Beaches and Cemeteries - An unusual day in Sydney

There are those who might say I am weird, and they might well be right! But today is a day which might convince [Co-pilot's note: I, dear readers, am amazed at his audacity in using the word 'might'. It should say WILL CONVINCE!] anyone that I am somewhat unusual. In one day we combine the fun of what is often described as the "Paradise found in the heart of Bondi Beach, a sun-soaked haven on the coast" with another type of hope for paradise found in the amazingly large (over a million 'residents') Rookwood Cemetery.

But before I get into the details of a day of two halves let's start with the morning.

Morning

Having got to bed at Midnight last night, I was awake later than usual this morning at 6.30am. I had the pleasure of editing and uploading the photos from last night's meal, meaning that for the first time on this holiday I have managed to keep Flickr right up to date. So, if the delayed blogging doesn't suit you head to Flickr for the latest adventures we are having. Note Flickr has two views - 'date uploaded' and 'date taken' - for these purposes it is always better to have the latter selected as photos often load in reverse order, and all the photos from the camera load before the ones from our mobile phones, so the 'uploaded' view can be confusing and out of time order, whereas the date taken view isn't.

To celebrate having all the photos uploaded, I took another photo of the amazing view we have from our room in the hotel.

Breakfast

I mentioned the blog being a bit behind, well here I am on Wednesday writing about last Friday (but still on catch-up mode). So, it was a Friday Breakfast that started this day. And, of course, the Catholic tradition is not to eat meat on Friday to honour the sacrifice Jesus made by dying on the cross for our salvation. 

The hotel made the non-meat eating very easy as there were two new dishes on the breakfast selection. Umpa, a cashew nut and semolina breakfast dish from India (at the top of the plate) and Poha, made from curry leaves, peas, peppers (at the bottom) along with sauteed vegetables, scrambled egg and a tomato. It turned out that the indian dishes were tastier than lots of meats, while still being meat free. 

Going to Bondi

After breakfast we left the hotel at 9.25am. Bondi Junction, the nearest station to Bondi is only two stops away from Kings Cross, a very short journey arriving at 9.35am. 

We walked to the beach and feel that sense of belonging which comes when you go somewhere which you feel you have known for many years. Bondi, because of its representation in so many films and TV series is one of these. Fans of Australian TV will remember Bondi Rescue and Made in Bondi among many others.  

Here are out shots of this well-known and much loved beach. Note it is early in the day, so there are only four or five surfers in the water, it gets busier as the day progress. 

From Bondi to Coogee

On my brother's or sister in law's (they have different recollections of who suggested it first) recommendation we aren't just coming to Bondi today, but going further. Joining the Bondi to Coogee Coastal Path for what appears to be a wonderful walk beside or just above the sea. 

The route is outlined here:

A very pretty walk, with lots of spaces to stop and take photos, here are 50 of ours, there are far more on Flickr!

At 11.30am we stop at Tamarama Beach for coffee

and a pee

And carry on to Coogee having an excellent walk which finishes at 1.18pm with us catching the B374 Bus from Arden St, Coogee to go 22 stops to Central Station, Sydney.

At 1.49pm we arrive and walk the 100 meters from the bus stop to Central Station. We have been through this station once before, but only from one platform to another, only when walking across from outside do you realise what a huge station this is. the 6 different train lines converge on 26 platforms along with the metro (underground), trams (light railway and bus network. A great example of integrated traffic.

We then catch the T1 on platform 18 to Lidcombe at 1.55pm and arrive at 2.15pm.

Visiting Rookwood Cemetery

Why are we here? 

This morning when I got up I saw a What's App from my sister. As she realised I was in Sydney she was refreshing herself about the family connection here. I don't think I've mentioned it on the blog to date, but my maternal Grandfather (i.e. My Mam's Dad) was born and died in New South Wales, managing to fit a few years, a wife and three children into his time in Old South Wales.

I don't know the exact dates of my Australian grandfather's time in Wales, but I know he was a merchant navy man who married my grandmother (Nanny as she was known to us, to distinguish her from our paternal grandmother whom we called Gramma) in Port Talbot, moved to Swansea and, either shortly before or shortly after my mother was born, wafted back to sea and to his homeland. With Nanny receiving his death certificate with a Christmas card from his sisters in the year he died, 1949.

What my sister had discovered was new information to all three of us siblings. This was that our grandfather, Horace Richmond Emmerton, was buried in Sydney. She had found a notice on google stating:

A side note, the mention of a mother's surname means that his parents weren't married at the time. Something which was true of his wife to be Anne Emmerton (nee Atkins). So, two of my four grandparents were bastards, at a time when that was a barrier to many aspects of life!  

As soon as I completed my photo uploading this morning, I reread the What's App and went to Google Maps to see where Rookwood Cemetery was and how easy it might be to get there. 

I then searched for my grandfather's grave on the Cemetery website. It was really easy to find:

So I had a section number - 5, a zone - D and a grave number 2279. So, it seemed to good an opportunity, being here in Sydney to go and track the grave down.

On arriving at Rookwood Cemetery, I was able to click a link on the cemetery website, that said directions. 

This used Google maps to plot a route through the cemetery to the grave with the details above. Naturally being gps it wasn't accurate to the foot, but it was easy to find the general location and search in more detail.

Rookwood is a large cemetery with sections for Jewish people, Catholics, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Anglicans, Independants and non-denominational people. On route to my grandfather's grave we took some photos of some of the most impressive memorials, as you can see below.

Once in the area where Google Maps indicated my grandfather was buried, the detailed search began. Luckily some of the graves have numbers on them, but by no means all, after about 15 minutes we had worked out the way the numbers ran and were able to identify my grandfather's grave - even though the gravestone was very worn.

It turns out that he was buried with his brother Cameron who died five years after him. I'd not heard anything about a brother, only knowing that he had two school teacher sisters, the last one who died having left a small legacy to my mother and her siblings back in the 1970s.

I stood for a few moments and prayed for my Grandfather, his, unknown brother Cameron, plus my Nanny and their three children, Frank, Maureen and my mam Jean - all now gone to the Lord.

Return to Potts Point

Having had the wonderful, and completely unexpected, experience of visiting my grandfather's grave, a grave I didn't know existed here until eight or nine hours ago, we walked up to the cemetery bus stop and a few minutes later the bus arrived for a 3.50pm departure. 

The driver of the bus spotted Drew taking a photo of it as it pulled in (see above) and got out of his seat and ushered Drew in to it, so we now have photos of Bus Driver Drew!

The Friendly Driver continued to chat to us until it was time to leave and we then travelled the four stops with him to Flemington, where we changed from the bus to the train,

Catching the 3.58pm T2 service back to Town Hall where we arrived at 4.28pm. From Town Hall at 4.31pm we were at Kings Cross at 4.38pm. Time to go up to the room by 4.40pm, ready to shower and change and head back out for dinner this evening, leaving the hotel at 5.10pm for our walk to the restaurant. But more about that visit with its fishy delights in the next post.