The first thing that grabbed me when I stepped into the garden was the beautiful little Japanese maple in the foreground. The second was the uniqueness of the setting. Here was a Japanese garden, with meandering paths and gravel, bridge and water course, mounds and pavillions, right next to a typically Aussie paddock with grazing sheep.
It’s definitely something you don’t see everyday.
We stayed at Wellington Caves. Not in the caves, but at the caravan park that was on site. Next to the caravan park was a little bit of an oddity – a Japanese Garden.
Wellington is twinned with the city of Osawano, in Toyama Prefecture, Japan. After googling, I found that the city is west of Nagano, near the west coast of Honshu.
Apart from Cowra, I didn’t know any other NSW country towns with a Japanese garden, so it will be interesting to explore this little place.
I was glad to see an old Art Deco theatre across from the park. It’s good to see these important pieces of regional history preserved, and still in use. Wish more of Sydney’s historical sites are preserved.
I’m starting a new series today. Hubby was helping out on a weekend excursion to Wellington Caves a few weeks ago, and I tagged along. I will post photos from the trip over the next week or two (or more).
We had a quick stop in Lithgow on our way out west. It was good to glimpse some autumn colour away from Sydney. Different from my last visit in Lithgow, when I visited the blast furnaces.
We finally reach our (well, my parents’) destination – two lookouts that overlook Broken Bay. You might have seen these before, but it’s my first time here.
The first lookout overlooks Pearl Beach and millionaire’s row.
I preferred the second lookout, which has views of the Central Coast Peninsula…
And Lion Island to Barrenjoey Head.
But I wasn’t exactly enjoying the view, more the scents.
The track wound its way under red gums…
And grass trees.
My parents enjoyed the fresh air and the coolness under the trees. I was too busy sniffing the many, many, many new smells.
Hi everyone, it’s Bridie Beagle here. It’s been a long time between bones but I’m back to take you on a short stroll. As you know, I love going for walks, especially in new places. I love to sniff out every nook and cranny. In this series, Daddy and I (and Mummy) are taking a stroll at Mount Ettalong, a hill between Umina Beach and Pearl Beach on the Central Coast.
What did we see? You have to wait until tomorrow to find out!
I recently completed some socks for Hubby using this pattern. It took me quite awhile to pick up the new techniques in the pattern, particularly for the toes and heel, hence a lot of frogging back and rework. But I liked doing the socks toe-up – a lot neater looking than top-down – and I liked the colours of the yarn. Most importantly, hubby liked it too.
Finally, we took a drive around the park. It was really quite extensive. When we climbed up the hill we had a great view to the Blue Mountains and the city. We were surprised to find that the suburban crawl was just below. Seems like the land that makes up the gardens were saved at just the right moment.
We visited the Callistemon (bottlebrush) garden. There were quite a few varieties. Unfortunately the flowers were also very difficult to photograph in the midday sun. I only managed to get decent photos of these very different coloured bottlebrushes.
However, I will supplement it with other Callistemon-like photos I have taken.
Static and Silence 