Enjoyed settling in, unpacking, sorting, making space - and then we were all ready to go for a 7 week sit in a modern high rise apartment in Pyrmont with stunning harbour and bridge views and a lovely old pussycat. This gave us a great opportunity to explore the inner west suburbs that we don't usually see - so lots of buses, lots of shanks's pony and lots of exercise as we flitted from Pyrmont to home every few days.

One of the things we've been looking forward to whilst back is the opprotunity to avail of same day Rush tickets to shows, musicals and outings generally. We felt sorry for Opera Australia this year as it seems the weather was particularly wet - and unpredictably so. The only thing guaranteed was that it would be pouring torrentially at some point every day. We went to the Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour a couple of years ago in March 2021 and loved it. This time it was a juggling act of checking the weather, seeing what last minute seats were available and tossing up how many performances were left. We eventually went to the show on 16 April, Madama Butterfly, with Premium A Reserve seats and didn't even get wet - though at one point it was raining over the stage - just not on us. It seemed to us to be a very pared back production this year - not a patch on La Traviata a couple of years ago but well worth the $90 cost - God Bless Rush Tickets!

While we were in Pyrmont it made sense to take in the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at the Capitol Theatre the very next night - one of our favourite Sydney theatres. It was the end of the run and neither of us really knew much about it - fabulous evening out and enjoyed the production - not to mentioned learned a bit about a bible story. A huge weekend altogether.

We're keen, having missed winter altogether in 2022, for some cold weather and it just showed no sign of arriving. We though, if the cooler weather won't come to us then we'll have to go to the cooler weather, so planned Saturday 6 May in the garden village of the Blue Mountains, Leura. We found it suitably brisk on the walk to Central and had fun on the train ride up - and definitely chilly when we arrived in Leura - but blazing sun, of course. As it turned out, it was Leura's Harvest Festival, the mall was closed to traffic, there were stalls and music and a good time had by all. We had Leura Chinese for lunch as always, chocolate cake for afters once the Chocolate Cake Compeition was judged, bought James a winter and summer hat to protect him from the blazing sun going forward and tootled to the station for the 1.40 pm train home. Then the drama of getting home began after some dozy fool nodded off and drove his ute onto the train tracks a few stations away, knocking out both lines and causing a 6 hour delay is us getting home. Long, long day. When we arrived at Central we treated our feet to the light rail the rest of the way. Nibbles and fridge cleaning expedition for dinner - no urge whatsoever to cook.

Booked a hotel during a sale around Christmas and spent a couple of nights in a city hotel for my birthday in May. Despite having spent millions on a recent major renovation, the glorious old girl of a hotel has unfortunately lost its soul - not least because the money saving brains trust decided to rip out almost every bathtub in the five star hotel - and replace them with showers. Well big luxurious 'whoop' there. The only baths are now to be found in the suites and above. Suffice it to say discussions were had as to reasonable expectations of a five star hotel and we ended up with a lovely bathtub. It was a super weekend and we enjoyed ourselves and the 'in the city' vibe.

Saturday evening we trotted over to The Little Snail in Darling Harbour for dinner. We picked up a last minute Groupon voucher for a three course dinner and a glass of wine for two. We have quite the soft spot for this restaurant and have been to it many times over our 28 years in Sydney - in multiple different spots and incarnations from Broaadway to Kings Cross and now in Darling Harbour. Would be surprised if anyone went there without a Groupon voucher but someone would undoubtedly have paid full price. With the discount, at A$108 for two people, it is not surprisingly very popular with couples and groups alike. We had a nummy dinner and stunning desserts with their toffee decorations. We think there is an apprentice out the back who does nothing but whip these up day in and day out. Sunday morning we enjoyed a hotel breakfast and then ventured down to The Rocks Market - we were WOWED! Went there years and years ago and found it a bit overpriced, a bit touristy but it has really gone through the roof since then. We had a fine time pottering about and it was awesome to be standing under the end of the Harbour Bridge by the time we reched the end of the market. We continued on and visited The Police and Justice Museum. This kept us amused for at least a couple of hours. I visited back in 1995 when I first came to Sydney and it was just as fascinating. Watched a couple of movies via easy streaming in our suite then went out and stocked up with some sushi and miso to have at the dining table alongside a bottle of birthday bubbles and a small birthday treat from the hotel. Due to the miracles of a 4 pm checkout we had a very, very relaxed breakfast on Monday morning, including salmon eggs benedict and far too many cappuccinos. After breakfast we took a long stroll through the Botanic Gardens and back via the Opera House, enjoying the sunshine and the sparkling harbour views. Another movie in the afternoon and eventually it was time to leave. Good time all round and good to be home in our apartment.

Our next Sydney based adventure was early June and down south to Sydney's Southern Highlands region and the picturesque and historic village of Bowral (cooler.. but warmed up while we were there -of course). We jumped on the direct train from Central Station bright and early (well certainly early…) and were there in just an hour and a half. Our lovely host met us at the station with a bag full of luscious pastries from a 'world famous in Bowral' local bakery - the sort where people queue outside and like to be seen on weekends. So that made a great impression on us. The two kittens we were looking after for 10 days were a loveable pair indeed and a laugh a minute and very, very loving - less than six months old and still very much kittens. We were about 20 minutes walk into the village and made a good fist of a decent walk every day, either into town and up and down the shops and back home or along one of the creekside/countryside walking routes. We had a wonderful time exploring the local thrift stores - with six or seven options we had plenty of choice and it's a fairly wealthy area. During the stay we found several silver pieces including earrings and cufflinks, some greenstone cufflinks and three small pairs of gold earrings. One of the standout finds of the trip was actually a French coffee press (actually made in France) with a pyrex beaker that weighed a ton and was greasy and grubby from a kitchen that fried a lot. With a fair bit of hot water, soap and elbow grease it came up glistening after an hour or so. It was like brand new having been made in the 1980s or so. It even made it home to Sydney, well wrapped and is now in daily use. To buy an identical vintage press on Ebay would cost around $400. Absolutely love treasure hunting. The 10 days was enough of Bowral but we had a good time and trained home on King's Birthday weekend Monday (and how weird does it feel to say that about the June long weekend?)

Once we were back, with just a week left of Sydney's Vivid festival, it was finally time to get organised and jump on the bus to the end of our line, ending up at Barangaroo Reserve. We strolled back, just us against the hordes travelling in the opposite direction and enjoyed some outstanding light displays and installations along the way, topped off with the water spout show and fireworks at Darling Harbour. Good times and a chance to (finally) rug up as it was a pleasantly chilly Sydney winter's evening. It was a long, long way and we jumped on the bus at QVB for the end of the trip home. Don't know where we'll be in May/June 2024, but if it's Sydney, we'll definitely 'do' Vivid again.

Next adventure? In a couple of weeks we're off in search of more cold weather - surely a Melbourne winter will do the trick. A change is as good as a holiday.