Being a Tourist in Sydney: The Rocks

One of the things you just have to make time for on a visit to Sydney is a visit to The Rocks and the Rocks Market which is partly under the Harbour Bridge.  Mo and I spent a morning there before Fiona eventually caught up with us and took us off to our afternoon adventure.

By the time we were ready for coffee it was packed - and there was a huge garden at the back.

Lots of the old properties have been renovated and turned into shops of all sorts.

How's that for a body?

There were many stalls selling arts and crafts of every description and a lot of food stalls too

The Rocks Market is to the left of this picture under the bridge.  This part of the port area is The Rocks.

On top of the Harbour Bridge (One to jog Kate's memory)

Sydney's oldest pub

Eleven O'clock and All's Quiet

The dishwasher is quietly (well, rather noisily actually but it doesn't create the right ambience for the post) purring away in the background as I listen to Elgar's Sea Pictures (Just for a change I'm listening to Della Jones instead of the definitive Dame Janet Baker recording from, I think, 1965 or was it 1968?  It was a long time ago anyway.) and take stock of the week that's just passed.  One way and another the 44 days 19 hours and 50 mins that have gone by since I landed in Napier have been some of the busiest at a stretch in this country that I can recall since the first time I came here in 2005.  And the last week has seen the busiest of those 44 days.  It's been  wonderful but I'm now looking forward to a quiet week in the run up to the Christmas weekend.

Today I woke with a start rather late at 0722.  Within a few seconds I was up and the kettle was on.  I was due out at 8am with Wendy and Martin to the Farmers Market in Hastings.  The odd thing about getting up so rapidly was that I had absolutely no recollection whatsoever of the dream that I'd woken from except to know that it was deeply unpleasant.  Perhaps that's why in the past I remembered so very few dreams because at one time I always rose within a few seconds of waking.  Now I often turn over and doze for a while.

The weather for the Farmers Market was cold but the rain had stopped for which we were truly thankful.  Unfortunately a combination of time spent actually looking and buying and the miserable weather meant that I took only a handful of photos.

Superb smoked fish - that's a couple of meals catered for.

A huge selection of artisan breads.  I didn't need bread today.

There's nothing better than carrots with their tops on and organic carrots are one of the few organic foods where I can taste a difference.

Note the wheelbarrow on the extreme left of the picture.  The clever ones were shopping with a wheelbarrow.  We had to make four trips back to the car.

All in all it was a successful morning and I think it may well be the start of a trend.  What I had not realised, because I'm never in Napier on a Saturday morning 'cos I play croquet then, is that there is a Farmers Market in the centre of Napier on a Saturday morning.

We got home around midday and I set about preparing a buffet for friends from Napier who had visited me in Scotland last year and The Family - a total of 12 to be fed. 

After a really wonderful, relaxed evening catching up everyone left and I'm now writing this and musing on how lucky I am.  Not only have I had a fabulous day, week and month but, given my propensity to over-cater I will probably have nothing to cook for the next four days anyway.

So now it's time for an early night - I should make bed before 1230!   Life's pretty good.

Matakana Market Band

When Pauline, Twink and I went to the Matakana Farmers’ Market there was a band.  It was a most interesting band.  Apart from being very competent musicians playing appropriately good music, I found the characters themselves of considerable interest.  I just love faces of character:

Contemplation

A man at peace with himself

And suddenly alive (Oddly I found his electric guitar rather at odds with his apparent persona)

In full swing

And a smiling Twink looks on.

Thanks Twink for your hospitality and introducing me to the Garage Sale and the Matakana market scene!

Candy Floss

This morning we all went to the local 'market' down on the Marine Parade.  It's somewhere between a craft fair and a car boot sale.  What one can get, of course, is ice cream, coffee and a whole host of other culinery delights (yeah right) and candy floss!  Wendy and I stuck to coffee.