We resumed our investigation of Booderee National Park after checking out of our motel. Actually we went to Hyams Beach first as we had been told it is in the Guiness Book of Records as having the whitest sand in the world! Casting away all thoughts of how on earth they determine this we examined it and found it to be very pale but as to the whitest we have ever seen ......?

Hyams Beach - the whitest in the world!

Then we went into the park and straight to the Botanic Gardens. This had been recommended to us by the motel owner and it proved very interesting for a short early morning walk. We didn't see any rare birds but we saw a kangaroo on the way there!

Another kangaroo

After that we had to get on the road to Sydney. We stopped briefly in Nowra for coffee and lunch supplies but then kept going until we got to Royal National Park, just to the south of Sydney. We visited this park in 2003 when we were here and thought it would be a good place to have lunch.

We remembered having our lunch then by the river and attracting the attentions of sulphur-crested cockatoos. We went to the same spot this time and didn't attract cockatoos but we did attract kookaburras! We have heard them a few times over the last couple of weeks but hadn't actually seen any, so to have four of them perched on branches and flying around near us was great!

Young kookaburra begging from adult

Adult beauty

It took quite a while after that to get through Sydney and up to Oxford Falls where we are staying tonight but we arrived just before 4pm. It has been another very hot day and we were glad to be able to take it easy here. The hotel is set in lovely grounds with several lots of sports facilities, which we were able to ignore! However no sooner had we started to explore our surroundings than a couple of kookaburras flew down! We got more photos, of course but Steve is still trying in vain to record the sound of one laughing!

We eventually met up with Trudy and Derek, who are staying here at the same hotel, when they returned with the friends they had been visiting. We then all had a meal together and began to share notes on our similar but different holiday experiences! You will understand that it takes more than one meal to get through nearly 7 weeks of holiday! We will, no doubt, continue at breakfast!

Behind the bar?! Just washing the glasses, honest guv!
- photo Derek Westmore

We think that WiFi might be a problem from now on so we may be not be able to publish our blogs till we get home next week. We will, of course, do everything we can but if we can't we are very sorry!