks. I later wrote in my journal trying to remember what transpired during the last two days. Glad to refer to my camera, phone and my aunt! 

Tourist in Australia - Day 15

Thursday, 3 November 2016

We found out that the place we had dinner at the night before did not open until 11 AM, so we ate again in the Hilton restaurant. I had omelette and toast. We had the same waitress serve us as the previous morning from Holland. She was so excited that the Netherlands King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima were in town. I remember on our tour of the Sydney Opera House that they were preparing a section of the theater for them the day before. Our waitress also had tickets for the same program and was very excited to see her royalty from home. 

We walked to the nearby Sydney Tower Eye. At the top we could see the whole city. I took many photos around the view windows. Here is arial view of our Hilton Hotel with Queen Victoria Building along with St. Andrews Cathedral. 

We came down and walked down George St. back toward The Rocks, but this time we went around looking for the stairs to the Sydney Harbor Bridge. We found them and walked to and across the river. 

Family was asking if I was going to cross along the top of the bridge. No way! But I found a few doing that above me.  

It took about 45 minutes as I was stopping to take many photos. Again the views were fantastic and I was more so aware of different patterns.

On the other side was the community of Kirribilli. We passed the small community church which I saw from the bridge.

We found Kirribilli Village Cafe for lunch with toasted ham and cheese sandwiches. I had a small scoop of hazelnut ice cream. 

We  strolled under the bridge to Bradfield Park where I was thrilled with these views of the city.   

We walked back to the west side to have someone take this photo of the Sydney Opera House behind us.

We walked back to the east side to the nearby ferry station Milsons Point. 

We bought our Opal single trip tickets to get back to Circular Quay. Luna Park was close by. I took pictures of the gate and the ferris wheel. 

I noticed a ferry coming in with professional cameramen and reporters. A few minutes later a man came to our waiting area to ask us to please move off of the deck as the King and Queen of the Netherlands were arriving! 

I quickly got a snap as the royalty disembarked. King Willem is behind the policeman as Queen Maxima glides in all her glory.  

We got back to the pier and loaded the next ferry back to the Circular Quay. 

From the ferry, I noticed the cameramen and reporters on the deck with a group of school children dressed in orange greeting their Dutch royalty from home.

Great to witness world history on my travels.

We slowly walked back to the  hotel for a rest. We had dinner at the same place, the New York Metro. Good food. Our second day of much walking helped us both sleep well that night.

Post Script: We watched the news that evening and looked at newspapers the following day and found no news mention or even photos of the royalty visit. I found this below online stating the travel plans of the king and queen.

Wednesday, 2 November & Thursday, 3 November – Sydney

From Canberra, the King and Queen will travel to Sydney to attend a concert by Dutch pianists Lucas and Arthur Jussen at the infamous Sydney Opera House.

The next morning the pair will attend a meeting of the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency on potential Australian investments in the Netherlands, following which the King and Queen will be given a tour of research projects on which Australian and Dutch students are working together at the University of Sydney. After visiting the university, King Willem-Alexander will attend the final session of a meeting between Dutch and Australian CEOs, while Queen Máxima will attend the close of a meeting on smart cities.

http://royalcentral.co.uk/europe/schedule-for-king-willem-alexander-and-queen-maximas-visit-to-australia-and-new-zealand-70072

Photo found on Youtube website   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMEpjuhs98Q