Sydney - part deux....

So Friday morning, our last full day in Sydney, dawned WET! I could hear it before we even opened the curtains and I was worried it would spoil the views of the harbour and our visit to the Zoo....but although it rained on and off, it never rained on our parade!

Much to Crack's delight we started the day with a ride on a train! We headed up to Circular Quay to meet up with Yvonne, a friend and fellow pollination person who we met on our last trip to Oz. Her boyfriend Mike was able to join us too, and it was nice to finally meet him, outside of Facebook-world! After a fruitless search for the mythical shop of perfect coffees (aka Campos), we settled for a cafe alongside the Opera House with a soundtrack of concrete drilling! Luckily we could still hear each other and it was great to catch up! Far too short, of course, so we'll have to come back again soon....and Yvonne and Mike, you are always welcome in the UK!

Turns out the kid I stopped to take our photo wasn't half bad! He even got the bridge in the background!

Maybe not the perfect coffee....but not a lot wrong with it!

We also spotted a few familiar names on the Writers Walk - all famous authors who've visited Sydney...

Then we headed to the Quay to catch the ferry across the harbour to Taronga Zoo.

 

I'm going to let Crack tell you about most of our trip to the zoo.

 

But I will just tell you about the gorilla I met. She was sitting alongside the glass, ignoring the visitors when we arrived. I sat down next to her, but didn't look at her, Crack was fascinated and was running back and forth between her and another gorilla. She ignored me until I got my phone out and turned the camera to face me. As soon as she and I appeared in the phone screen, I could see her glancing across, taking sneaky peaks at the camera, but still not wanting to make any eye contact! I love these photos, it felt like a significant moment shared with a very intelligent lady, and I shan't forget it!

 

We had a good day out at the zoo but with nap time fast approaching and the initial stages of meltdown underway, we had to run for the ferry, missing out on my first ever opportunity to see leopard seals......gutted..... :-(

 

But the other highlight of the day were our ferry crossings of the harbour on the way to the zoo and back! You can tell which photos were taken when, as it was cloudy on the way out and sunny on the way back! Apologies that there are so many of them....I just couldn't narrow them down any further, but believe me I took lots more than I'm showing you (as those of you on fb can confirm!) !

The view from Circular Quay Railway Station, overlooking the wharves the ferries leave from.

The view from the zoo, looking back towards the city.

Mucking about with filters...

You know, I was worried this morning, that it'd be so wet and the visibility poor, but looking at these photos, I actually prefer some of the grey, cloudy morning shots...very atmospheric (no pun intended!)!

 

 

 

Looking back towards Circular Quay - it looks like very bit of brightness there was this morning was reflected in that building!

 

A very long afternoon nap for Crack and I tried to take him swimming when he woke, but he complained the pool was too cold. After watching lightning strike about half a mile down the road, I agreed it was too cold for the (9th floor) rooftop pool, and we got out...fast!

 

Tomorrow morning we check out, collect the hire car and head off on the next big adventure....Katoomba in the Blue Mountains....and the rest.... I can hardly keep track of it all....so I'm using this:

Hopefully we'll have enough wifi to update as we go.....but it's whether there's time and energy left after all we're hoping to pack in.....

 

Sydneyside...

Yup, day one in Sydney digest.....coming right up.....after I show you the photo that I forgot to put in the last blog - a beautiful full moon over the river on our last night in Brisbane!

We'll miss Brisbane, but it was great to hear from Tony and Lesley, who arrived home safely today and were thrilled with their very clean apartment (was worth all the cleaning and then some, as we were so lucky to stay there, but to know that they appreciated it is lovely).

 

Anyway, back to Sydney.....and after a pancake breakfast, a train and a bus ride, we arrived at the famous Bondi Beach. It reminded me a lot of a British beach for some reason......apart from the weather of course!

And then we settled down on the beach and spent the day soaking up the sun. The end.

 

Ha ha ha, as if!

 

We didn't set foot on this, or any of the other 6 or 8 beaches we passed today....we were on a coastal walk mission...Bondi to Coogee Beach...and it was lovely....a bit more built up than we were expecting, but still lovely...

First we walked past Bondi Icebergs pool, a saltwater pool on the rocks at the edge of the beach. It looked very inviting! But we kept walking...

Lovely trail, beautiful cliffs and sea views and some lovely rock formations! Oh, and some wild irises (?) clinging to the cliffs!

 

A few little hidey holes too, but we dare not let Crack out of the backpack to explore...just in case he didn't want to get back in!

Looking back towards Bondi

 

I LOVED this tree! Very very clever idea, using the the lower trunk, and the troughs created by old fronds, as planters...and a few little animals woven in!

More great views as we rounded yet another point....and then a bit of a laugh....it seems some things are the same the world over.....old people playing bowls....on a prime bit of real estate lol! This is Clovelly Bowls Club, right on the edge of a cliff at the end of a promontory.

And even funnier, assuming that bowls is a highly dangerous sport here, as it is in the UK (where it is the sport you are most likely to die whilst playing - due to average age of players!), it's right next to a cemetery.....albeit one with a stunning sea view!

 

Some more gorgeous cliff views...

And another kick ass swimming pool, with the waves just cresting the edge!

A perfect spot for quiet contemplation, if you don't mind wet feet!

And the most hilarious sign! Well, maybe not, but I couldn't help thinking just how the differently this phrase would be interpreted on the average English beach lol!

A bit more coast, some more inviting stretches of sea, and some less inviting, but equally captivating decorated staircases, and we were in Coogee Beach.

 

We had a lovely lunch of Greek gyros and then successfully caught the bus back to the hostel, which Crack absolutely loved. He kept shouting Ninky Nonk every time we went over a bump!

 

After his nap we went out to find a playground for him and afterwards walked home via Chinatown, where Crack astounded us by eating, and eating and eating! Prawn crackers, chicken starters, BBQ pork, loads of baby corn, some rice, lots of melon and his first fortune cookie! And a pretty apt fortune at that!

 

Tomorrow we will be mostly catching up with friends, visiting the Zoo and seeing the opera house....oh, and taking a ferry of course!

 

Forests and farewells....

I'm writing this from Sydney! I had hoped to update you before we left Brisbane but the practicalities like last minute errands, cleaning and packing took over I'm afraid!

 

Crack and I had a busy week making the most of Brisbane before we left. We went to some of his favourite spots and took the boat a lot. I don't know what he's going to do without a daily trip on a ferry! Poor kid, Thatcham will seem dull! And cold!

But summer weather was definitely starting our last week in Brisbane, we had an amazing thunderstorm almost everyday and the humidity was noticeably higher than it has been. It's a bit cooler here in Sydney and not nearly so humid, which is nice.

 

So I know Crack has already told you a lot about what we did last week, the highlight for him definitely being the Maritime Museum.... I think I'll tell you more about my favourite bits

Last Thursday night we had dinner at Tom and Ali's, our housemates from St Andrews, and their two little boys. They've got a lovely neighbourhood and a lot of toys, so the boys played happily and we got down to chatting! Tom cooked a mean Mexican dinner and it was really good to see them again before we left...the official photos leave a little to be desired but you can see we had fun, I hope!?

Sam took this one for us! A good job - considering it was pretty dark and he was using my phone!

 

My other favourite thing last week was our trip to the rainforest! We drove down to Springbrook National Park early on Saturday morning (well, I say early....by the time we had breakfast, filled the car up and got past the accident on the freeway we arrived about 10:30!). Luckily we managed to avoid any of the potential circus surrounding I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, which was starting the next day and being filmed just a few km from our walk!

 

We stopped at Purling Brook Falls, had a look from a couple of viewpoints at the top and then headed down the edge of the ancient volcano, into the rainforest, to the bottom of the falls and on to Warringa pool where we had a picnic lunch. It was very hot and humid and there were hundreds of steps, but it was beautiful rainforest, dense and full of life, as you can see and hear by clicking this link. On the way back up a thunderstorm rolled in, but as the canopy was dense we hardly got wet, Crack slept through it!

The top of Purling Brook Falls

Looking over the edge

You can see the path at the bottom just at the edge of the trees towards the middle of the picture above.

The view down the valley and towards the coast and Surfers Paradise

The falls from above

Dragonflies everywhere!

The falls from below...too tall to fit in the photo! Actually goes down about another ten metres!

Some beautiful forest giants! Emergent trees covered in epiphytes and strangler vines and fungi!

Our destination, Warringa pool, we picnicked on the rocks to the right of the falls and headed back up the hill as the thunder started!

Back at the top, very hot and sweaty but wonderful walk in a beautiful place!

Afterwards we got back in the car and headed up the hill to the Best of All Lookout. On its day, the view is said to be spectacular......

But when you get there just after a thunderstorm, it looks more like this!

This one is Pie's panoramic shot lol!

 

Never mind, it was a lovely, if drippy, atmospheric walk to the lookout!

We finished a lovely day with a drive down a minor road full of paddymelons (tiny wallabies) to a specialty fudge shop that served great coffee! Lovely! Not so lovely was Pie and I discovering that we had each acquired a solitary leech! yuck!

 

And back in Brisbane, watched a gorgeous sunset/moonrise, which my camera phone could not do justice to! It couldn't even capture the full moon...

After that, time flew by in a haze of packing and cleaning, interrupted by a wonderful make your own pizza party at Pie's host Nancy's beautiful house. Good food, great company, and Crack behaved brilliantly, despite pushing his chair straight over backwards in the middle of dinner and staying up until 10pm (beating last week's record!)!

We enjoyed a last dinner on the 11th floor balcony last night.

And this morning we said goodbye to Brisbane and StradbrokeTower which has been such a pleasure to live in for the last 2 months!

We had one last glimpse of the city as we flew south to Sydney

 

Now I'm off to bed in the hope that my head cold will have lifted in time to enjoy the cliff walk between Bondi and Coogee beach in the morning....fingers crossed!