Sunday 22 May 2016

Wollongong & Helensburgh

Long time no talk! I have been absent from my blog for a little while now (I schedule my posts usually) which is quite unlike me. Things have been happening, but I guess that will be more apt in my end of month roundup post.

Over the weekend, I headed down south to Wollongong once again. It feels that I didn't visit the city that long ago however it seems that it was back in March which is crazy! Time is flying by and in fact, my previous visit was almost 3 months ago. Crazy!

The only item on my agenda was to head out of Sydney and I didn't have anything in mind for Wollongong. We took the Grand Pacific Drive and walked on the Sea Cliff which was quite beautiful. It was a warm-ish day but a tad overcast.

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Bald Hill Lookout
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Actually loving this aerial / overhead shot

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In my previous post, I had mentioned that I had wanted to visit Nan Tien Temple which is the largest Buddhist Temple in the Southern Hemisphere. This time I did get around to it but was quite disappointed. It was very underwhelming and I am quite surprised that that is the largest temple on my side of the world.

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On the way back to Sydney, I suggested that we visit the Helensburgh Metropolitan Tunnel. This tunnel (along with a few others) had openened in 1888 and was closed in 1915. It was filled with water up until the past two decades where it was drained and now is accessible by the public. I had visited in November last year but didn't have a good torch and didn't manage to walk into the tunnel. This time I was more prepared, with torch in tow! There has been a lot of backburning in the Sydney region lately which has mean there is this permanent haze / smoke in the air. Interestingly enough, the haze wasn't too evident outside the tunnel but inside it was so hazy! It was a very cool experience especially when I discovered that the tunnel was filled with glow worms! We didn't venture too far into the tunnel as it was very muddy / slippery but this was definitely the highlight of my day.

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This was my sixth trip as part of #take12trips. To see previous trips please click here.
Wednesday 4 May 2016

Cave Beach & Catherine Hill Bay

For the last day of the long weekend, we woke up early to catch the sunrise. It was a little overcast on the drive to Zenith Beach but thankfully there was a break in the clouds and it was quite a gorgeous sunrise especially as we were the only ones on the beach.

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On the way back to Sydney, we stopped at  Cave Beach. However as it was high tide, we didn't manage to visit the caves.

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There was also a quick stop at Catherine Hill Bay Beach to visit the historic jetty that used to transport coal. Apparently it was damaged considerably in a fire however I didn't believe it was too obvious. Catherine Hill Bay felt like it was a world away from the rest of the central coast. It is a coastal village and it really did feel as though it was in the middle of no where.

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Not entirely sure why there is a noose there.

This was my fifth trip as part of #take12trips. To see previous trips please click here.