Hunter Valley Horses are located in the Hunter Valley Resort on Hermitage Road, Pokolbin in the Hunter Valley, the same place as the Segway Tours, which makes them easy to find. After filling out a small amount of paperwork and getting a helmet, you meet your horse. The guides teach riding basics and then it is time to venture out.
No one in our group was an experienced rider, which meant we could all go at the same pace. Our horses were all sedate and the riding pace slow. There were two experience guides, who were fantastic and took lots of pictures for us. A more exciting pace can be organised if you contact the guide beforehand.
The ride wound through the local vineyards with magnificent views of the Brokenback Ranges and bush land. The track was generally flat with only two places where we crossed small gullies. The guides explain how to go through these areas, which made for an easy no stress ride.
Fantastic morning, meeting new people,sight-seeing, riding the horses and enjoying what the Hunter Valley has to offer.
To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.
Royal National Park is located south of Sydney. To drive there from Singleton took us 4 hours, because we drove through Sydney and hit rush hour traffic . Once we arrived however it was worth it because of the fantastic scenery.
Visitor Information Centre
Our first stop was the Visitor Information Centre which caters for the national park, where we got directions to the Wedding Cake Rock car park.. After a coffee we set off to Bundeena where we parked in the small car park and set of for our walk.
The Balconies
Our first track took us to the balconies which was only 800 metres from the car park. As well as fantastic views along the coast, you can see the cliff faces going down into the ocean. There are also some fantastic weathered rock formations and we spent some time looking around them and taking photos.
Coastal Cliffs
Weathered Rocks
Weathered Rocks
Royal National Park Walking Tracks
The next destination was nearly four km away and the walking track changed from dirt and rock to a mostly metal foot way which made walking easy. However, there were some very steep sections with steps cut into the rocks and stairs constructed so you get up or down. There is one very large valley, where a creek runs down into the sea. with some fantastic sandstone stepping-stones to get from one side to the other. These are as interesting as your destination and we stopped it take some photos.
Metal Walk Way
Banksia ericifolia
Sandstone Stepping Stones
Sandstone Stepping Stones
Wedding Cake Rock
The most famous part of this section of Royal National Park is the Wedding Cake Rock. The rock itself is unstable and fenced off with warning signs, because several people have fallen. However, there an ample opportunities and places where you can take photographs of the rock without having to climb the fence and put your life at risk.
Wedding Cake Rock
Lunch
The walk back to our car took about 45 minutes as we didn’t stop for many photos. We drove back to the Visitor Information Centre and sat outside at the Ironbark Flat Picnic Area, where we had lunch. This is a great picnic area set up next to the Hacking River, where we also took some photos of the birds that flocked around when we ate.
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Purple Swamphen
To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.
Located opposite the eastern end of Circular Quay the Justice and Police Museum is very easy to get to. Outside there are silhouettes of criminals, which look fantastic, and a great photo opportunity. Unfortunately the museum is only open on weekends, so if you want to visit, keep this in mind. The building consists of the old water police office and courtroom, the old police watch house, holding cells and their old courtroom.
Criminal Silhouettes
The museum would be worth visiting just for the buildings themselves as the courtroom was designed by James Barnet. The courtroom still has the prisoners’ dock present and the watch house has the front desk and interrogation dock present.
Prisoners’ Dock
Police Desk
The old holding cells have displays of old mug shots showing how they evolved with time. Some notorious criminals have their crimes and mugshots on the walls (the criminals in the 20’s got to pose how they wanted ……. just a small bit of knowledge learnt on the day) along with a display of weaponry, both police and criminal.
Old Mug Shots
Weapons on Display
The volunteers present were fantastic and made our visit memorable. They gave us a better insight into the operation of the building, took fingerprints and explained the operation of the station and treatment of the criminals.
A great place to visit, see some mug shots, read some criminal history, see some cells and courtrooms all in an hour. This is a little museum, but very well set up and interesting! Would definitely visit her again.
To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.