HMAS Newcastle FFG 06 arrived in Newcastle Harbour today for what will probably be its final visit before decommissioning.
We arrived early and spent a relaxing afternoon walking on the foreshore. We had a very nice steak pie at Harry’s Cafe De-Wheels and an ice cream from across the road. The foreshore was a very pleasant backdrop to sit and eat lunch next to.
While eating we watched the coal ships coming and going and had a great view of Nobby’s Headland. Then we walked up to Nobby’s Surfhouse and had a nice coffee until the ship was due.
HMAS Newcastle arrived around 3:30PM, to a large crowd all along the break water and foreshore.
There was nothing to do last Sunday afternoon, so we decided on a two and a half hour drive down to Sydney to visit Taronga Zoo. The only tricky bit with driving was making sure you were in the right hand of three lanes when exiting the Warringah Freeway, so as to be able to get onto Military Road towards the zoo. If you are using Google Maps, it takes you to the staff entrance for the car park. Just turn left, and you will see the undercover multistory public car park. Take your ticket with you as you will need it to pay for parking before returning to your car. There is not an option to use a credit card at the gate.
If you are in Sydney, the best way to get there is by ferry. There is one that goes direct from Circular Quay to the zoo and return with no other stops, so you will not get lost.
Zoo Entry
Entry From the Car Park
Entry is through the beautiful old building in the photo below. You can go through the ground level entrance to the right of the steps.
Taronga Zoo Main Entrance
Inside the entrance to the right is a ticketing office, toilets and information booth. You can wander around a large area here without buying a ticket, including the cafe and gift shop.
The staff at the ticket office took our money ($46.00 each) and handed us a receipt. Keep this handy as it is your entry ticket and you will need it later. The information booth can provide you with a map of the zoo’s layout. Quite good maps, with the suggested trail to follow marked on. Even better, the trail is marked on the walking paths as big green circles.
Just down from the entrance is a series of manned gateways which is the entry to the zoo proper. The friendly staff will ask for you ticket and stamp your hand. Then it’s off to explore.
Entry From the Ferry
The ferry wharf is near the lower entry gates, where you can either take the chair lift, or enter through the gift shop. If you choose the chair lift, it will take you to the upper section of the zoo and you can walk back down. There is an option to take the chair lift from the upper level to the start if you don’t want to walk back.
Lower Entrance
The Animals at Taronga Zoo
The zoo is built on quite a steep piece of land near Sydney Harbor. Some of the pathways can be a bit of a climb, but there are plenty of rest areas and things to look at, so no need to rush and tire yourself out.
The first animal we saw was this gorgeous tree kangaroo up in its tree. It was not very active and looked like it had either just woken up or was about to go to sleep.
Tree Kangaroo
Reptile House
Not far from the tree kangaroo was the reptile house. Basking outside was a Komodo Dragon. A very impressive representative of the world’s largest species of lizard. The rest of the reptile house has many cages and cases with numerous snakes, lizards and turtles.
Komodo Dragon
Iguana in the Reptile House
Giraffes
Not far from here were the giraffes. They were very active, eating and walking around their enclosure.
Giraffes
Giraffe
Squirrel Monkeys
The squirrel monkeys are in a large open cage, where small groups of visitors can walk through on a board walk. The monkeys wander around, climbing and eating and generally ignore the people. It was excellent to be able to get close to them without bars or perspex in the way. A guide accompanies you into the cage, answers any questions you might have and makes sure you all exit before the next group is admitted.
Squirrel Monkeys
On a detour from the main path of green circles, we went to see the Barbary Sheep, Bongo, Zebras and Himalayan Tahr.
Himalayan Tahr
Meerkats
Taronga Zoo has a nice little meerkat display. It was still early and they were all out scratching around the cage. The front of the enclosure is perspex, so you get a really good view of them. Many of them come right to the perspex.
Taronga Zoo Merekat
Walking towards the elephant display, we by-passed the Australian section, as we have seen many kangaroos and wallabies over the years. Next stop was for a snack at the View Restaurant.
After a coffee and cake we headed for the seal show. The presenter was overly enthusiastic, and we soon realized the show was tailored for kids. Nothing wrong with this and the kids there were certainly enjoying themselves. However, we decided to give it a miss and went to see the Condor, deer and seals (those not at the show). From the pathways, there are some spectacular views of Sydney Harbor.
View of Sydney Harbor
Gorilla
Gorilla
Elephants
From the seals we took the rain forest trail back up. This is a nice leafy area, and would be very nice on a hot day. This trail exits near the elephants. Two of them were having their morning baths and checkups with staff. This was an excellent opportunity to get quite close to them, and talk to staff. Even better, the young male trumpeted as he was leaving. This was one of the highlights of the day, as we had never heard an elephant before,
Taronga Zoo Elephant
Baby Elephant
Taronga Zoo Tigers
Part of the redevelopment of the zoo, the tiger enclosure is well laid out and spacious. To ensure that visitor numbers are controlled, a line outside, only permits a limited number of people in at once. This is great and the viewing areas were not crowded and everyone there as able to see. Large perspex windows allow you to get up close to the tigers as they wander around.
Tiger
Looking Through the Perspex Window at a Tiger
Tiger
Chimpanzees
Home to a large group of chimpanzees, this enclosure is a fun pace to stand and watch as the chimps play and wander around the area.
Chimpanzee
Leaving the Zoo and Heading Home
After four hours, we decided it was time to leave for the car trip home. Car parking fees were $18.00. Getting home was straight forward. The only tricky part being (if you are heading north) is to make sure you are in one of the two right hand lanes when leaving Military Road for Falcon Street, as they turn right onto the freeway. If you get stuck in the left two lanes, keep going until you reach the Pacific Highway and turn right.
What Did We Think?
What did we think? Not too bad. Entry price was what you expect to pay. Parking is expensive as is the food. We loved the new tiger enclosure and International tourists will be going to see the Australian section, which looks extensive. Locals will want Australian and international animals. Overall a fun day out.
To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.
We drove directly to Melbourne and our accommodation, the Mercure Welcome Melbourne. We had the car parked by the valet for $35 a night. There is an option to park it for $25 a day at a nearby secure parking, but as we didn’t want to walk with bags and would need the car several time, we went for the valet option.
The Mercure Welcome Melbourne is on the corner of Swanston Street and Little Bourke Street. This is right in the middle of the city, so is convenient to nearly everything and at $117 per night was excellent value for money. The room we booked was small, but we were aware of this and only planned to sleep there, so extra room wasn’t needed.
Our eldest daughter had already booked into the hotel, so we caught up with her, and went for a walk along Swanston Street. Where Swanston meets Flinders Street, there is a row of horse-drawn carriages. We rented one for a half hour trip which cost us $100. The cost is the same for one person, or a full carriage. The horses take you down St Kilda Road on a loop. It’s almost as much fun watching other tourists take photos of you, as the trip itself.
Simply wandering around, we came across some excellent street art. An entire alleyway full of graffiti. There are several areas where street art is visible. We asked the concierge for the best area, and he gave us directions.
For dinner, we wandered down to Degraves Street. A narrow lane-way closed to traffic, it’s full of eateries. You can choose to eat inside, or in the street. An excellent choice of meals. There should be enough variety to satisfy most people. We went for Italian, with Italian Peroni beer for me and a cider for the wife.
Dog Statue Swanston St Melbourne
The Businesmen – Statues on Swanston Street Melbourne
Horse and Carriage Swanston St Melbourne
Melbourne Arts Centre at Night
Street Art
Street Art
Day 4.
This was the day we caught up with our youngest daughter at Holmesglen TAFE. She has just finished her catering course for the RAN. As a finale, a lunch was put on for family and some Defence Force Personnel. Everything went very well, and afterwards, we drove her back to HMAS Cerberus, and then for an afternoon snack in Morningtion. There was time for a quick walk on the beach and a chance to look at the beautiful beach houses. These are one of Mornington’s biggest attractions and a must see if you are in the area.
Beach Change Houses Mornington
Beach Change Houses Mornington
The drive back into Melbourne CBD was uneventful. The road is quite boring but along the way are quite a few pieces of artwork, ranging from giant birds, rams heads, gnomes to a pretend hotel. Arriving back in Melbourne, it was necessary to drive slowly through China Town’s Little Bourke Street at night to avoid the numerous pedestrians. They seem to just walk out into the road without regard for traffic.
There was a beautiful sunset over Melbourne and we had a great view from the bridge over the Yarra River next to Flinders Street Station. An evening stroll down Southbank was very relaxing after the drive back, with many of the decorations from Chinese New Year still in place.
Sunset Over the Yarra River
Park Sculpture St Kilda Road
Melbourne Arts Centre at Night
Day 5.
12 Apostles Great Ocean Road
An early start saw us leaving the hotel before breakfast was served. Our car was ready and waiting as promised by the valet.
The drive to the 12 Apostles and along the Great Ocean Road was very easy. Although the scenery is boring at first it improves along the Great Ocean Road, with some spectacular ocean views. We arrived just as the helicopter flights were setting up for the day.
Helicopter Flight
The helicopter flight was spectacular and provides an unrivaled view of the 12 Apostles and the coast line. We took the 30-minute flight for $135 each. The helicopter has eight seats. Beware if you sit in the rear, as the view from the middle seats can be a bit restricted.
Eurocopter EC 130 T2
12 Apostles Helicopter
The flight went west past Port Campbell and then returned. The views of the 12 Apostles Great Ocean Road were amazing and a totally different perspective from those on the cliffs. As well as taking photos, there is a recording made of the flight which you can buy and is given to you on a USB drive.
It’s highly recommended that you get to the Visitor Centre early, as when we landed, the queues were quite long to get on the flights. At this stage though, they were getting another two helicopters out to cater for the growing crowd.
12 Apostles Victoria
12 Apostles Victoria
After the flight, we crossed the road to the lookout. The views here are fantastic and despite crowds everyone can get a good view. If you want to go down to the beach, travel east to Gibson Steps, where there is another lookout an steps down to the sand.
Port Campbell
Ten minutes down the road from the 12 Apostles visitor centre is the small town of Port Campbell. There is a very nice café sitting right opposite the beach. We had apple pie and coffee for a morning snack, rounding off a very enjoyable morning. The town was quite peaceful and relaxing when we were there, but a local told us that in summer, the population swells by 3,000. If you want a quiet time, probably best not to be there during school holidays.
RAAF Museum Point Cook
The RAAF museum was next on our itinerary. It was a three-hour drive from where we spent the morning. Arriving at 2PM, we still had two hours to see the excellent RAAF collection. It hosts aircraft from World War One to the present. The latest examples being an F-111 and a McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom. The World War One and Two exhibits are exceptionally well presented in enclosed hangers, where you can walk around the aircraft for some brilliant views.
The modern hanger hosts the F-4, F-111 and a Canberra. They are displayed behind a Perspex barrier. There are viewing portals in the Perspex so that un-obscured photos can be taken, but you are unable to get close to the aircraft. The forth hanger is more of a storage facility, with the displays held behind a wire mesh. There is an elevated viewing platform, but many of the aircraft on the far side of the hanger are obscured.
The final hanger is where restoration is taking place. This area also has an elevated platform, but the whole area looks a bit of a mess, as it is a workshop, with partially restored aircraft and parts lying around.
Bristol BloodhoundSurface to Air MissileRAAF Museum Point Cook
CAC Boomerang RAAF Point Cook
McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom RAAF Point Cook
Supermarine WalrusRAAF Museum Point Cook
GAF Pika and Jindivik RAAF Point Cook
Overnight we stayed at the delightful Quality Suites d’Olive. These semi-detached units consist of a bedroom with king size double bed, lounge, kitchenet and spa-bathroom. All very nicely appointed and good value at $190 a night. They had turned the air conditioner on before we arrived, so the whole unit was nice and cool. Dinner was had in their restaurant; also very nice, with excellent wait staff.
Day 6.
The following day was our biggest planned drive from Point Cook to Bowral in New South Wales, a total of eight hours driving. The Hume Highway is very easy driving, with dual carriage way most of the way. To speed an otherwise boring trip, we only stopped at the roadside service stations. Nothing special about any of them except that they are clean and sold petrol and snacks.
Windmills on the Hume Highway
Bradman Museum
Arriving in Bowral at 3:00PM, we went straight to the Bradman Museum, for a two-hour immersion in Australian cricketing history. Any cricketing fan needs to go here at some time, just to get a feel for the history of the game. This is a world-class museum, despite being in rural Bowral.
Sir Donald Bradman Statue
Bradman Museum Bowral NSW
Bradman Museum Bowral NSW
The Invincibles – Bradman Museum Bowral NSW
Accommodation for the night was at Briar’s Country Lodge. This old inn is in a lovely setting, with a large pond and rotunda out the back. Obviously set up for weddings, it is very picturesque. The inn has a restaurant where you pay up front for your meal and then have it delivered to your table. Much like a pub. Although neither of us liked the meals we ordered, the beers on tap – try the speckled hen; and cider kept us happy on the outside veranda through the evening.
Beer and Cider Briar’s Country Lodge
Day 7. Plans for this day were cancelled, as the forecast temperature was in the mid-forties. Instead of going to Nowra and the Fleet Air Arm Museum, we headed straight home to Singleton. After a leisurely breakfast, we undertook the three-hour drive home, only stopping at a service station on the M1 to Newcastle for coffee and a toilet break. We arrived home to 44oC heat.
The Route Taken
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