A rainy day in the city still provides photographic opportunities. I like it when a pop of colour brightens up the gloom.
Like when a bright blue bus passed through the vale of skyscrapers.
Or when a rainbow umbrella (it was Mardi Gras day) and the beds of flowers brightened the scene outside Hyde Park Barracks.
Well after the scorching summer we had we’re now into a rather rainy phase. It makes venturing into the city a bit of a task.
But stand still for long enough, and I notice some wondrous things amongst the everyday.
The changeable weather also brings great clouds as well as rain.
And seeing a patch of blue after a grey day, I begin to understand why those in colder, greyer climes are so ecstatic when the sun comes out.
One of the privileges of living in Sydney is having access to Sydney Harbour. Now, some of us might be lucky enough to wake up to the Harbour every morning, but I feel privileged enough to be a short train ride away from such a scene as this.
Of course, there is no better way of seeing the harbour than to take the ferry to/from Manly, as I did on the day of our Manly lunch. The old green and beige ferries might still have their charms, but for a few dollars extra, you can have the air-conditioned comfort of the Manly Fast Ferry. That’s one below.
But the harbour is magical, whichever mode of transport you take. The water, skies, clouds, hills and all manner of water-craft, never fail to blow away the cobwebs away.
Back in November (yes, I am very behind on my posts), I met up with friends N and F – it was N’s birthday! It was a warm (but not too hot) day, and our venue was Hugo’s at Manly Wharf. It was a lovely venue, overlooking the water. The food was pretty good, too.
How about some risotto?
Or pan-friend salmon?
And sticky date pudding and ice cream for dessert?
Now, I know that there’s no such thing as a typically ‘Aussie’ meal, but if a non-Australian asks me to give an example, I think this selection would fit the bill – Italian and Anglo influenced dishes, with some seafood thrown in!
I’ve had a few projects on the go this summer. In the lead-up to Christmas I was busy knitting up Christmas baubles from a kit which my sister-in-law, L, had given me earlier in the year. The kit had 23 different designs so I got to try a few! The baubles went to different homes at Christmas time.
I also knitted up another Milo vest – my first in Bold Bamboo! This went to my friend’s baby son, K. Although he’s not even 6 months old at the moment, I knitted a size 1 as babies seem to grow so fast…
And on the back of my laptop cover, I crochet a cover for my new phone. It’s even lined and has a small pocket for ear phones!
It’s been a funny old Spring with the weather see-sawing between summer and winter. Some of the plants in our garden are a bit confused, but the ones that seem to thrive regardless are our grevilleas – this one in particular which flowered all through winter.
The local rainbow lorikeets particularly enjoyed this shrub. They hung around it for weeks on end. It made a particularly cheerful (and noisy) scene in the mornings and evenings.
Being deep in suburbia, it was really nice to have some native birds around the garden, even if it was only one kind. We even saw a bit of a mating ritual happening in our crepe myrtle.
The crowning glory to visits to these parts was the view from Bald Hill in Stanwell Tops. It overlooks Stanwell Park Beach, the Sea Bridge, and the greater suburbs of Wollongong in the distance.
Such a view meant braving a few crowds and even a tourist bus, but concentrate on the scenery and even such inconveniences were tolerable.
On a cove north of the Sea Bridge is Stanwell Park Beach. Golden sands, a blue Tasman Sea, all hemmed in by green hills make this an ever photogenic beach.
This visit was in late July, but the temperature on the sand was warm enough to encourage some hardy souls to head for the surf.
Watch out for the rips, ladies!
It’s been a seriously long time since I visited the Illawarra coast line north of Wollongong. In fact, the last time I posted about the area was back in 2009!
Since then, the Sea Bridge at Coalcliff has become a bit of a tourist attraction, and on a day out with M, we decided to see what the fuss was about. We started the walk on the north end of the bridge, and walked down to the south end to get this view.
Just note that it was very windy there out on the bridge. The view of the coast was better when you’re walking south to north, but only in the morning/late afternoon/cloudy days. And do not attempt to do a ‘Titanic’, as we saw some Chinese tourists do in the middle of the bridge. I mean, really?
A quiet winter beach was the perfect place to contemplate the expanse of sky.
It really takes an overseas trip or two to realise how lucky I am to be able to see the big blue so often here. Even to see the moon.
Static and Silence 