The Hydro Majestic Casino Foyer

This hotel, with buildings dating back to the 1850s, was first conceived in its current configuration in 1904

You can apparently take a tour of the hotel to learn more of its history – it costs $10 and takes about 35-40 mins – I’ll check this out some time and will let you know what the tour entails

The hotel was falling into a state of disrepair by the time I first moved to the mountains in 2001, despite several partial renovations over the years, but – under new ownership – has been fully restored to its original glory over the last 5 years or so

We had a coffee at the Boilerhouse (also part of the Hydro Majestic) – with great views over the Megalong Valley

My pre-thesis-submission splurge from Glee Books in Blackheath (yet to read any of these – perhaps once teaching session is over) – I also took Nadine to the sister store in Glebe and she liked it so much she returned there during her last days in Sydney. I gave her Peter Carey’s 30 Days in Sydney as a parting gift – it seemed the appropriate Australian book under the circumstances.

I took her to my favouite campus library – Kingswood campus, Penrith

We walked around Wennie Falls Lake in that late winter sunshine

We also paid a couple of visits to Euroka clearing (accessed via the Glenbrook entrance to the national park), where you are pretty much guaranteed to see kangaroos in the wild. The clearing did not disappoint on either visit. I was a bit worried about this mama, as she let me get unusually close, and her baby was wriggling around in the pouch yet I never saw its head, but she got up and bounded away eventually…

We took a drive to Akuna Bay, West Head, and Barrenjoey Lighthouse on Nadine’s last weekend in Aus

Akuna Bay

We did a short walk to Flint and Steel beach on the West Head peninsula

Momentary flashback to my summer of stairs

Nadine’s first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean

Flint and Steel beach

More Flint and Steel

The view to Barrenjoey from West Head

Smugglers Track to Barrenjoey Lighthouse

More of the ascent

Nice formations

Some funky looking burnt out old tree

These guys have been my constant companions since 2012 (well, Joyce’s been in the picture since 2010 – but they joined forces when I began my PhD)

I got to the point where I had to undergo a process of re-shelving my reference books several times a day, lest I be buried by the ever-mounting pile right where I slept. I wrote my thesis in bed??? Yep, I sure did. I spent the entire winter recumbent yet mentally alert. I would wake up, pull my computer back onto my lap and away I’d go again…

My attempt at some kind of organisation in the latter stages… My thesis shelf moved, item by item – across the room – taking up residence on this shelf, as close to the bed as possible (for ease of access). The pile to the top left is my post-thesis reward pile… Infinite Jest intended for a spot of light reading at some point down the line. Heh.

I turned Onyx into a sculptural representation of my brain – he handled the humiliation quite well I thought

Some late stage version of the title page – for weeks, all you can see is thesis, then all of a sudden, it’s done!

I took Steve on one of my favourite walks, from the Leura Cascades to the Golden Staircase via the Federal pass (including crossing the landslide)

I’ve posted numerous pics from this section of trail over the last couple of years, so I won’t bombard you with more of the same, but here are a couple of us goofing off on this graffitioso’d piece of weatherworn rock