Being A Tourist in Sydney: Day 1

I arrived in Sydney late morning on Monday 3 March minus my suitcase which had not made the transfer from the Napier to Auckland flight.   "I assume that you transferred from the Napier flight.  It is not unusual for that flight" said the baggage attendant at Sydney Airport.  I'd already been told by a commuter on the Napier to Auckland flight as we waited with the engines running for 20 minutes on the tarmac in Auckland for a stand at the terminal, that the flight was invariably late.  These things never phase me: it was, after all, Air New Zealand's job to get me to Sydney one way or another.  The baggage arrived 10 hours after I did.  The Glad Game: it arrived.  No luggage would have irritated me.

Fiona (British Canadian Aussie and daughter of almost-lifelong-friend, Mo) had planned an afternoon going to see some of the sights.

These maps may be useful reference points for some of the posts on Sydney's sights over the next few days.

We started with a trip to, of course, Bondi Beach which, on a drab Monday afternoon is possibly less appealing than on a sunny summer weekend.  Actually the beach is large and the swimming is good but the town is a Sydney weekenders' tourist trap.  Given that it was originally built as an English style seaside resort that's possibly not a surprise.

Bondi Beach looking north

There is a lot of wall art.  Some of it very good indeed if that is what one likes at the beach.

This could be almost any English seaside resort

Probably once the grandest Bondi hotel, the Hotel Bondi is still imposing (this is the side view facing the beach).

After Bondi we travelled around the coast and saw the Macquarrie lighthouse. This is the near the original light erected in 1791 and the site of the oldest lighthouse in Australia built in 1818 with the current lighthouse built to replace it in 1883 (the 1818 one having been built of sandstone and basically fallen down).  This light is still fully operational today.

The 1883 Macquarrie Lighthouse

Detail from over the main door - I'm not sure whether that's a flattering model of the monarch's face but it's not as severe as usual.

Then we went to The Heads which is the entrance to the harbour.

The South Head

Obviously the South Head is the southern headland but isn't that a head I see before me?

There will be some sunny pictures and skies to come over the next few days.

Back Home in The Cottage

Well that was Sydney and the Blue Mountains that was.  Being shown Sydney though the eyes of a British Canadian Aussie who has lived there for several decades was a revelation.  I had absolutely no idea what I was expecting so I can't say how it compared with expectations  I can say that it is a buzzing, lively, frenetic, noisy, dynamic, mellee (and sometimes it really does appear as though the dictionary definition of the word might apply) of a people-laden traffic jam of a city.  I loved the wide open spaces of the harbour, the Royal Botanic Gardens, The Centennial Park, the many beaches,  the café culture and so so many more things.  It has good public transport.  It also has traffic that I've not seen before even in England (which, admittedly, is a place I tend to avoid these days so maybe I just don't know what I'm missing).  The houses are a really fabulous mix of old and new, traditional and modern, well-kept and run down and all pitched into one huge melting pot and existing exactly where they landed when the pot was tipped out and the contents emptied.  There are trees planted everywhere and, in some cases the houses built around them.   British town planners would have a hairy canary of a fit but, you know what, they could learn a thing or two and perhaps we'd have a much more pleasant urban environment in Britain.

I'm so glad I went to Sydney because I caught up with my almost-life-long friend and her daughter (who is the British Canadian Aussie) and I now know why so many friends who have been to Sydney rave about it.  But I'm glad to be home again in The Cottage in quiet Napierian Kiwiland.  Mind you there were three cars in front of me at the traffic lights in town this morning which was rather more than usual.  Admittedly, though, it wasn't 'rush hour'.  

Over the next week or so I shall hopefully manage to show you what it was like being a tourist in Sydney.

Thankful Thursday

It's been a super but very mixed week so far.  I've been having problems trying to get a post sorted with photos despite all the theory being right.  Trying to do a simple task like get the photos in the right order now that I've got an app which will downsize them is taking too much time.  I've been doing the real tourist things is Sydney which is really good when one has a Sydneyite to show you round.

Today we came to the Blue Mountains and went on a 3 hour fairly easy tramp. Given the fact that I need a new knee I was delighted to complete it with very little pain or inconvenience.  For that I was very thankful.

We managed to get a tourist bus back from where we were to the town we are staying in after the tramp.  Unfortunately my innate feeling that busses are inherently a form of transport to be avoided was justified by the fact that I didn't sit down quickly enough and was catapulted ribs first onto a seat rail with unfortunate consequences for my ribs.  At best I've cracked one or two. The good news is that there's nothing to be done about it.  The bad news is that it's very very painful.  

So tonight I'm very thankful for the fact that I didn't break an ankle or a leg today. 

As for a blog post with all the pictures I'm sure that at the very worst I'll get a post done when I get back to New Zealand.  

New Year's Eve

The car is packed except for the backpack in which I take Palin (my Laptop for those who didn't see my earliest postings) and various other necessities. Wendy's hens have been fed and watered. I shall soon be on the road for Taupo.

Earlier I was reading CJ's Blog and I have to say that I laughed out loud at his posting entitled:

Australian Tourism: Questions Answered

These questions about Australia were posted on an Australian Tourism website. Obviously the answers came from fellow Aussies.....just trying to help:

If you want to read the posting it's at: http://www.scriptorsenex.blogspot.com/ - It appears under Family Blogs on the right of this page. However a taster (which would be less funny if the question didn't originate in the USA) is:

Q: Will I be able to speek English most places I go? (USA)
A: Yes, but you'll have to learn it first.