Journey's end

We arrived back this morning at Heathrow after a 22 hour flight from Sydney (changing planes in Singapore) - amazing when you think the first settlers took 8 months to sail to Sydney, and the first flights took 16 days.

It's been a great trip, not least our last five days in the beautiful city of Sydney.

We've had some great weather though it did rain on the last day and a half in Sydney giving us the opportunity to visit the Art Gallery, the Parliament House, and two of the city's excellent museums.

Here are some pictures from this last leg of the journey:

View from the harbour bridge of the city

Crossing the harbour bridge

The Opera House viewed from the north shore (under the bridge)

A view of the city from one of the bays of the harbour

Blue Mountains

Blue Mountains

The Harbour Bridge from Old Sydney

On Bondi Beach

Wellington

These are a little out of sequence but here are some photos from New Zealand's capital city of Wellington

The city of Wellington seen from a boat on the harbour

The buildings of the New Zealand Parliament

Sunday in Sydney

The diocese of Sydney is probably one of the most evangelical in the Anglican world and this morning's service at St Andrew's Cathedral fully reflected that. Most inspirational. I'm returning for their contemporary service later today.

Tomorrow evening we return to the UK but first we are visiting some indoor attractions, starting this afternoon  with the excellent Museum of Sydney.

Before the service at St Andrew's Cathedral

Sydney pics

From my Hudl a few photos I took today on Sydney's warmest day for 4 months - according to the TV news the temperature peaked at 28c this afternoon

breakfast at Bondi

With Sydney temperatures soaring to an unseasonal 23c it was off to Bondi Beach for breakfast watching the early morning surfers.. Next with the sun still shining we enjoyed a walk around the botanic gardens which fringe Sydney Harbour. It was hard to believe it was winter.

Yesterday we went by train (2 hours)  to the beautiful Blue mountains and the day before in brilliant sunshine we criss crossed Sydney Harbour on the many ferries that connect the various parts of this sprawling city. All these trips (including to the mountains,) cost us precisely nothing thanks to the Sydney version of the oyster card with which all journeys after the first eight are free.

From NZ to Oz

After another excellent service at our daughter's church (it was their missionary Sunday - very inspiring) it was time to say a fond farewell to her and catch the bus for the 3hr ride to the Kiwi capital of Wellington.

Wellington is a compact and attractive city with a beautiful harbourside location. We enjoyed riding across the harbour on a beautiful sunny day with wonderful views all round. The next day we visited TE Papa, the wonderful national museum before heading to the airport for the 3 and a half hour flight to Sydney, our next destination.

We arrived in Sydney yesterday evening and today we enjoyed exploring this wonderful city, walking across the famous harbour bridge twice. Today the temperature is 18c. Tomorrow it will be 23c (27c by the weekend) and this is what they call winter!

Wanganui

Wanganui is the New Zealand town where our daughter living and working in the hospital. Here  are some other views of the town.

Wanganui

Wanganui town centre

Heritage buildings in the town centre

Botanic gardens in Winter sunshine

Wanganui beach with its volcanic black sand