Friday 3rd November

Anna took us to the airport & we had a quick & comfortable flight to Sydney.

Jane tried to use her UBER app but it still thought we were in Perth & wouldn't get us a car from there to Cremorne Point in Sydney so we took a cab & were left at the address to find the unit. This proved somewhat difficult as we couldn't find a building with No 3 on it in this dead ended street. Eventually we found it having walked down to the ferry pier & retraced the route from the very basic instructions & went into Unit 2.

The unit is in an art deco block with 2 bedrooms & a very weird layout. We had a quick feed & were ready for the ultra low futon bed as soon as we had made it.

Saturday 4th November

Woke up to a great view of Sydney across the harbour but with light showers & a very grey sky. After breakfast we took the bus up to Neutral Bay on Military Road & walked around to find a well earned coffee in the drizzle.

Jane suggested that we go to see an exhibition on Observatory Rise just next to the Rocks near Circular Quay, so we caught a bus into Wynyard & walked up to the site.

The exhibition was in a National Trust Gallery of portraits by female artists for an award & the standard was extremely high.

After about an hour there we walked around to the observatory established in the mid 1800s in a fine sandstone set of buildings. By chance there was to be a free lecture on the history of the site on the highest point in old Sydney & so we waited. The lecture was interesting, although somewhat laboured, but it kept us dry & warm.

We then descended to the very touristy Rocks area particularly with two P & O cruise ships in the harbour. After a late & ordinary snack we took the ferry from Circular Quay back to Cremorne & were pleased to have a rest. Jane walked to Mosman Bay but d*** stayed back. The rain was quite persistent although relatively light so we ate at home, watched TV & went to bed early. Apparently it was Sydney's coldest day for some weeks.

Sunday 5th November (Guy Fawkes night)

Woke to a very wet morning & after a late breakfast, we caught the ferry across to Circular Quay before taking a bus to Bondi Beach to see the 21st 'Sculptures by the Sea'.

After a coffee at the 'Icebergs' Clubhouse, on the cliffs above a salt water swimming pool, we set out walking along the cliff paths from Bondi south about 2km through to Bronte Beach. Luckily for us the rain kept off & we only had the occasional spitting from the sky.

The sandstone rock cliff formations themselves are pretty stunning having been eroded into beautiful curved shapes by millions of years of rain & wind. On the climb from Bondi we saw a whale spouting & cavorting about a km out to sea.

All along the route were 100 large & small sculptures ranging from complex shapes in metal & stone to a large rock partially covered with metal mesh and the path was full of people walking to see the items. Each year a part of the collection is sent on for display at Cottesloe beach in WA but it was the first time we had seen the complete display. The whole effect really does run the gamut from the sublime to the ridiculous but some works are very beautiful whilst others are just gross in our eyes.

Finally we caught a bus back to Bondi before taking another back towards Circular Quay once more.

By chance we spotted a big old house in Paddington with signs promoting the Doug Moran art prize exhibition of finalists works so we left the bus & went to see it. Our next lucky break was that a lecture was in progress presented by one of the artists so we sat down to hear him. The artis,t in his 60s, had painted his picture based on his experience as an unrecognised aboriginal person & surprisingly had only been painting for 5 years. His was one of about 25 works chosen from the 1137 submitted, a man's face surrounded by 4 different scenes. It was fascinating to hear his story & the way in which the painting process was therapeutic for him.

Back on another bus down to the quay where we walked along under the harbour bridge & then climbed the steps up & over the embankment below it into the 'Rocks' again & back down to Pier 2 at Circular Quay, to catch the ferry back to Cremorne.

Leaving the ferry we took the bus about 2km up to Military Road in Cremorne, where we found an excellent Vietnamese restaurant & had a marvellous meal.

After buying some food in the local supermarket we returned on the bus & had a quiet evening watching TV.

Monday 6th November

Had a lie in as the weather was again poor, with squalls blowing across the harbour & the clouds low & solid. To keep out of the rain & wind we decide to go to Wollongong, south of Sydney, so that we would be on public transport for much of the time. The ferry took about 7minutes to get to Circular Quay before we caught a couple of trains to our chosen city. The train took quite a time to clear the city suburbs & then climbed into densely forested, extremely steeply sloping country. After about an hour the train wound along a slope about 200 m above the sea passing small towns & settlements stopping infrequently at small stations. Eventually we descended down to the coast & left the train in Wollongong station.

We walked a few hundred metres & arrived in the city centre in a huge shopping mall & after some effort, managed to find a cafe for lunch. The shopping centre which has been recently been redeveloped on 3 levels traverses about 3 streets via walkways & is quite impressive but it wasn't very busy.

Leaving the centre we took a free loop bus thinking that it would be back in 10 minutes but 30 minutes later, we were still on it having travelled around a beach suburb & on past the huge University of Wollongong campus & the large public & private buildings. For an industrial city the centre is surprisingly smart & pleasant.

The bus dropped us next to the train station so we caught one back to Sydney & were on the 6 o'clock ferry home to Cremorne. We had planned to go out for dinner but the wind was so strong & the weather so threatening that Jane gave in and cooked a fine dinner.

Let's hope tomorrow will bring better weather.

Tuesday 7th November

Up a bit earlier today before we took 2 buses to Chatswood to catch a train towards Gosford north of Sydney. After a coffee break & some shopping we eventually found the station & took one to Hornsby before catching the intercity up to Gosford on the Newcastle line.

The train climbed through the hills covered in dense scrub & trees winding its way through tunnels with fairly sharp curves & across a couple of large inlets at Woywoy & Gosford itself in about 80 minutes. The scenery is quite spectacular in parts & the trip is worth it just for the views.

Gosford, which we had passed through before, turned out to be a disappointment, not quite what we had expected. We walked up what appeared to be the main street & found it pretty empty, probably because it was Melbourne Cup day & people were at functions. We ended up doing a shop in Aldi & catching the trains & ferry back to Cremorne.

Had another fine dinner at a Thai restaurant & returned back home just in time to see 'Rhapsody of the Seas' sail out past the point.

Wednesday 8th November

A cool & windy day but dry. We took a couple of ferries to Pyrmont pier in Darling Harbour to visit the Maritime Museum which is most impressively set in a huge barrel roofed building housing a range of displays.

We were particularly taken with the Baudin exhibition which covered his expedition to circumnavigate Australia at the end of the 18th century with a big team of scientists who identified & collected masses of birds, animals & fishes. The drawings & paintings were amazing & it was obvious that much care had gone into their preparation.

The museum houses Kay Cottee's yacht in which she made her lone circumnavigation of the world & there was a fine display covering the loss of HMAS Perth & the USS Houston in a battle with the Japanese in the Sunda Strait.

A submarine, a destroyer & several other smaller vessels are moored in the harbour next to the museum are but we didn't have time to visit them.

We walked around Darling Harbour, had a light lunch & caught a ferry back to Circular Quay before taking another to Double Bay. Here we walked up to the main street to admire the expensive shops before returning to the pier via a lovely beach. As we sat in the sun to wait for the ferry & were amazed to hear a woman swearing like a proverbial trouper at another with a small child. Her approach was really aggressive & at first we thought that they must be friends but it became clear that she was just being nasty. Luckily the aggressive woman's companion called her away & things quietened down.

The journey home, luckily for us, was uneventful.