A Splash of History . . .

Dave here (Saturday morning 6/29 Australia time)...

One of the fun things that has happened several times during conversations with shop keepers, cabbies, or people on the street has been conversations that go like this:

Shopkeeper: "Where are you from?"
We: "Washington State. North of Seattle, in the US."
Shopkeeper: "Oh, I know you are from the States... just wondering where at."
Seems our accent is an immediate give-away as to our nationality, but we just assume that they can't tell the difference! Duh.

Bob and Cheryl picked us up from the hotel early this morning for a pancake breakfast down in the Harborside shops. We ate at a nice place where I had the strawberry pancakes which had fresh
strawberries and strawberry syrup as well as a thick dollop of cream and - get this! - ICE CREAM! As the Aussies would say, "Brilliant!" Why don't we have this in the US?! I'd order this one every time!

Even though the rain was coming down by the bucketful we drove through the city out toward the South Head of the harbor entrance. Along the way we stopped for a tour of the Vaucluse House. From a humble beginning as the small cottage of an eccentric Irish Knight in 1805 it became the colonial mansion home of William Charles Wentworth and his family beginning in 1827. Wentworth became one of the 10 richest men during those times, even making an offer to buy the south island of New Zealand! (Reasonable heads prevailed and his offer was rejected.) Following a fun and very informative tour revealing much about life and society in the development of the land that would become Australia we stopped at a lovely tea house on the (very large) grounds for delicious coffee and scones.

Off we went to the South Head. After splashing our way to a viewing area for a photo-op (see pic below) we headed down across a large park to a fish & chips place on the waterfront called Doyles. Thankfully, the eating area was enclosed so we enjoyed food and conversation while able to see the Sydney skyline dimly in the rain waaaaay across the harbor. Sydney Harbor is very large and long with a number of "fingers" that create particular shelters like Darling Harbor, Circular Quay, etc. By the time we left the eatery the rain had eased a bit and during the drive westward toward "home" disappeared altogether. The forecast is for the typical blue skies and colder temps of the Australian winter to return over the next couple of days, just in time for our trip north to the 80 deg.F. of Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef.

In the children's (girls) room... on the table are games, and can you see that the child's high-chair swivels on its base?

The "second room"... the second-floor family living room as distinguished from the very formal drawing room downstairs.

Sarah's bedroom (CW's wife).  Can you tell where to find the commode?  (see below for answer)

In a heavy rain at the South Head.  The North Head is in the rainy distance. 
These two points of land form the entrance to all of Sydney Harbor.

(Answer:  the commode is the "step"-looking structure in the foreground next to the bed!  All the modern conveniences for some of the richest people of the time.)