Home of the Magic Pudding

Norman Lindsay wrote the classic Australian children's book: The Magic Pudding. The story is about Bunyip Bluegum, a koala, who meets up with Bill Barnacle and Sam Sawnoff (a penguin), proud pudding owners. The pudding is eaten every day and still continues to be the pudding. Being eaten every day makes the pudding grumpy and also the object of the dastardly pudding thieves, Wombat and Possum! These are the characters we tried unsuccessfully to get close to in the Melbourne Botanic Gardens and the book that we got through after pages and pages of song, sung poorly by the reader.

Here in Faulconbridge, NSW, you can visit the Norman Lindsay Gallery, which is where he lived most of his life. All the streets nearby are named for the book characters. We didn't actually go in the gallery, because his art wasn't all for children's books and the kids had enough touring for one day, but we did snag a picture with the Pudding!

Jenolan Caves

On Friday we drove to the Jenolan Caves, just about an hour from Blackheath. Molly and Daniel embarked on an Explorers Tour without parents! There were maps and headlamps involved, so everyone seemed happy. Charlie was stuck with us on the Imperial Diamond Cave tour. He spent lots of time hangin' with the big kids on the tour, but he didn't touch anything he wasn't supposed to, so that was a success. Rumor has it, Daniel and Molly spotted a platapus while they were eating their tea at the end of the tour, but there are no photos to prove it!
Post tour crash, which occurred while Mike was fueling up on coffee in Blackheath for the drive home (with a hot chocolate to keep the passenger attentive!).

Water Trouble

Too much water here:

Not enough water here:












More details to follow.


The walk photos are from Grovett's Leap on the way to Evan's Lookout in Blackheath. We didn't make it the whole way to Evan's Lookout because the fog and rain rolled in and blocked all chance of actually Looking Out. It was a good walk, none the less. Molly is dressed for the weather and even Charlie put his favorite, broken-zipper sweatshirt on over his uniform of short sleeved shirt and "short sleeved pants".




The paths wander all along hill sides, over tops of waterfalls and along cliff edges. Can you make out the Conlin trio at the top of the waterfall? The steps into the valley looked very intriguing, but the threatening weather made us hesitate.

Before and After

Now, back to the water shortage. Mike keenly noted the steam rising from the hood (bonnet?) of the car when we got to our first destination. Two opinions later, we signed up for a new radiator at the Blackheath service station. We still managed the Cliff Top Hike, a brekkie for lunch at a place call the Savoy in downtown Katoomba, and a peek at the Three Sisters from Echo Point before the part they needed showed up. We heard the Three Sisters was overrated, but being one of three sisters, it was worth the stop. The tour buses beat us there - we're not used to crowds, so it was a bit shocking. Here they are alone and here I am alone, without Julie and Kim.

What color are those Blue Mountains, anyway?

Wednesday was a half day of work and then we set off for the Blue Mountains. PopPop wondered what color the Blue Mountains are, so Charlie has spent the days asking if we’re in the Blue Mountains, because they’re not blue. For that matter, they aren’t really mountains either, just HUGE gorges. In the end, he decided they should just be called Mountains. Ithaca, NY has some tough competition here. They’re just about a two hour drive from Sydney, so easy to get to in our car, but the train goes right there too. We’re sort of wishing we had tried them before, but remembered that the weather here can be much cooler than Sydney and so waiting to spring was probably the right choice. We hiked from the Conservation Hut (a café) to Empress Falls, along the National Pass, to the Wentworth Falls. The trail was first made in 1908 – carved along the cliffs and over the waterfalls - and renovated in 2008. It’s not possible to capture the scale in pictures.

The final leg of the hike was from the bottom of the Wentworth Falls along some steep, steep stairs: 100 meters elevation in a short time. We’re happy to report that Mike and Daniel took the shortcut back to where the car was and picked the persons with short legs and their guardian up in the carpark at Wentworth Falls.

Dinner was in an Indian restaurant in Blackheath, the town where we’re staying. The food was yummy after a long day of hiking, but we weren’t so thrilled by pricing scheme. Rice to go with the meals was $3/person. I kept thinking about how many meals $15 of rice would actually make for us. There’s no tipping here, but we miss other things about the American restaurant ways. Tomorrow we’ll cook our own rice and skip the somosas.

A seat in the house

Monday was Labour Day and Mike had all three kids on his own. He headed back to the Olympic Center to swim – brave man. It was the day after the Aussie Rules Premier Game - Footy Finals - but there were no souvenirs to be had. Manly (a suburb of Sydney) beat New Zealand. We saw lots of fans walking the streets on Sunday. It’s hard to tell the team names because the main writing on them is the sponsor: Vodaphone for one.

Anyway, back to the story. I had Tuesday duty because I booked tickets a few weeks ago to see “The Gruffalo” at the Opera House. Charlie was in school, but Molly, Daniel and I looked up all the free buildings in Circular Quay, near the Opera House to check out. We started with the Customs House, which has a 1:500 scale model of the city of Sydney that we wandered around for a while, as long as one can in a 1:500 model.

We caught part of the filming of Master Chef Junior behind the Opera House. Quite a setting! They were 13 or 14 year olds with big cameras in their faces baking, blending, simmering and looking over their shoulders at a clock.

There’s a outside art show called Art and About and part of it is the “What if…” signs everywhere. Daniel picked one and we chose one for Mike to use when he returns to the East Lansing School District “Scene”.

The show was fun – Daniel laughed the loudest of almost everyone and reported later that he was “bored”. I think we’ve officially got a tweener. The theater we were in for the kids’ show was nothing special – we’re planning to check out the Opera House open house later in the month for a more full tour.

Afterwards we caught the end of a street performer: Jaime from America. He chose a volunteer from the audience and Molly made the cut. She got hopped over and then had to throw a juggling tool up to him. For that, he paid her $10, just before he gave a long speech about how this is his job and he’d really appreciate if everyone could put dollars into his hat at the end of the show. Hmm. A hard sell.

Finally, we tried the Museum of Contemporary Art in The Rocks, which is closed for renovation, but they pointed us in the direction of the temporary exhibits. Ta Da!

Rolodexes In Blue. Is that the plural of rolodex?

Repeat Day

With Sunday Funday passes in hand, we head for the city! We've been here so long, we're revisiting places we've been! We got a membership to the Aquarium the first time, so we went back again. I found someone else interested in taking pictures of my kids:
Oh, and the Lego exhibit is still on...


The new exhibit is "CLAWS!", where we met a Japanese Spider Crab. Their bodies are as big as a basketball and their legs are as tall as Molly.


After a picnic lunch outside the aquarium (notice our attire, it's spring here, but not really much warmer than when we were here in July AND, did I mention we had Daylight savings overnight, so we sprung forward and lost our second hour of the year?), we hoofed it over to the Art Gallery of New South Wales for the 2:30 show there. It was a couple who performed a mime/magic show with lots of paper involved. Molly and Charlie didn't get all the jokes, but Daniel looked up from the book he was reading and laughed heartily.


The Museum is next to the Botanic Gardens so we went back there too! The fancy bubbler was working today: 3 for 1 meant that there was no squabbling over who got to get a drink first. "ME!" "NO! I was here first!" "No, I was!!!!!!" "MOM! DAD! Charlie bit me!" Gotta love together time.

We got some different views of the Harbour from this side of the Botanic Gardens:

And, again, we returned home to 159A Moverly RD, South Coogee (and had a fight over who got to open the door).

Cobbity and Camden

"Welcome to Cobbity, a Tidy little Town."
I didn't get a pictures of the sign as we entered town, so you'll have to take my word for it.
On the way out: "Thank you for helping to keep Cobbity Tidy!"

The guide book promised us a local craft and produce market on the first Saturday each month. The only craft that caught our eyes was the deluxe waffle maker! Yep, those are bananas!


Cobbity is near the Australian Botanic Garden, dedicated to native plants. This was our ultimate destination. The paper daisies were in bloom and the display was impressive! The kids wandered through the paths deprogramming evil snakes (garden hoses). The minimal toys we have in our apartment has generated an odd set of imaginary games.