We decided to head over to Newtown, an area Helen had visited before and is built up to be a more artsy district with vintage clothing and second hand book shops lining the streets along with eateries, café’s and bars. It’s definitely a more eclectic place especially if you’re looking to escape the city vibe. We started our day at The University of Sydney, there was an exhibition taking place there as part of the Sydney Festival 2012 which was free involving the architecture and space of certain buildings and galleries on campus. It was a modernist walk across the campus involving contemporary installations by artist Narelle Jubelin.

The exhibition titled Vision in Motion was inspired by some of the distinctive, modernist buildings including The Chemistry Lecture Theatres, The University Art Gallery and in the windows from Sci-Tech Library. We really enjoyed taking it all in and gave us an alternative take on the space around us. Walking back through Newtown we enjoyed drinks at the popular Café Newtown and a spot of window shopping.

Back in the City we enjoyed a trip into the Sydney MCA which currently under construction only has one floor open to the public but it’s not about quantity. The interactive exhibition ‘Recorders’ by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer was fantastic, full of fun and intrigue. God only knows what happens with those recordings but they now have our thumb prints, eye scans, heart beats, shadows and voices recorded as part of a human documentation, this is more than an art exhibition.

The next morning we sorted out a repair job for our Leica camera which thanks to Foto Riesel was organised and sent to Melbourne for repair. We only had to pay $22 for the postage in the end and the repair was done under warranty so we were pretty relieved about that. I guess there should be some bonuses for being Leica owners! We were told we may even get it back by the end of the week which was way more than we expected AND to top it all off they lent us one of their loan cameras which mean’t we would be able to take at least a few lovely shots from our time in Sydney.

Later on we took the metro to Bondi Junction and a bus to Bondi Beach where with packed and weighted backpacks we walked to Bronte Bay and back. It’s one of those must-do things when people come to Sydney and so we joined all the hundred or so other runners, speed-walkers and general sight seers on this famous coastline. It is a pretty part of Sydney with smooth rock formations, accessible beaches, swimming pools and big, expensive houses to keep us entertained. This was part of our training for our hike, got to get in the walks when we can! When we got back to Kirribilli later on we decided to eat at our local Thai ‘Stir-Crazy’. Lovely food of which there was more than enough for us to take home for the next day and a great atmosphere. This place is packed nearly every night of the week.

(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)

After our 1hr flight from Christchurch to Auckland, a 4hr airport lounge wait proceeded by a 3.5hr flight to Sydney we finally arrived in Australia and proceeded to follow our instructions to get to our new home for the next 7 days. Dave’s good friend Rob offered his flat for us both to stay in as he and his family were back in the UK whilst we were dropping by, unfortunate as we would have loved to have met up with them properly. He suggested we purchase a week long travel pass which allows the use of trains, underground metro, buses and boats at a very good price of $43 AUS.

A few train stops later and we arrived at the flat, received the keys and settled in to our home for the next week. The view from the kitchen was spectacular and with the sun setting over the Harbour bridge we made our way to the Sydney Festival 2012 First Night which included several free performances in Hyde Park and around the city. The streets were packed with people in the centre of the city and the music was pumping from Norman Jay’s 8hr big red bus.  Other performers included Washington and an energetic performance from rising World Music star Manu Chao, we were amazed by the fusion of sounds, genres and crazy dancing that was going on and the crowd absolutely loved him. This was all taking place in The Domain whilst Norman Jaye was pleasing the hard core fans.

As a free event to kick off a month long festival in the heart of Sydney it was great to see thousands of people turn out and enjoy the music and atmosphere. The queues for food and drinks were huge however we finally managed to find a smaller line for a plateful of Dim Sum which raised our energy levels ready for the journey back to the flat and a king sized double bed, its has been a long time indeed, luxury.

The next morning we enjoyed a well deserved lie in followed by an equally well deserved breakfast out at the local Kirribilli Cafe welcoming us nicely to our new city life. After travelling around New Zealand for two months in and out of the wilderness it was strangely comforting to be back in-between all the hustle and bustle that a city has to offer. Although it’s clear to see that people just aren’t as friendly as their rural neighbours.

Food shopping was required to fill the cupboards as we cannot afford to eat out all the time and we found a local Aldi as well as a deli to help us stock up. Items are cheaper to purchase here than in New Zealand. The Kirribilli Sunday market was also underway nearby so we had a look through what was on offer, no mens clothes unfortunately to help replace Dave’s ripped jeans!

We jumped straight into sightseeing mode and made our way across the Harbour Bridge en-route to Helen’s Uni friend James who just so happened to be getting married at the Rocks. We had a drink with the newlyweds and caught up on the Loughborough gossip. This was followed with a stroll around the Opera House followed by an impressive storm taking place later on and documented patiently by Dave. This was also the night we started watching The Killing (Danish Version), with 19 episodes to follow we were hooked instantly and knew it would have to be included into our daily schedule from now on!

(Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)