Week 12 ~ L is for a walk from Lavender Bay to Luna Park and a coffee at the Lindt Cafe

Posted: March 22, 2015 in Sydney Harbour
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
0

Saturday afternoon we headed out to Lavender Bay, near North Sydney, to walk from there around the foreshore to Luna Park. Historically typical of foreshore land being used for industry in the past couple of centuries, as recently as 2005 small ships were still being built at a boat shed there on land that is now a mixture of apartments worth millions of dollars and beautiful grass parkland (with brides at every turn!) 1 We parked at Blues Point Tower (what a great spot to watch the fireworks on New Year’s Eve)

2

Stairs leading down to the foreshore at Lavender Bay

Boat building, baths, welding, slipways... such recent history

Boat building, baths, welding, slipways… such recent history

4

The path is populated with these whimsical characters/statues/caricatures.

5

Picnic ground out the back of Luna Park

7

And then a hot chocolate at the Lindt Cafe. 95 days after that December morning, thousands of people came, not to gawk I believe, but to just quietly make sure these bastards don’t win.

8 Wendy Whitely, Brett Whiteley’s widow, has a garden down that way… might file that idea away for W

Week 11 ~ K is for Kirribilli Wharf Cafe

Posted: March 15, 2015 in Cafe, Sydney Harbour
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0
Image: metaljar

Image: metaljar

Don’t think we have EVER given an 11/10 for breakie before… and if our coffees came a little bit sooner, it would have been.
So 9/10

WOW! We both had the Arabian Eggs (from a very small menu)

They were sensational – best egg breakfast we’ve had in the past 3 years, probably.

This tiny cafe is right on the wharf at Kirribilli. Make a choice… catch a ferry or eat… decisions, decisions!

A tiny, but really interesting menu – see it here

It’s a great location, right next to Admiralty House

map

Robyn had a red hot crack at re-creating Arabian eggs – damn good!

Image: metaljar

Image: metaljar

Image: metaljar

Image: metaljar

Image: metaljar

Image: metaljar

Image: metaljar

Image: metaljar

Image: metaljar

Image: metaljar

Image: metaljar

Image: metaljar

Image: metaljar

Image: metaljar

Week 10 ~ J is for Joy Ride

Posted: March 8, 2015 in Sydney Harbour
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

A beautiful, sunny Saturday morning – a great day to do that H for Helicopter Joy Flight we put off a few weeks ago because of the weather.

John from Heliscenic at Bankstown was our pilot – friend of a friend who gave us a great rate (Thank you Di Lewis!!)

WHAT A BLAST! Your wedding or birth of your kids is meant to be the best 90 minutes of your life…? NOT ANY MORE!

We retraced our 2014 year of walking the beaches and harbour.

We flew from Bankstown, over Parramatta, Pennant Hills, Hornsby and the F3/M1 to Lion Island and Barrenjoey,
then down the coast to Cronuilla, back up the coast to the Heads, then
straight down Sydney Harbour, over the Harbour Bridge down to Rhodes than back to Bankstown.

Absolutely sensational!

Thanks John Rappell. 0411 234 164

Presuming no one wants to actually watch a GoPro video of the 90 odd minutes in normal time, I’ve uploaded 4x normal speed and 8x normal speed videos.

All the images uploaded to flickr

Image: metaljar

Image: metaljar

P1050426

Home and Away. Image: metaljar

Image: metaljar

Well snapped, Robyn! Image: metaljar

P1050428

Our favourite 3 or 4 houses from our walk last year; on the Bilgola Bends. Image: metaljar

P1050431

Warriewood / Narrabeen Image: metaljar

P1050442

South Head Image: metaljar

P1050454

Looking over Dover Heights to the city. Image: metaljar

Week 9 ~ I is for ice-cream

Posted: March 1, 2015 in Cafe, Inner West
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

After a fabulous wedding where Nic and Jo said “I do” we needed to head over to Erskinville to pick up a car that was left there in The Great Clear Family Wedding Car Shuffle. We made our way there, during Sydney’s terrific first day of autumn afternoon downpour, via Enmore for some Ice cream.

There’s so many great Gelato cafes through the inner west, including a previous favourite, n2 extreme gelato  Check it out – very cool how they just add liquid nitrogen to a liquid mix and create instant ice cream. We didn’t go there, however… time for something new 🙂 Across the road from the iconic Enmore Theatre in King St is Cow and Moon, purveyors of THE BEST ICE CREAM IN SYDNEY. Yep, big claim, so check this link.

Image: metaljar

Image: metaljar

A great range of amazing flavours. $6.50 for a medium cup with 3 flavours… that’ll do! Cointreau, Hazelnut Roche, Afogato, Banana and Salted Caramel, Apple Lemon and Blood Orange Sorbet, Popcorn, Pistachio, Coconut and Hazelnut Roche, Hazelnut and Italian Nougat, Jaffa, traditional Lemon Sorbet, Mixed Berry and Chocolate Sorbet… bloody good!

Image: metaljar

Image: metaljar

We wandered along Enmore Road while we ate, and washed our sticky hands under the dripping downpipe of the Enmore.

Image: metaljar

Image: metaljar

So, on to J… no real thoughts at the moment!

Week 8 ~ H for Haberfield

Posted: February 22, 2015 in Cafe, Sydney Harbour
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
0

A workmate of Robyn’s knows a helicopter pilot.
Through her, John from HeliScenic helicopter tours out of Bankstown Airport had offered us a great deal on a flight over the beaches, from Palm Beach in the north down to Cronulla, following the walk along the coast we did last year.
What a great week H!

Until John rang early Saturday morning as we were heading out to Bankstown, advising us that the low cloud meant we wouldn’t have the best experience and that we should postpone. Spending a small fortune for anything less than 100%… pretty easy decision… we postponed.

While sitting at a cafe in Eastwood having a coffee, a few suggestions from friends included

  • a trip to Hurstville
  • a visit to Palm beach to see the set of Home and Away (noice work, Mark Williamson!)
  • High tea
  • Haberfield
  • Hazelbrook
  • Hogwarts
  • Hang gliding or Hover crafting on the Hawkesbury
Photo: metaljar

Photo: metaljar

UTS Rowers has rebuilt the clubhouse at Haberfield, so we headed over there on Sunday morning for breakfast.

A pretty limited menu in a venue that is so obviously run by people who run a club, not a cafe or restaurant!
Here’s a few tips for the good folks at UTS Rowers Club…

  1. When you enter and sign in, offer a coffee when you stand there, point and say “Sit anywhere you want.:
  2. Approach said people sitting there and tell them the reason you are being completely ignored is because you need to order from the bar.
  3. Offer a menu! (“They’re at the bar. Help yourself”)
  4. Offer a bottle of water. (“At the bar. Help yourself”)
  5. Just because I’m wearing a fetching pink polo shirt, ha e a look before walking up to the table and declaring “Hello ladies. Everything all right?”

A great deck to sit, eat, drink and watch the world go by, but we won’t be hurrying back. There’s better value and experiences all over the inner west.

Photo: metaljar

Photo: metaljar

IMG_3739

Week 7 ~ G is for Garden Island

Posted: February 11, 2015 in Sydney Harbour
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

imageWeek 7… really happy with the idea for this weekend.

Initially we toyed with the idea of touring the new UTS Gehry (crumpled paper bag) building, but after some investigation during the week learnt that it wouldn’t be open this weekend. Perhaps in 37 weeks or so!

Last year, while walking the inner harbour foreshore, we caught a ferry to Watsons Bay from Circular Quay. On the way there, it made stop at Garden Island. This surprised us, as we had always thought that Garden Island was closed to the public.

Photo: metaljar

Photo: metaljar

After a little investigation we learnt that about 10 years ago, the northern point of the island was opened to the public with the building of the Royal Australian Navy Heritage Centre, the official museum of the Royal Australian Navy, which opened in 2005.

The Heritage Centre includes a museum and some heritage buildings. The museum has some fascinating exhibits – stuff about the Japanese midget submarines that attacked Sydney Harbour during World War II etc.

The public part of the island is only accessible via ferry. It’s Crown [Navy] land and is a fully functioning base. Every arrival is met at the wharf by a security guard who’s been there for 11 years and is both a font of knowledge and a bit of a know-it-all!

The cafe, museum and gardens are open between 10am and 4pm each day.

We caught a ferry from Huntley’s Point (Riverside Girls’ High) to Circular Quay, and then changed there for the Watsons Bay Ferry. We arrived a bit late so didn’t spend hours and hours there.

Entry is free. The museum is really well laid out with some interesting stuff, all well labelled so making your way ’round the exhibits is easy.

There’s some initials carved into an exposed rock with a 1788 date making it the oldest settlement artifact on the east coast of Australia. The signal tower (an easy couple of flights of stairs) gives a terrific view of Sydney, Kings Cross and the harbour

View from the top of the signal tower Image: metaljar

View from the top of the signal tower
Image: metaljar

We just had a coffee at the cafe and didn’t really look at the menu.

I think it’s the sort of place that Probus clubs and the like might go during the week. I’ll enjoy going back one day.

Once again, we both commented that when you hear overseas visitors commenting on what a beautiful city Sydney is, they’re right. There’s so much to discover in out own back yard, and it’s really quite cool to be doing things here that we’ve never done before.

Garden Island Info website

Ferry timetable (you can ONLY access the public areas of Garden Island by ferry.)

Image: metaljar

Image: metaljar

 View from the top of the signal tower

Image: metaljar

Image: metaljar

 And the periscope actually works! 360 degree view of the harbour.
 image OK. I will

Image: metaljar

Image: metaljar

 An historic 18′ skiff at Clarke Island
 IMG_0036 Beautiful Port Jackson Fig
IMG_0033 Simply gorgeous!
 IMG_0026 Signal Tower
IMG_0025 Signal Tower
 IMG_0045 From near the wharf

Week 6 ~ F is for Ferry

Posted: February 8, 2015 in Sydney Harbour
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Weekend #6 means something starting with the letter F.

Neither of us had ever caught the ferry up the Parramatta River beyond Meadowbank.

Photo: metaljar

Photo: metaljar

We parked the car at Meadowbank and caught the 9am ferry up the river, past Rhodes (no ferry stop there… all that new high rise? Why not?), a stop at The Armory near the Olympic site near Silverwater (great cafe and [crowded] playground there BTW) and then a slower (7 knots – no wash) trip up to Parramatta going past Clyde, the back of UTS and past Rydalmere.

Breakfast at the cafe right at the ferry terminus and then a ferry back an hour later. Nice way to start the day.

IMG_3696

Photo: metaljar

Just a thought, though…
It’s a beautiful, cloudless summer’s day. The ferry is heading from Parramatta to the city. Do you think there might be a lot of people catching it in to spend the day in the city at Darling Harbour and Circular Quay? Especially on the $2.50 Opal card Sunday fare.

The ferry was chockers by the time it picked up another hundred on the wharf at Meadowbank. It will have then cruised stright past all and sundry at Putney and Gladesville etc. We know… we’ve watched the ferry go straight past us before.

Come on Gladys, there’s a creative solution to this problem. Please put some thought into it.

IMG_3692 Looking up the river
 IMG_3690 Near Armory Wharf
IMG_3691 Heading towards Parramatta
IMG_3695 Breakfast at Port Bar Cafe
IMG_3689 #JustWashedMyHair

Week 5 ~ E is for Everleigh Markets and Breakfast at Erskinville

Posted: February 1, 2015 in Markets
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

IMG_3676Every Saturday, local NSW farmers and artisan food producers bring their fresh and seasonal produce to the Everleigh Farmers’ Market.

About 70 stallholders sell fresh produce including fruit and vegetables, meat, dairy, bread, olive oil, wine and more.

There were stalls there with produce from as far as Orange and Bateman’s Bay.

IMG_3675We had a wander, bought some dips and fruit and tried a few differnt things. Great markets.

We then went to Erskinville where we had breakfast at The Bakerman Cafe, out the front of the old Erko Post Office. We rang Nic McRobie to tell him we were around and enjoyed a coffee and catch-up with him and Jo.

Week 4 ~ D is for Dinner with our Daughter

Posted: January 27, 2015 in Driving NSW
Tags: , ,
0
Australia-Map-NSW-LGA-Orange

Image: commons.wikimedia.org

Our daughter Lauren got a job on Christmas Eve as an Environmental Consultant with RW CORKERY & CO in Orange. She moved there a few weeks ago and we hadn’t had a chance to catch up with her, so this weekend we drove out to this beautiful rural city to catch up with her. We arrived after lunch on the Saturday and stayed the night and enjoyed dinner with her.

It was great to see the 2 br townhouse she has rented and hear about her work and workmates. Very proud!

Orange is actually a bigger city than Bathurst, and it’s an easy 3.5 to 4 hour drive there from Sydney.
As a city it has everything she’ll need for the next few years, so we are looking forward to quite a few visits!

Image: commons.wikimedia.org

Image: commons.wikimedia.org

Week 3 ~ C is for City Walking Tour

Posted: January 21, 2015 in Walking
Tags: ,
0

We flew home from Europe over the weekend after spending Saturday in Zurich.

We went to a flea market (damn… should have bought that second hand sled we saw!) on the way to our City Walking Tour of the Old Town in the morning.

Photo: metaljar

We met Ivan, our guide, at 11am and with about 15 in our group, set off in wet, snowy rain. We saw a few things we wouldnt have seen and learnt a bit about Zurich from Ivan, who is a Bulgarian student who has been studying in Zurich for about 5 years.

Photo: metaljar

Photo: metaljar

He showed us The Wasserkirche (Water Church), a pretty little church which is a bit back from the river but, when built, would have been right on the water. It has the blackest stained glass windows we have ever seen. The centre panel depicts Christ as would be expected, but the two panels either side depict ordinary Swiss life and track the birth, growth, life and death of a person in Zurich

old town 1

Photo: metaljar

photo: metaljar

Photo: metaljar

We had planned to spend the afternoon doing a scenic boat trip on the lake and catching the train up the mountain overlooking Zurich. However, rain and mist and fog saw us change this plan, so we caught a local tram up the hill to near the zoo where we enjoyed a drink in a cafe with the snow falling steadily… Lovely!

That night we flew overnight to Singapore Changi airport for a 2 hour stopover for a quick bit of duty free shopping before overnighting to Sydney, arriving Monday morning 7am.

Back in Australia and able to properly plan, now, for next weekend’s D and beyond.

Oh, and by the way, some boy band joined our plane in Changi, quickly making their way straight to First Class. What a shame they were called The Vamps and not something starting with C!

Older Entries
Newer Entries