One of the loveliest things to do on an extended beach break is the meander on the beach at all hours.
There was plenty of opportunity to do that in Collingwood as the town is on a huge sand spit.
One can wander about in all directions for hours upon end, often without seeing another soul.
Once on the sand, there were plenty of things to see. I was very interested in seeing what the sand hid and then consequently revealed when the tide receded.
Our next stop was Nelson. Nelson is a small city of 53,500 at the top of the South Island. It is said to be the sunniest city in all of NZ!
It wasn’t quite sunny when we arrived. It’s certainly a very green city with the bush right behind the suburban streets.
Since the city was established back in 1841, it has a mix of modern and historical buildings in the town centre.
I liked these old weatherboard houses, very typical of New Zealand because of the availability of good building timbers in the past. Reminds me of the old Queenslanders.
The drive from Picton to Havelock via Queen Charlotte Drive isn’t for the faint hearted. It takes in a very narrow and twisty road (a Kiwi special, you might say) that passes by many a picturesque viewpoint and down into quiet little bays.
We also stopped to take a stroll in the Kiwi bush.
Eventually, we emerged from the bush to face the next sizeable town in the region, Havelock.
Much of the shopping area looked as if it was built in the 1960’s and not too interesting to look at, but just outside there were a few more vintage-y buildings.
It was much nicer closer to the water at the Memorial Park.
Everyone was enjoying the sunshine.
Hobart is a nice, sleepy place, with lots of 19th Century sandstone buildings, like this hotel in the CBD.
Its population perhaps tends to be a little eccentric than most. Look what we found in the phone booth!
I like little country cottages, like this one on the outskirts of Bowral.
Lots of fog and dew on autumn mornings.
And who doesn’t love a stringybark – bark still in tact at this time of year.
I’m always a bit of a sucker for a rural scene. Here’s a few more glimpses of the Southern Highlands, around rural Mittagong, Berrima and Bowral.
Mmm, thinking of vineyards, it’s just about time to crack open a nice bottle of red, or a sticky or a port!
Hope you’re going alright out there in isolation. I’m alright here in Sydney. It’s certainly given me a reason to complete things that were let go months ago.
At the moment, I’m going through my photo archive for things that I missed out on posting in recent years. I’ll be posting these in the coming weeks. They might not always be related, but a bit of randomness these days isn’t a bad thing.
These pictures hail from all the way back from winter 2018, when we had a run of frosty days in the suburbs. Frost is a rare thing in our part of Sydney so I had to get my camera out.
Winter might be just around the corner, but as long as you’re warm and dry, it’s not such a bad thing. It certainly gives me a better reason to hibernate, and not regret it.
We’ll end the series with some interesting details from the walk.
Cafes are a big part of Newtown and you can choose to sit at one of 100 or so in the area. Always sit by the window as there’s always something interesting to look at.
And there are also lots of interesting shops to browse too. This one is from a second-hand shop specialising in antiques – a grouping one does not ordinarily see.
What makes Newtown very striking these days is the proliferation of street art.
It’s everywhere from the main to the back streets.
I like it a lot. As well as brightening the suburb up, it deters much of the vandals and gives Newtown’s substantial creative community much needed exposure.
It makes for an interesting walk, I think. Turn a corner, and you can come across touching tributes like this.
Static and Silence 