Hello Australia Autumn!

Australian Sojourn 2024 • Part 1

I arrived two days ago from spring in Minnesota to autumn in my homeland of Australia. I’ll be in the Great South Land for a month, and as it’s been over a year since I was last in my first home, I’m very much looking forward to reconnecting with family and friends.

Although in leaving Minnesota at this time of year I will be missing the literal blossoming of spring – one of my favorite natural occurences of the year, I’m already enjoying the autumn colours of Australia as, with my American friend Kate, I’m currently in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales.

Above: As we were coming in to land, I gave my phone to the boy sitting two seats over from me so he could snap this pic of Sydney Harbour. I had the aisle seat in our row – by choice! 😄


Right: Looking a bit bleary-eyed after the 14-hour flight to Sydney from San Francisco, but ready to “Disrupt the Corrupt”! . . . This is the rally-cry for Marianne Williamson’s 2024 presidential campaign.

Above: My American friend Kate with my Australian friends Kerry and Max – Bundanoon, N.S.W., Sunday, April 28, 2024.


Right: Outside the Baby Dragon Bar in Newtown, an inner-city suburb (or neighborhood) of Sydney – Friday, April 26, 2024.

Kate has been in Australia for over two weeks. She’s based herself in Newtown and has been enjoying the sights of Sydney and the Blue Mountains. Before returning to the U.S. in mid-May, Kate is accompanying me to the New South Wales locales of the Southern Highlands, Batemans Bay, and Goulburn, and to Hanging Rock in Victoria.

Above: Newtown streetscape – Friday, April 26, 2024. I was last in Newtown in 2008.

Above: The Urban Newtown, where my friend Kate stayed while in Sydney.

Above: The Old Nunnery Bed-and-Breakfast in the Southern Highlands town of Moss Vale, where Kate and I stayed on my first night back in Australia – Friday, April 26, 2024.

Notes this establishment’s website:

The Nunnery Boutique Hotel has a rich history dating back to the turn of the century. Originally named “The Bungalow” when it was built for an English gentleman and his family, it later became a nunnery for Catholic nuns of the Dominican order when a Dominican school existed in the village of Moss Vale. The Heritage Listed oak tree in the front garden was planted by the original owners in commemoration of the birth of their daughter Elizabeth McCarthy.

Above and below: Visiting the historic town of Berrima – Saturday, April 27, 2024.

Above and below: Fitzroy Falls in Morton National Park – Saturday, April 27, 2024.

Above: With friends Sandra, Kerry and Max – Exeter, Saturday, April 27, 2024.


NEXT:
Bundanoon, Batemans Bay,
Braidwood and Goulburn


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Farewell Minnesota Spring
• A Season of Listening
• Newtown (2008)
• Journey to the Southern Highlands & Tablelands – Exeter and Mt. Alexandra (2017)
• Journey to the Southern Highlands & Tablelands – Bundanoon and the Sunnataram Forest Monastery (2017)
• Exeter (2016)

Images: Michael J. Bayly.