Australia – Sydney – 11th-14th Jan

For our last few days in Sydney we made the most of having a place to ourselves in a fantastic location. Just down the road and under the Harbour Bridge is the North Sydney Olympic Pool and so we decided to spend a good half day there enjoying it’s facilities. For $18 we could use the gym and pool for as long as wanted to, so we spent the first part of the morning in the gym and the second part enjoying the 50m pool. It’s in an amazing location right under the bridge and next to Luna Park, pretty surreal to have so much of interest built around this historic pool and with a famous restaurant overlooking us. We enjoyed the location and the workout. The pool still has much of it’s original art deco styling around the site and large windows line one side so you can people watch as passers-by walk past on their way to and from the ferry.

Later that afternoon we enjoyed a trip back to The Opera House, this time armed with the Leica so that we could get some better shots than our ones from a few days ago. We also walked around the Botanical Gardens home to many tropical parrots and birds and the Flying Foxes or Fruit Bats hanging from the trees above. The parrots are very tame and create quite a raucous sound as they come back to nest or feed from people gathering around.

Around the corner we could see an event taking place where the Open Air Cinema is located, it was actually the opening night for start of the summer season and the Australian Premier of Marilyn was being screened. So there was quite a buzz about the place with media and red carpets all around. What a location though if you have the money, some tickets are available each night on a first come first serve basis but you would have to queue early as they sell out pretty quick and all of the pre-booked tickets were already sold out for the entire month. We weren’t sure whether you’d spend more time looking at the city lit up than the film on screen. Luna Park greeted us as we made our way back to Kirribilli on the ferry, along with moody skies over the Opera House. The Diamond Princess Cruise liner still dominated the Sydney Harbour, impressive but ugly at the same time. Not quite seen one that big before!

We managed to fit in a beach day on the 12th and jetted off using the ferries to Manly Beach, described by many as being the nicest beach in the area. It is certainly a nice spot but it does get so busy during the holidays so perhaps on a quiter day you might find see a little more sand! The sea is good to swim in though and we were getting a bit of a beach day on the go!

On the 13th we enjoyed a pretty low key day which involved washing, shopping for food, planning and cooking some cookies and chocolate brownies. Helen wanted to bake something for the picnic later on and to take to her friends place where we would be driving to the next day. We also got a phone call to say that the Leica was now back so we planned to collect it on Saturday. We also enjoyed a pleasant walk around the Neighborhood and to Milson’s Park taking in the architecture around us. It is a very Art Deco area, perhaps more so than anywhere else in the city (well as far as we’ve seen!) and it has also been maintained to a very high standard. We could tell it wasn’t cheap to live in this part of the city, and so looked on in admiration to our surroundings. We had been very spoilt – BIG thanks to Rob, Monica and Lottie for letting us stay at their lovely flat.

On our final evening in Sydney we finally managed to catch up with friends Amy and Amit who moved here after a stint of travelling last year. They actually left the UK on the same day as us in 2010 and are now settled and expecting their first child! We had a lovely picnic in Glebe Park and an all round fab night catching up with them. Best of luck to them and wish we could have had more time with them whilst we were there!

On the 14th we were ready to make tracks and leave our little home for the past 7 days. We picked up a hire car in the city and packed ourselves in tightly into the little 3 door Hyundai Getz. Happily back together with the Leica we bought ourselves a 3 man tent and a new stove before making our way to Helen’s Uni friend’s family home close to the Blue Mountains.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

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