HELLO AGAIN…AM BACK FROM BEAUTIFUL SYDNEY!

“I’ll probably live in Sydney”
Andre Benjamin

It’s been a while that I’ve been missing, & am finally back from beautiful & mostly sunny Sydney. Rather eventful trip, as all trips with kids generally tend to be. Went for about 10 days, via HKG, where we had a brief stop-over.In Sydney, by the 5th day, daughter dearest decided to unleash a fury of yellow colour over Aussie land. She developed viral hepatitis with jaundice…hmmmmmmm, talk about bad timing! Life is … The rest of the trip was pretty much with doctors & emergency & hospitalisation…basically a pretty ‘yellow’ grand finale! We spent the last few days in the Children’s Emergency Hospital with 2 am calls from the GP for immediate hospitalisation due to blood clotting concerns, blood tests, ultrasounds, etc, until she was eventually discharged. With seeing the best of Sydney, we were also to experience the best of medical care. Doctors & facilities par excellence, an entirely memorable experience, positively so! Anyway, we made the most of what we had, salvaged the last day too & are now back home. Our daughter has made rapid progress, is well now, & back to school this morning. For this, we are eternally grateful to a wonderful doctor, Dr Scott Nightingale, (Hepatology Fellow Childrens Hospital at Westmead), who extended all possible assistance around the clock, to get Meher back on her feet! Thank you Dr Scott!!Getting back to the vacation part, we were with friends in Sydney…the DHs old classmate from school in Delhi, his lovely Ukranian wife, & wonderful son. The friendship goes back many years to holidays we’ve shared several times over the years…many times in the UK, twice in Moscow & a previous trip to Sydney! The kids get on fabulously too, so life was looking up! Here’s a bunch of pics (Part ONE of more posts to follow)…

These are of day 2 when we went up to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, a World Heritage Area, an hours drive West of Sydney.
We enjoyed a delicious spread at a picnic at Katoomba…the ever efficient Uliana laid out the works. While the rest of us were yapping away like crazy, & the kids were running wild, she made these delicious puff pastry turnovers in seconds. There were both savoury & sweet…the first were with cottage cheese, spinach & grated cheddar, & the sweet ones were with almond & poppy seed paste. She made them at express speed, gave them a brushing of egg wash & popped into the oven, while telling me about the wonderful yeast puff pastry dough they do back in Lviv, her home-town. We also carried chicken tikka & lamb kebabs, salad, dips & much more that seemed never ending. Part of my trip went in her giving me old cake recipes from her mother’s collection in Ukraine, from the old times that the Soviet Union used a glass for a 220ml measure; the methods of preparation are endlessly intriguing. I hope to try out, & then post some of those cakes soon. This is what I love about food… fascinating common ground! As for Uliana, she turns out Caprise Cakes, Apple Cakes, crumpets, mashed potatoes etc with as much ease as dal!! WooHoo!!The Blue Mountains World Heritage Area is one of Australia’s natural wonders. Stretching for over one million hectares the Blue Mountains is an inspiring mix of rainforest, canyons, tall forests and heathlands, combining eight individual conservation reserves. The Giant Staircase walking track runs down a cliff into the Jamison Valley, near the Three Sisters, providing access to nature walks through the valley. The predominant natural vegetation of the higher ridges is eucalypt forest. Heath-like vegetation is present on plateau edges above cliffs. The sheltered gorges often have a temperate rainforest.

We took in breathtaking panoramic views of the Three Sisters, sand-stone rock formations, native Aborigines playing the didgeridoo, picnic spots…before ending the day with a bush walk in Leura Cascades, in the depths of the Blue Mountains. Leura Cascades is a popular picnic area with a walk beside the rapids on Leura Falls Creek down to Bridal Veil Falls and Leura Falls.We tripped across hidden waterfalls, brooks bubbling merrily along the way, were mesmerised by the wild flowers… …entertained by bird songs, explored delicate pagoda rock structures that seemed as if they were out of Jurassic Park…absolutely amazing biodiversity! This was a trip not to be missed, an eco-tour into the depths of the Blue Mountains that made our trip entirely worthwhile. It did however remind the 2 of us ladies that we had aged, with each muscle crying out on the way back!! Huff puff…!