Bus... The L90... To Avalon

This is a beautiful area.
I am staying at Whale Beach, the other
side of the hill from Palm Beach...
All in the bigger area of Summer Bay...
Of Home and Away fame.


It's lovely walking round here, it's about half an hour
whichever way you go to the bus stop.
I decided to take a walk and get the bus to Avalon...
The next village and closest shops.

In places it's quite steep.
Amazingly, this whole area is zoned 'rural'.
The locals like it like this with no footpaths.
The roads are narrow and windy...
Lots of beautiful bush.

It was a hot day... As you can see from the blue sky.

To the top of the hill... Surf Road.

 
And down the other side.


Glimpses of the sea... This is the Pittwater Harbour side.


Nearly to the bottom.
All the trees make it lovely and shady for walking.


More Pittwater views...


The main road... Barrenjoey Road...
The bus stop.


Here's the bus... the L90...


About 10 minutes to Avalon.
There are some really nice shops here
and excellent cafes.
I chose one called 'Swell' to sit and have coffee.


As I went in I noticed this blackboard...
Mmm... I thought... Familiar writing!

m
I sat down to drink my coffee and saw this board...
More familiar writing...
Yes... Indeed it was... The handiwork of my daughter.
She does beautiful caligraphy, the cafes and
restaurants employ her to do their menu boards.
I went there another day with her,
there was a little note on her saucer...
New menu... New board required!
More work... And it's well paid.
 

Sydney... Here I come

Well here I am again... Did you miss me?
No I didn't get lost and no the plane didn't fall
out of the sky.
I arrived safely in Sydney...
Follow the story.


My flight from Christchurch left at 6.30am...
The shuttle picked me up at 4.15am
and I was checked in and ready for coffee
by 5am. This was the only place open so it was
coffee and a croissant... Till I got to Sydney.

Duty free... But I didn't want anything...

I didn't want anything here either... And at that hour
of the morning although several flights were
leaving it was all quite deserted.

Off I treked to my departure gate... Quite a walk

 
And I arrived in Sydney... People everywhere
of every nationality and a much faster pace.


My first stop was Vodafone... To get a free Aussie
Sim card... And they give you lots of credit.
It took a long time... I should have been more aware
and alert... But finally they got it registered and working...
Or so I thought!
I have since learned... If you are coming to
Australia... DO NOT... use Vodafone.
Their coverage is mostly non-existent...
Even in the middle of the city.
After 5 days of total frustration of not being
able to get online with my phone,
which is also how I connect my laptop,
and after asking lots of Australian people
who have perfectly good coverage...
I was told... Nobody in Oz uses Vodafone...
Use Telstra... So I did. Another Sim card,
some free credit, good coverage and I'm up and running...
And here I am... Online again!

 
This was the 'way out' to the trains...

 
The underground train station right at the airport...
It is so easy.

 
Me and my pack... Do you wonder why I use a  pack and not a suitcase?
Well it's because when it's empty it stores flat under my bed in my bus.
I don't have room to store suitcases.
It's still early in the morning at 8.30
Sydney time.
 

This is where I was going... The Airport Link
into central Sydney...


The Sydney harbour Bridge... Out the train window.
Yes I was definitely in the right city.
This is the 3rd year that I have been to visit my daughter here
so I know the way now... Can hop on and off transport
like I've lived here all  my life...
Well not quite!
Then it was the well known bus... the L90 to Palm Beach.
40km from the central city and the longest bus route
in the city... It takes 90 minutes.


This is Whale Beach, where my daughter is living now.
It's just over the hill from Palm Beach.
The first thing I had to do after a cup of tea
was walk along this beach.
It is divine with clean golden sand.
The is the south end...


A sea water rock pool for safe swimming in the corner.

 
 The interesting rocks round the pool.
On the rough days the sea pounds over here... No swimming!


This is the north end and over this hill is Palm Beach


Half way along Whale Beach is the house where I am staying
80 steps to the beach... A long deck...
And all day views of the changing sea.

A Wander Through The City...

I met a friend in the city to go to the movies.
We went to see 'Amour' a French movie with English sub-titles.
I had read a review with five stars so wanted to see it.
It is an excellent movie, portrays an elderly
couple and how they managed after one of them had a stroke.
As realistically told as the movie 'Iris' about the  author Iris Murdoch
who developed Alzheimers and how her husband cared for her.

 After the movies we walked through the city
to go to Spagalimis for Pizza... Yum!

These photos are random shots I took as we walked...

 
This is the corner of Cashel St and Oxford Terrace.
There were cafes and pubs along here...
It was known as 'The Strip'.


This is the corner of Hereford St and Oxford Tce
looking east towards Colombo St.


This is Oxford Tce looking towards the corner of Worcester Boulevard.
The old Clarendon Hotel on the corner.
Some years ago it was pulled down but the facade was kept
and offices built there.
The white curved building is Rydes Hotel...
Used to be Noah's.


Closer up... through the barricade.


In a few weeks all these baracades will be removed
 the red zoned CBD will be open again to the public.


This is the Hereford Street bridge across the Avon River.
We walked over here...


Then around the Avon River.
It is a beautiful sight after all the destruction and empty lots.


This is the Worcester Boulevard bridge,
the broken Cathedral in the distance.
The front building is 'Our City Otautahi'
badly damaged as you can see.
The insured value of $5.8 million is unlikely to cover the
repair options of this historic Queen Anne building.

Closer up... Looking at the Cathedral...
The repairs or re-build of this historic Gothic
building is causing great controversy...
Likely to cost many millions of dollars
and take up to 20 years.

We continued to walk round Cambridge Terrace...
This is the corner of Gloucester St and Cambridge.
There used to be a lovely cafe here and the
old Horticultural Hall.


The same building as the previous photo
Cranes litter the skyline.

 
The opposite corner, Gloucester & Durham Streets.
Amuri Motors used to be here...
And a new office block.
I worked on the top floor for a few years
when I lived here.


Just desolate empty lots where offices and people used to be.


The same corner...


Looking at the Canterbury Provincial Chambers.



It sustained severe damage and significant
portions need to be rebuilt.
These two buildings are amongst the 58 earthquake
damaged facilities the council have identified
as top priority for repair or replacement.



Walking along Victoria Street.
 It was difficult to find our way there
as so many streets are still cordoned off.

 
More empty lots along Victoria St...
  Which sustained a lot of damage to many of the
old quaint historic buildings.
Such a shame so much of Christchurch's
heritage has disappeared.

Well... this is the last of my earthquake blogs.
I'm off to Sydney tomorrow...
So next post when I get there.