Located on a stone windowsill at the Mitchell Wing of the NSW State Libary is a memorial to Trim.
The pictures below are firstly going to set the scene for the location of the memorial to Trim. In stone, he is in good, historical company.
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| Hello Trim! |
Like many travellers to Australia both our arrival and departure was from Sydney International airport. By the time we arrived in Sydney we had been in transit for 46 hours and had planned to fly from Sydney to the regional airport at Wagga in mid New South Wales. Our journey home, allowed us to have some time in Sydney and today I am going to present a whistlestop tour.
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| Circular Quay |
We booked our hotel in central Sydney, about 10 minutes from the main attractions. Our room, a deluxe double (there had been no regular double rooms left) was comfortable, clean and well presented. The hotel is located on Pitt Street and quite simply walk out of the hotel and turn left, keep walking and you will eventually arrive at Circular Quay – the gateway to The Opera House and Harbour Bridge, and Hyde Park. Along the way there are shops, resturants, coffee venues, China Town just to name a few.
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| View along Pitt Street |
We essentially did the walk I have just described, stopping often along the way.
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| View along Pitt Street |
Down to Circular Quay, then to the Opera House and then through Hyde Park.
It was a beautiful sunny day, the temperature was a smidge too hot for me at 32 centigrade, but it has to be one of the nicest days of our wonderful trip.
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| The view at Circular Quay |
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| Sydney Harbour Bridge |
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| Sydney Harbour Bridge |
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| View of Hyde Park from the steps of Opera House |
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| View of the Skyline from the Opera House |
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| St Mary’s Cathedral |
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| St Mary’s Cathedral |
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| Archibald Fountain |
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| Archibald Fountain |
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| Archibald Fountain with St Mary’s Cathedral |
By the time we had navigated back to the hotel we were exhausted. It early evening and after a shower and change of clothes we headed out for dinner. We had opted to try a recommended resturant, but nothing on the menu looked appealing and we decided they traded on the back of the view rather than a combination of the food and view.
We then walked back down to a resturant located along from the Opera House and grabbed a table outside. It was lovely. The view stunning, the food and company wonderful and we struggled to believe it was October and we were sitting outside eating and not wearing layers! It was a different story when we arrived in London a day or two later to zero degrees!
This is very much a whistlestop tour and I could share many more Sydney photos with you, but we need to process to T tomorrow! better still you could explore the City yourself – be prepared to spend at least 4 or 5 days there. It is a fabulous City, welcoming to visitors with so much to offer. I love it!
Australia in an amazing Continent, and despite living there for a time I am still in awe of the distances and the Aussie concept of travel. I recall asking my Cousin how far Sydney was from his home town of Wagga was. I expected an answer in miles or kilometers instead the answer was, “a good 5 hours”.
One of the amazing things I learnt last year was that prior to my known family of John Ellis and his wife Sarah nee Turprin migrating from Surrey to Geelong in 1854, that Sarah’s brother Robert had been transported there in 1833. I pondered this.
So, where did my ancestors live –
Earlier this month I talked about the time spent at the Canberra War Memorial. There was quite a lot of focus given, and quite rightly so, to the Australian (and New Zealander’s and others) soldiers at the hands of the Japanese occupation of the Colonies during the Second World War.
In the bottom of a glass cabinet, away from light was an amazing quilt – entitled the Changi Quilt. The photographs below have hopefully captured the talent and hope that is displayed within the stitches.
The prison of war camp at Changi held in addition to the troops, around 400 women and children. It was these women that whiled away the hours stitching this quilt.
These women took remarkable risks to create the quilts. The Japanese guards did not like groups, and were often brutal when the encountered groups, including groups of women. The conditions were harsh, the heat unbearable and there was a lack of water and food.
The fact that these quilts were created and have survived the conditions represents the fortitude of the women and the times.
Firstly, It was all my Cousin’s fault. She mentioned pancakes when we were down in Victoria and since then I had been almost dreaming about them.
Then, as luck would have it, whilst we were in Sydney we stumbled across a restaurant in Darling Harbour called Pancakes on the Rocks, and well, it had to be done!
We went in and sat at a table and initially ordered drinks whilst we checked out the menu. The couple sitting next to us were just finishing their main course, chicken and mushroom pancakes. We were almost decided when their desert was presented at the table.
It was the loveliest creation of chocolate and strawberries and called Devils Delight. It looked delicious and we both ordered.
After waiting what seemed an age, our wonderful creation arrived and it was everything I thought it was going to be…and more.
Bon Appetite!
I was in my early 20s when I first saw the Opera House. I had boarded a plane at Nadi airport in Fiji and a little over 4 hours later the plane swept over the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge and I felt that I had arrived. What had actually happened was my love affair with Australia had begun.
Since then I had landed in Sydney many times, but none of those flights have made the descent over that initial view and every time I share that experience and recall the excitement and wonder I felt that very first time.
This month’s choice is the The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe. I read this book back in January, having seen the book in a window display in a bookshop in Geelong Victoria last October. You can read my original review and post HERE however, I have shared part of that initial review below.
I suspected that I would love it and I was right! – Cancer is always a hard subject to read about, especially as many families including my own have been touched by it. Over the years when I worked in hospitals I would do ward rounds and hear that awful “rattle” and see the patients and their families. Truly shocking.
For me this book was about Will’s relationship with his mother. and his final relationship with her. The conversations they had and the ones they did not have, the books they shared and simply being together, mother and son for a final time. Yes, the medical details are perhaps hard for some to bear because in the US I understand that there are funding issues and therefore some have a “financial stress free time” and others don’t. Here in the UK all medication and treatment is free unless you choose to pay for private medical treatment, in which case it is expensive. We also have the other issue that some medications are available in some health authorities, but that is another story.
I think that this book is about how Will coped with his mother’s passing, and perhaps for Will writing this book was a form of counselling and coming to terms. It also enabled Will to write about his mother, a mother he was immensely proud of.
Despite being such a sad book, alas there is no happy ending, it was a really lovely book. It is the story of reading, books and relationships.
There is also a web page and there is a Facebook page to accompany the book complete with a full list of the books and authors that Will and his mother discussed.
The End of Your Life Book Club Book and Author Listhttp://www.scribd.com/embeds/112965609/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll
For the book club I didn’t re-read, but I did dip in and out of the book. Had my views and thoughts changed? No, they had not. I do think more than ever that writing this book was a way of coping with the loss of his mother. It was a testiment of the time they spent together whilst they both coped with her illness.
The question of how do you say goodbye, knowing that each extra day is a blessing and borrowed time is a difficult one. All those conversations, the ones had and those that can never be had.
In this book, Will’s mother continues to share her wisdom and love of books and Will has captured that all beautifully.
Taking part in the Progressive Book Club
There is something rather lovely about a City at night. When most are asleep, parts of the City become awake and some bits never sleep. There always such a contrast between the day and night of the same place. Here are a few shots of Sydey….at night!
The first 3 pictures are the night view across the City – The Harbour Bridge and The Opera House
These last four photographs are of dusk at Darling Harbour.
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Thinking back to my day at the Canberra War Memorial (see C).
This is a photograph of the wall of rememberance. The N.L. Ludlow is of interest. He is the brother to my Cousin’s maternal Grandmother.
Whilst there is no family connection between me and Norman Lachlan Ludlow, but over the time I have spent in Australia I have got to know my Cousin’s grandmother, known as Grandma, although I have always called her by her Christian name. As she is still living she I shall refer to her as F.
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| Image taken from Norman’s Service Record at The National Archives of Australia |
As luck would have it, Norman’s service record is on line at the National Archives of Australia. Norman was 21years old when he enlisted in 1940 in New South Wales. Sadly, Norman did not make it home, he died, a Prisoner of War in Thailand of disease recorded as Dysentery or Malaria in July 1943.
This is somewhat interesting, given that I spent quite a while in the section of the Museum relating to the service personnel who were Prisoners of War of the Japanese during this period.
Even though many years have passed. His details were shared with his Great neice and his great great niece and his sister still has a photograph on display.
The Anglers Rest blog first went online at Blogger in 2002. At the time of transfer, the counter was at 349,463.
It was moved to this site on 18th December 2015 when the counter was reset -:(
Julie Goucher ~ Anglers Rest 