Well we have now been in Sydney for over a week and have resolutely negle
cted to do any of the usual tourist things. The days have developed a slightly repetitive, although not necessarily monotonous, theme revolving around Sandra going to see her grand-daughter or grand-daughter being brought round to see Sandra – with the odd lunch or picnic thrown in for good measure. As Sandra says, she needs to see as much as her as possible now as, when we return to Scotland, she may not see her for years.
The baby now has a name. Despite Steven’s preference for “Jincky”, which he claims is a traditional Filipino name, she has now been registered as Anathalia – after Ana’s
grandmother, although I suspect Jincky may put in the odd unofficial appearance from Steven’s direction!
Although we gave the normal tourist areas a miss in the first week we have seen a lot of the “real” Sydney. The 8k drive to Steven’s house goes through a number of apparently unprepossessing areas but how wrong drive-by impressions can be. Sandra had spotted a shop selling paper and card which she needed for her craft work so we parked in the King Street area of Newtown and spent the afternoon exploring the area on foot. We found a fascinating array of small independent shops, cafes and restaurants whilst behind the main thoroughfare was an interesting maze of narrow streets full of Sydney’s trademark small Victorian houses in various states of repair and renovation.
No trip to Sydney would be complete without a visit to Circular Quay to watch the street performers – including a group of painted Aboriginal musicians - and take a trip on
one of the many ferries which spend their days criss-crossing the harbour. We opted for the half hour crossing to Manly on one of the venerable old yellow and green ferries – a journey we had made several times in the past. Eating fish and chips, we strolled along the beach watching the surfers - then on to the coastal footpath taking us up to the cliffs for wonderful views back over towards the town beach. We parked ourselves on a convenient bench at a viewpoint beside a sheer cliff several hundred feet above the sea and rocks where a metal railing had been erected to prevent the unwary stumbling to their death.
As we took in the views a heart-stopping few moments developed. A youngster, with a heightened degree of balance and a lowered degree of commonsense, was walking the guardrail despite the certainty of death if he slipped seawards. Slowly and teeteringly he made his way passed us as he followed the rail, which at that point ran uphill along the clifftop. (See photo – which was sneaked as I thought
asking him to pose might be dangerous) As he disappeared from sight, but not over the edge, we let out our collective breath muttering about the idiocy of youth – when lo and behold he appeared again, this time teetering down the rail from right to left. The tension was too great so we left him to his tightrope act and kept our fingers crossed.
Sandra plans to take a market stall before Christmas to sell her craft work and on Saturday she visited the local Balmain Market to view the competition and to arrange for a stall in December. Finding a suspiciously convenient parking place right next to the market we got hit
with our first Australian parking ticket. I didn’t realise that you had to pay $2 to park and was taken aback to see a parking attendant slapping a brown envelope onto the windscreen. “Sorry mate” he said “I can’t take it back now it’s done” I now have to pay a $86 (about £50) or fight it – I will of course fight!
On our last night in Sydney Steven invited Sandra, myself, Johann and Stretch out for a meal – however near disaster struck before we got to the restaurant. Johann has a dog which, although challenged in terms of pedigree and classic good looks, scores highly in terms of scruffy cuteness and enthusiasm. Whilst Stretch
was giving Lolly a final walk before we left to meet Steven, she was attacked by two dogs including a enormous Bull Terrier which managed to lock its teeth into Lolly’s throat. A massive, and bloody, confrontation took place with Stretch and a neighbour fighting to detach teeth from poor Lolly’s neck. Instead of a pleasant farewell dinner, Johann and Stretch spent the evening supporting Lolly at the vets surgery. After a night of sedation in canine intensive care Lolly is now out of immediate danger and will hopefully make a good recovery – which is probably more than can be said for Johann and Stretch!
We fly back to Perth this afternoon to r
esume our trip round Australia
cted to do any of the usual tourist things. The days have developed a slightly repetitive, although not necessarily monotonous, theme revolving around Sandra going to see her grand-daughter or grand-daughter being brought round to see Sandra – with the odd lunch or picnic thrown in for good measure. As Sandra says, she needs to see as much as her as possible now as, when we return to Scotland, she may not see her for years.The baby now has a name. Despite Steven’s preference for “Jincky”, which he claims is a traditional Filipino name, she has now been registered as Anathalia – after Ana’s
grandmother, although I suspect Jincky may put in the odd unofficial appearance from Steven’s direction!Although we gave the normal tourist areas a miss in the first week we have seen a lot of the “real” Sydney. The 8k drive to Steven’s house goes through a number of apparently unprepossessing areas but how wrong drive-by impressions can be. Sandra had spotted a shop selling paper and card which she needed for her craft work so we parked in the King Street area of Newtown and spent the afternoon exploring the area on foot. We found a fascinating array of small independent shops, cafes and restaurants whilst behind the main thoroughfare was an interesting maze of narrow streets full of Sydney’s trademark small Victorian houses in various states of repair and renovation.
No trip to Sydney would be complete without a visit to Circular Quay to watch the street performers – including a group of painted Aboriginal musicians - and take a trip on
one of the many ferries which spend their days criss-crossing the harbour. We opted for the half hour crossing to Manly on one of the venerable old yellow and green ferries – a journey we had made several times in the past. Eating fish and chips, we strolled along the beach watching the surfers - then on to the coastal footpath taking us up to the cliffs for wonderful views back over towards the town beach. We parked ourselves on a convenient bench at a viewpoint beside a sheer cliff several hundred feet above the sea and rocks where a metal railing had been erected to prevent the unwary stumbling to their death.As we took in the views a heart-stopping few moments developed. A youngster, with a heightened degree of balance and a lowered degree of commonsense, was walking the guardrail despite the certainty of death if he slipped seawards. Slowly and teeteringly he made his way passed us as he followed the rail, which at that point ran uphill along the clifftop. (See photo – which was sneaked as I thought
asking him to pose might be dangerous) As he disappeared from sight, but not over the edge, we let out our collective breath muttering about the idiocy of youth – when lo and behold he appeared again, this time teetering down the rail from right to left. The tension was too great so we left him to his tightrope act and kept our fingers crossed.Sandra plans to take a market stall before Christmas to sell her craft work and on Saturday she visited the local Balmain Market to view the competition and to arrange for a stall in December. Finding a suspiciously convenient parking place right next to the market we got hit
with our first Australian parking ticket. I didn’t realise that you had to pay $2 to park and was taken aback to see a parking attendant slapping a brown envelope onto the windscreen. “Sorry mate” he said “I can’t take it back now it’s done” I now have to pay a $86 (about £50) or fight it – I will of course fight!On our last night in Sydney Steven invited Sandra, myself, Johann and Stretch out for a meal – however near disaster struck before we got to the restaurant. Johann has a dog which, although challenged in terms of pedigree and classic good looks, scores highly in terms of scruffy cuteness and enthusiasm. Whilst Stretch
was giving Lolly a final walk before we left to meet Steven, she was attacked by two dogs including a enormous Bull Terrier which managed to lock its teeth into Lolly’s throat. A massive, and bloody, confrontation took place with Stretch and a neighbour fighting to detach teeth from poor Lolly’s neck. Instead of a pleasant farewell dinner, Johann and Stretch spent the evening supporting Lolly at the vets surgery. After a night of sedation in canine intensive care Lolly is now out of immediate danger and will hopefully make a good recovery – which is probably more than can be said for Johann and Stretch!We fly back to Perth this afternoon to r
esume our trip round Australia 
Isn't she lovely!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to parents and grandparents-a grand-daughter at last! Enjoy!
Gareth and Leonie have just got married but I think we might have a while to wait for babies!
She is absolutely gorgeous and what a lovely name!
ReplyDeleteSounds as though they have the same problems in Sydney as we do in the UK with out of control aggressive dogs - hope there is some recompense for the vet's bills though it won't help with pain and distress of the wee dog