Pottering around Sydney

Over January we had some extremes of weather around Sydney. Everything from a really hot day with a temperature of over 45°C to two days of continuous rain caused by the remnants of Cyclone Oswald. The weather was worse in other parts of NSW with many areas having out of control bush fires, and others with flooding. Sydney got off relatively lightly and I managed to get out and about on mainly sunny days. Here are some of the photos that I took on my trips.

I went to Chowder Bay by bus and then walked to Middle Head from there. This is the view from Middle Head looking across the harbour entrance towards South Head. The Manly ferry is passing by.

 

The start of a yacht race in the harbour.

 

Looking towards Manly

 

A Sydney sunset from my apartment.

 

I went by train to Austinmer via the Royal National Park. Here is the beach at Austinmer.

 

Hills in the background.

 

A lot of people around here were worried about fracking.

 

I walked along the coast to Thirroul.

 

The beach was much quieter at Thirroul.

 

Time to head home, so waiting at a rather deserted Thirroul station.

 

Maybe someone knows what the heck all these signals mean.

 

A few days later and they were filming a show from "The Biggest Loser". On this day the overweight contestants were abseiling down the AMP building in Circulat Quay.

 

Reaching the end of the 100 metre descent. It was also a very hot day. I was watching from an open air bar at the nearby Customs House library. I was having a nice cool beer with my daughter who was on her lunch break. She bought the beers.

 

My webcam shows a temperature on that day of 44.9°C but it had exceeded 45.

 

I had a trip to Manly one afternoon and here is the ferry.

 

A walk from Mosman to Spit Bridge via Quakers Hat Bay starts near the Mosman war memorial.

 

A suburban street in Mosman.

 

My first sight of Quakers Hat bay.

 

The foreshore walk was a bit more challenging than I had expected and it was a hot day.

 

Nice view.

 

Kids were on a sailing course near Spit Bridge.

 

A Spit Bridge marina.

 

On a warm late afternoon I walked around Farm Cove to Mrs Macquarie's Chair where I took this photo.

 

Another day, another walk. This time the view is across Mosman Bay while on the way to Cremorne Point.

 

A great evening at the concert hall in the Sydney Opera house. They were screening the film "2001, a space odyssey" but with the music played live by a large orchestra along with the sound effects from a choir of 30+ members. I will never forget that evening. The music and overall effect was stunning.

 

The next day was Australia Day when the weather started to deterioate. There was the usual race of the Sydney ferries in the harbour.

 

The fireboat and some wet yachtsmean.

 

This sound stage was pushed over to Athol Bay and there was a live and loud performance by Jessica Mauboy and others. By the evening the weather was getting bad.

 

A few days later there was the rare sight of a submarine going around in circles in the harbour.

 

Old and new.

 

The Allen Border oval at Mosman. Hopefully they will play some cricket here soon.

 

"Carnival Spirit" moored at the Overseas Passenger Terminal at Circular Quay.

 

A look back while cruising down the Parramatta River. The water is still brown from all the heavy rain.

 

It had seemed that I had not done very much during January but the photos show that there were some sunny days.

Hoping for good weather in February and of course it is the Womens World Cup fifty over cricket tournament being held in India. Having said that, the male dominated organisation suddenly changed the venues and schedule just days before it was all due to start. Hopefully the media and teams were able to recover from this shambles. It seems that choosing India as a venue is a high risk strategy.

Peewit.