When Kate came to Sydney

Kate (my roommate from my second India tour) has come to Australia, she is working in Melbourne but came to Sydney for a few days. I had 2 and a half days off work so I hopped on the train and made my way into the city where Kate was waiting for me at the train station. It was a great day so we headed to Bondi Beach.

It was so nice to see each other after so long...we spent the afternoon laying on the beach chatting and then walked the length of the beach.

Well the first day we did a lot of walking! First we started off trying to find a recommended breakfast spot - Fratelli Paradiso, it was a good place for breakfast if you ever find yourself in Sydney. Then we walked back around the harbour to see the bridge and Opera House.

Monty enjoyed the view.

Finding Kings Cross Station (yes I am in Sydney) we board the train to Bondi again. This time the weather was cloudy and very windy but we were not going to lay on the beach. After a picnic with a view we took the costal walk from Bondi to Bronte beach...I got a little blown away!

This is such a beautiful walk...we did detour off down on some rocks and walked around and ended up on Tamarama beach. Upon reaching Bronte beach we found signs saying beach closed...how can you close a beach???

Catching the bus back we had dinner at Darling Harbour before heading up the Sydney Tower Eye. 

We got to look down on the city at night, the best view was of Hyde Park (yes I'm still in Sydney) and St Mary's Cathedral. Surprisingly you can't see the Opera House from up there,  it is hiding behind some buildings. As Kate and I wanted to see the harbour at night we took a walk down to the Opera House. It was lovely to see it all lit up. Taking a nice stroll back chatting then suddenly Kate screams and grabs me to save herself...I thought there was a crocodile running towards her! Not to worry she had just spotted a possum! 

She was afraid it was going to attack us. After doing over 37,000 steps our feet were aching and we were glad to rest them in bed.

The next day again was filled with a lot of walking...we joined the free walking tour (I would highly recommend this to everyone). We learnt about the city's short history and some interesting facts. Finishing the tour I took Kate for a relaxing surprise...Catmosphere. This is a cat cafe; we got a drink and biscuit and then got to play with cats for an hour...most of them slept.

Monty also got to join in the fun.

It was time to say goodbye to each other...until next time 

February 2017

My first day was 31st January but I get woken up by the cockerel at 4:30am! Something I will have to get used too.

There are 4 horses at the property...

Fiorella 

Demarkus

Des

Dan

And 2 cats

Coco

Freddie

Most mornings I start at 6:30am (on the weekends a bit later) to start the morning routine. The morning routine consists of getting the horses ready to ride (grooming,  bandaging and tacking up), mucking out the stables and then pitting the horses out in the field/paddock. Afterwards I will then do another task for the morning these include cleaning tack, paddock poo pick up, watering and planting plants, washing windows, cleaning cobwebs, raking and some cleaning.

Afternoon routine consists of rolling up the bandages,  getting the horses from the fields - rugging,  hoof picking and oiling, sweeping the barn and feeding.

For the first 2 weeks in February the weather was hot and reaching temperatures upto 47 degree. Some nights it was still 42 degrees at 10pm. Throughout the month the weather got colder (to workable temperatures) and even rained. I saw a very spectacular thunderstorm.

On my days off I have been into the city, it takes about an hour on the train. One time I took a walk around to see the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge and then joined a bus tour of the city. 

I wouldn't really recommend this tour as I didn't really find it very informative. At one stop I got off to see the Chinese Garden, it was beautiful in there and a peaceful place to visit. Another visit into the city I visited the Observatory and leant some more about the sky in the southern hemisphere. 

I also went to Barangroo Park,  it was nice to chill there. On other days off I spent at the property just catching up on things and chilling out.

Some animals I've seen around the property are birds, mice, rats, spiders, deer, kangaroo and a goanna.