24th September 2011 David & Nellies Wedding

After a beautiful week of sunshine, it was sad to see the clouds today for David and Nellies wedding, but nothing was going to stand in their way of having a beautiful day...

The wedding ceremony was held at The Federation Pavilion in Cabarita Park which also provides a special link with the beginning of the Commonwealth of Australia.

The pavilion was built for the Inauguration of the Commonwealth of Australia which took place in Centennial Park, Sydney on 1 January 1901. It provided the focal point for the official swearing in of the new government. The first Governor General of Australia, Lord Hopetoun, the first Prime Minister, Edmund Barton, and the first Cabinet were officially sworn in by the Lieutenant Governor and Chief Justice of NSW, Sir Frederick Darley.

Eventually the wooden structure began to fall into disrepair, and in 1903 it was offered for sale and was purchased by the Concord Council for £60 and was moved to its present location in Cabarita Park.  

The park was just lovely and I loved the old  Balmain Fig it was huge !!!!

All the guest gathered around chatting waiting for the bride to arrive and hoping the weather was going to hold up...



David, has words with his Dad Gary to help settle his nerves....

 Nellie walked down a red carpet and the ground covered in rose petals, looking just radiant on her Fathers arm...

The ceremony was beautiful even if it did start to drizzel with rain as it started... but nobody seemed to worry...

After the ceremony family photos were taken and then everyone moved on to the Sydney Rowing Club at Abbotsford for a lovely reception...

Tables were dressed beautifully and every one was given a cute gift filled with mini jelly beans ... yum

After feeding our faces on yummy food...and the speeches over... they had the cutting of the cake...

Followed by the wedding waltz ....

Then we all relaxed and partied on.... on the dance floor to the disco music ...

 Haley and her Dad

 A tired little flower girl

A simple beautiful day !!

23rd September 2011 Visit to Austermere

What a glorious day it was going to be so we decided to go for a drive and have lunch at the beach...

Wollongong was the destination ... and we decided to go for a drive down Bulli Pass and through to Austinmer and its surrounding areas...

We went for a nice stroll over the rock pool area...

We sat down in the shade and made our selves a nice coffee and took in the scenery...then went for a drive further down on Lawrence Hargrave Drive to drive over the beautiful constructed Sea Cliff Bridge

Lawrence Hargrave Drive is one of the most scenic roads in Australia but was notorious for rock falls, embankment slips, mud and rock slides due to high rainfall, marine erosion, weak rock and the weathering of rock features. These rock falls  caused many road closures throughout the road's history.

The road winds its way around the rugged coastal scenery from Stanwell Park to Thirroul, passing through the villages of Coalcliff, Clifton, Scarborough, Wombarra, Coledale, and Austinmer. The road was built in the 1860's and in 1947 the road became Lawrence Hargrave Drive, named after the famous Australian aviation Pioneer

The lower area of the rock formation is a section of the Illawarra coal measures. These measures are made up of layers of coal, clay stone and when it is exposed to the extremes of the ocean, it weathers very rapidly. When erosion of the coal occurs, clay, stone and sandstone forms unstable overhangs, causing large collapses of boulders, falling from tens to hundreds of meters. This erosion created a significant risk for motorists.  In August 2003, a large embankment slip and called for a complete road closure, which caused a great uproar with the local residents in the area...it caused an awful lot of suffering on Northern Suburbs residents and business owners.

In total, the road remained closed for two years and four months to allow for a new bridge construction,  after many difficult obstacles they had to over come because of the extreme complex  of building such a bridge,and the position it  was in... if finally opened again in December 2005 at a cost of $52 million....  

I love this area of Wollongong and would love to live around here....after travelling the bridge we turned around and headed back to North Wollongong where we had a lunch date with Pat at the Harbour Restaurant...but on the way back John showed me a little caravan park at Coaldale which in knew of whilst he worked in the area on the railway, I had no idea it was there, I loved it... its right on the beach..so we decided to check if we could book in for a few weeks...they only have 4 powered sites so we didn't hold our breath especially this time of the year... but we were lucky and managed to get a booking there in the next few weeks so I'm very excited to stay there... love being so close to the water and the beach !!!  

We finished the afternoon having a lovely lunch with Pat before heading back to Camden...             



17th September 2011 Sharons Clean up day

Well John did the good turn for Mychele so now it was Sharons turn..

She wanted her pergola awning gerning down as it was quite dirty...



But first he started off doing her paved area...

Then unlike at Mychele's when he did the roof he got shoaking wet he came prepared this time  :)

He thought it was a job well done, till I informed him that the roof rotates... and omg what a mess on the other side...yuk....

But once cleaned the finishing touch looked lovely...

While John was busy doing the roof Sharon lined the puppies up for a bath... the wippets were not too happy as the hose water was cold.,.,..and they don't like a bath ...

Beautiful Jet waited patiently.....for his turn...

He loved his bath !!!!!

Was a successful day all round...

Sunday 4th September 2011

Today was a lovely day so we decided to go for a drive... I suggested we go for a local drive up too Burragorang Valley, because I am in my local area I was able to show John many places where  I used to live, and fill him in on a few things around the local area of The Oaks and Oakdale etc...

We set off travelling up the Burragorang Road towards The Oaks and Oakdale stopping off at the Memorial at the Oakdale Workers Club...a lot of people don't realise just how much history there is in this area...


Since the first coal was mined in 1878, when the Nattai Mining Company was established, and more so since the 1930’s, when the Clinton and Fox families pioneered and established their mines, the whole district has been touched in some way by the mining industry.


In time, all that will remain of the once proud and prosperous coal mining industry in the Valley will be the monuments dedicated to the men who laboured to make their industry one that we can all be proud of.


Although some history can be forgotten by the passing of time, the Burragorang Valley coalminers will never be forgotten. The legacy to generations to come, from a proud and dedicated group of retired miners, in the form of a memorial proudly standing by the side of the road at Oakdale, where almost everyone who ever worked in the Valley would have passed by on their way to work at the pit.


Its a beautiful memorial and it was built by a lot of members of the club...

We then drove on to Nattai on to the Burragorang Valley, I found it amazing that this generally small look out was packed with people... having picnic and socializing...enjoying the beautiful day and views...

Now for some history of the Burragorang Valley for those that are interested.....I find it amazing !


The first white settlement in the 1800s was by Irish  free settlers. The Burragorang became one of the most productive farming areas for Sydney. Dissected by the Cox and Wollondilly Rivers which merged to form the Warragamba River, the valley was dotted by a series of small settlements where cattle, dairy cows, pigs and vegetables were farmed for the city markets. By the 1930s coal had been discovered, while silver mining was already underway at nearby Yerranderie, and mining and farming became the mainstays of the local economy.


The Burragorang was also a popular holiday spot and was renowned for its guesthouses, where Sydneysiders could come for a weekend to go horse-riding and bushwalking and attend the many dances that were on offer. However, by the 1940s, city planners were already talking about one of the most pressing issues facing Sydney – the provision of a secure water supply – and the Burragorang Valley was earmarked as the site for a new dam.


In the 1930s and 40s, NSW was experiencing a bad drought, and during the war years planning began  for the building of Warragamba Dam. The site of the dam meant that the 170 residents who called the Burragorang Valley their home would need to leave, either because their properties would be submerged by the dam's waters or because they would be cut off from road access.


Although protest meetings, petitions and deputations to local members of parliament called for the dam to be stopped, it went ahead regardless. Throughout the 1950s, the Sydney Water Board bought up properties in the area or resumed land that was needed for the catchment area. Houses were pulled down and the valley cleared of trees and vegetation in preparation for the completion of the dam in 1960.


For many former valley residents, their forced removal remains a bitter memory even today. When  NSW  experiencing a prolonged drought, the dam was at its lowest it has ever been, and some of the foundations and fence lines of the old homesteads in the Burragorang were exposed. Which meant some of the residents have, for the first time, been able to visit the land on which their childhood homes once stood.


I find that so sad but I'm also glad that they have made this lookout available for folks to come now and look and appreciate what they went through for the area to have the water supply it has today..

THEN !!

NOW !!

We had a nice walk around and took more pictures.. they also have a memorial up at the look out too !!

The inscription on the memorial reads as follows...

The Majestic cliffs rimming this valley stand silent sentinel of respect to those families who lived out their lives beneath their shadow as keepers of the soil, before their valley was flooded in 1958.
The same cliffs carved and etched by the long hands of time are a fitting monument to the miners of silver-lead at Yerranderie and the miners of the coal beds beneath these ramparts who toiled and gave their lives dedicated to a worthy cause”

We finished off with coffee and biscuits...

 Then continued our journey back home.. travelling through Picton and back to Camden...

Great day !!