Parramatta is located 23 kilometres west of Sydney on the banks of the Parramatta River. It was foun

Parramatta is located 23 kilometres west of Sydney on the banks of the Parramatta River. alaska airline airfare It was founded in the same year as Sydney by the British in 1788 and is the oldest inland European settlement in Australia. That is why we had to go there! We had heard about an old farmhouse which is now a museum – our keenness to learn more about Australian history (all 200 years of it!). As Parramatta is on a river we took a catamaran from Circular Quay which is always worth doing. In fact it was one of three highlights of the day. A free bus from the ferry terminal took us round the town which gave us a good idea of what was going on (mostly financial services industry as far as we could see). The second highlight was a map shop that we found en route: we wanted some more detailed maps for our trip to Melbourne. The lady there was helpful in guiding us around the town: she asked why had we come there as there wasn't really much for a tourist to see! The third highlight was Elizabeth Farm which was built in 1793 as the family home of wool pioneer, John and his wife Elizabeth alaska airline airfare Macarthur. The three-roomed brick cottage was transformed, in the late 1820s, into a smart country house, surrounded by almost 1,000 acres. The early cottage remains intact, making it Australia's oldest surviving European dwelling. We followed the map around the modern residential alaska airline airfare streets of Parramatta until we found the museum. alaska airline airfare Guess what? It was only opened Friday to Sunday! Somehow we had missed this gem of information in the guide book. The manager saw us outside and wanted to know where we had come from; Chris said "London". He took sympathy on us and arranged for one of their guides to show us round the farmhouse – a personalised tour! So the effort of walking through hot dusty streets was worth it. We returned by train to Newtown and went to the Courthouse pub for something to eat. We were joined later by Jo, Hamish, Aisling (who was staying on in Lord Street and do some travel before she returned to the UK) and Alex (who was about to leave for the airport). As the new James Bond movie had just been released in Australia we took the opportunity to see Skyfall – fantastic escapism, although the Scottish scenes alaska airline airfare reminded me of John Buchan book / Alfred Hitchcock film. 'The Thirty Nine Steps'. We walked back to the Golden Grove and stopped by the most amazing second hand bookshop  called Gould's Book Arcarde ( www.gouldsbooks.com ), which specialises in out of print books. It has over a million books on the shelves and 70,000 catalogued online. We had a chat with Janet, the owner, who took over running the shop after her father died. What an inspiration, yet what a fire hazard!