Going South . . .

. . . to the Kangaroo Valley and on to Canberra.

Saturday, July 27, we drove through Sydney and down more of the beautiful coastline, stopping to admire the many mountainous headlands and the surf crashing on large shelves of sandstone from which fishermen cast their baits into the sea. For all its beauty, that is a very dangerous place to fish! As we proceeded down the coast we passed through several beach towns stopping at one to eat our picnic lunch and watch the surfers catch a few waves. It was another beautiful sunny day gradually changing to broken clouds as we traveled southward. Along the way we also drove up to a very high escarpment to have coffee, tea and cake at a lovely little place called Cliffhangers. That name is descriptive of the location as the deck of the restaurant literally hangs over the cliff's edge with a dizzying view downward... if one cares to look.

Not long after, we took the fork in the road that began shifting us a bit more inland, terminating our day's travel with a winding road down into a beautiful green valley rimmed with sandstone cliffs that led us to the town with the valley name: Kangaroo Valley. It is a small but popular town for the travelers with a picturesque one-lane bridge and some very nice little shops and cafes including a woodcraft shop where the young wood-worker was selling hand-crafted toys and doll houses, bowls, clocks, housewares and the most beautifully carved rocking horses I've ever seen.

The next morning we drove out into the valley a ways to see the verdant forests and ranch-land before continuing on southward to Canberra, the capitol city of Australia. Bob and Cheryl had gotten us all a special rate on very lovely rooms in a fine hotel. We timed our arrival in order to participate in a special choral evensong at All Saints' Anglican Church, a beautiful little sandstone church building with a unique history. Wonderful music, song, and an excellent and timely homily by the Rev. Michael Faragher made it a very meaningful time of worship for us all.

Today, Monday, we spent the middle of the day at the Australian Museum of War, undertaking a 90 minute tour lead by a very knowledgeable volunteer guide who took care to remind us that the museum, while very much a part of the nation's history, is filled and focused particularly on the stories of the men and women who fought for and alongside their country. The wars and conflicts in which Australians have been engaged, even before officially becoming a nation in 1901, have been many and in places we may not have noticed.  We had people in our tour group from Australia, of course... including a father and son who had come to donate to the museum photos, equipment and medals of a father and grandfather who had fought in WWII and the Great War (WWI), respectively. We Americans, a couple from South Africa, and a couple of young men from Nepal rounded out our group. Our guide did a wonderful job of pointing out various portions and personal stories connecting all of our various nations to Australian wartime history. It is clear that these military struggles have been a strong factor in establishing the Australian national psyche and identity in the world today.

We'll be touring the National Museum of Australia before leaving Canberra and will have more to say about that, I'm sure.

The magnificent eastern coast of Australia.  We saw surfers at various small beaches all along the way.
Fishermen cast from shelves of sandstone rock over which waves wash depending on the tide.  Very dangerous!

Lunch while enjoying the view and watching surfers and families play on this nice sunny winter day.

Coffee and cake at Cliffhangers.  We had driven up from the beaches far below.
Bob and Becky had the lemon meringue.  Cheryl had scones and I had the black forest cake.  All to drool for!

The one-lane Hampden Bridge at one end of the town of Kangaroo Valley.

It was a very small town, but a great place to stop for the night. 
Be sure to check out the magnificent rocking horses at the Wood Gallery.  The ones you see here are the "lower end."

Fitzroy Falls at a roadside park along the way out of the Kangaroo Valley.

One of the farms on the floor of the Kangaroo Valley.  Lots of dairy, and even a vineyard!

The Kangaroo Valley is not all flat!  Note the sandstone cliffs at the valley rim.

 

All Saints' Anglican Church actually began life in 1863 as a mortuary in a different place.  When the mortuary was going to be razed, someone had the vision to see further use.  The building was deconstructed stone by stone and rebuilt at its current location in 1958.  The interior is lovely wood and stone.  The Even Song service was wonderful!

 

The park view from our room at the Royal Crowne Plaza.

From a high viewpoint one can see the purposeful design of the capitol city, Canberra.  The green-domed brown structure in the foreground is the Australia War Museum looking down the monument-lined avenue across the lake past the old parliament building to the new Parliament Building beyond.

The large valley around Canberra gives one the clear sense that Australia is a big land!

One of two long memorial walls (the other is to the right of the large patio below) listing the fallen in all the country's conflicts and wars since before Australia was a commonwealth nation. 
This was at the beginning of a very informative 90-minute tour.