Goonoo Goonoo Station

On our way home from Sydney we stopped for two nights at the beautiful Goonoo Goonoo station.

This was my retirement present from work. 

We stayed in the shearers quarters.

 

And we had two very nice meals in the Glasshouse restaurant.

The stay and meals only cost a tiny bit more than the $650 gift certificate.

So thank you to everyone we had a lovely time.

On our spare day we took a drive and then went to Tamworth and I finished the Christmas shopping. 

 

 

Van Gogh Alive

I'm doing things a bit back to front in this post.

 Earlier on the 17th January we went to Van Gogh Alive at Moore Park, and then we saw Elton John  in the evening. 

Below from the website explains a little about it.

This is no ordinary art exhibition

Van Gogh’s works have been exhibited and admired for over a century – but never like this.

Created by Grande Experiences, Van Gogh Alive gives visitors the unique opportunity to immerse themselves into Van Gogh’s artistry and truly venture into his world. Traditions of tiptoeing through silent galleries and viewing paintings from afar in quiet contemplation are forgotten as visitors find themselves interacting with art in ways they never imagined. From start to finish, visitors are surrounded by a vibrant symphony of light, colour, sound and fragrance that has been called an ‘unforgettable’ multi-sensory experience.

 I'm going to do something different in this post by linking all the photos in groups and themes.

 

Stars

Above:- The Starry night room

Which was the entrance to the main auditorium.  

Then we walked into this amazing space with all these big screens and  wonderful music

Above is Starry Night, I don't think we've seen the original of this. 

 

However we did meet  Starry Night over the Rhone in person when it came to the National Gallery in Canberra in an exhibition of great masters works, in 2009,  on loan from the Musee D'orsay in Paris. 

 

Sunflowers

This stupid man was on his phone the whole time.

 

He was still on his phone later in the cafe. 

Don't come if your not interested, you twit.

 

Sunflower room is below which was the way out.

Iris's

 

We spent a lovely day in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in December 2017, here is a link to that post where I discuss my theories and do my best to give Vincent a diagnosis!

http://inmylifekim.blogspot.com/2017/12/amsterdamtuesday.html

Pines and other things!

Vincent's Bedroom

When we went to Canberra to see,

 

Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne & Beyond

Post-Impressionism from the Musee D'Orsay

We saw this work! They had the children's room all decked out to look like Vincent's bedroom it was wonderful but only for under 12's. 

Poo.

 

So you can only just imagine my excitement!

 

 

 

I'm also designing a quilt based on a fabric panel I have of this painting which has been in my stash for years. This is my current idea but it may change. Don't expect to see it finished anytime soon!

I'm trying to do a sunflower border, but we will see.

And finally,

 

A bit of Sydney history.

Nothing to do with Van Gogh, but we stayed at the Mecure Hotel at Railway square for this visit to Sydney and this was the view from our window, 

with that horrible UTS building where I spent so many stressful hours in the early 1990's

Here it is in the 1901, This is the picture on the wall of our room.

We think that building next door is the old brewery. 

Why they ever got rid of the Trams is beyond me.

Then here it is in 1967

 

...And what we did after the wedding

We spent two days traveling home.

But first we took the short drive to Jervis Bay and Hyams Beach with its beautiful white sand.

https://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/south-coast/jervis-bay-and-shoalhaven/hyams-beach

 

Then we had a stop at Fitzroy Falls.

https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/lookouts/fitzroy-falls-lookout

 

 

Then we spent the night in Bowral and spent the afternoon at my favourite Antique, old wares and craft centre. Dirty Janes.

 

https://www.dirtyjanes.com/dirty-janes-bowral/

I actually bought a pair of earrings.

You know when you see something and have an ahhhhhh moment.

One cent coins made into earrings!

https://www.ramint.gov.au/one-cent

 

I paid approximately 9000 times what they were originally worth. 

But I can say I don't care 2 cents worth!

Although we did see a couple of Harrods bears, one was $145.00. And it was play worn, not pristine with its ear swing tag attached like my 20 bears. I may have to find out what my bear collection is actually worth before I die and somebody chucks them into a garbage skip.

 

Heres my collection of Harrods Bears in my Craft Room.

Oh for goodness sake they have a wiki page, don't let them know it will go to their heads.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrods_Christmas_Bears

Then back to our trip home.

The second night we spent in the Hunter Valley.

We did think about going to Hunter Valley Gardens but  the weather was terrible so we visited the Smelly Cheese shop instead.

 

https://www.smellycheese.net.au/

 

So, next  I will bombard you with posts about finished quilts and eventually will get back on track with my anniversary posts. 

 

Sydney 2022 - Other things we did.....

 

We did lots of other great stuff whilst recently in Sydney.

We stayed at the Wentworth Hotel.

https://all.accor.com/hotel/3665/index.en.shtml

We shared a lift with the Prime Minister of New Zealand and all her hefty bodyguards.

I was struck dumb, so never got to ask her if she enjoyed Vivid!

 Here is Jacinda Ardern later the same day meeting with Albo aka Anthony Albanese.

(I also bought a new phone!)

Sydney Cricket Ground Tour

We had been gifted a tour and have had it for years but due to covid we haven't been able to use it.

UNTIL NOW!

Above is a tribute to the late Shane Warne, who died suddenly earlier this year.

 Lots of famous baggy greens, and Steve Waugh's famous red rag.

https://www.scgt.nsw.gov.au/

Only time we'll get in the members bar....

An arty shot from the dressing room.

And of course, Richie Benaud lives on.... 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richie_Benaud

 Hyde Park Barracks

Somewhere else we went trying to use up our dine and discover vouchers before they expire was the newly renovated Hyde Park Barracks.

 

(Dine and discover were vouchers given to everyone to encourage the public to get out and stimulate the economy following the COVID lock downs. The Dine NSW Vouchers and Discover NSW Vouchers expired on 30 June 2022).

 

ttps://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/exhibitions/boundary-conditions?utm_source=Gadwords&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=mmsyd&utm_id=boundry&utm_term=DC&utm_content=sem&gclid=CjwKCAjwrZOXBhACEiwA0EoRD5kLt_br90wKidJdwAN0imUokZ-u4NtbWrpyjEFuVDmKYZ2_9byJwhoC2IQQAvD_BwE

 

Sydney Opera House Tour

 

 Because Qantas cancelled our lunch time flight and re-booked us onto the 6:50pm flight we had an extra day to fill in in Sydney.

(Qantas are cancelling a lot of regional flights, crews are sick with flu or COVID so they are scraping together what they can and cancelling flights with low bookings to crew those that are full). 

So it was a chance to look at the buildings history and architecture. 

It will be 50 years old in 2023.

And to end with something sweet...

We met up with Michael and Gail for lunch on the Saturday and had dessert at the Guylian Belgian Chocolate Cafe at Circular Quay.

This is an Orange and Chocolate Dome, YUMMY!

 https://guyliancafe.com.au/location/circular-quay/

And we finally got home at 9PM on the Sunday  to a freezing cold house and the doggies having to spend an extra night at the kennels.