EC-Rider Travels

After another very delicious breakfast in the East Hotel we checked out and headed for Canberra’s famous arboretum. Described as a mosaic of living forests, it has over 44,000 rare and endangered trees planted across a 250 hectare site on an area burned out by two major bush-fires in 2001 and 2003. It has the most spectacular views but it is still very young. It will be quite something in fifty years time.

We then headed to Sydney, having a very nice lunch on the way. We arrived in Woollahra, a pretty residential area of Sydney in the Eastern suburbs. Here I said a final farewell to the amazingly generous and kind Tim and Sarah Dehn (who had had me to stay, for over a month!) and hello to another lovely cousin Amanda Fisher (who I am hoping is about to do the same!). Amanda lives in the most divine house on a lovely street full of the most dangerous looking boutiques and restaurants. She shares her home with two gorgeous German Shorthaired Pointers called Luna and Piper. We went out for a quick walk in the nearby park with them both and then headed to Amanda’s daughter, Georgia, where we were baby-sitting young Freddie (16 months). When we arrived Freddie was having a bath in the kitchen sink – you have never seen anything so adorable. We were then left in charge, with a delicious bottle of wine and the tennis. Not much of the latter was watched as we gassed the night away. We returned home with Georgia’s gorgeous cocker spaniel, Frank, to add to the crew!