Sydney Days

Friday was Bev's day off work and as we had almost seen Tom Cruise by accident we decided we would have a look at his latest movie.  Bev took me to a cinema in Chatswood that I had not been to before and we ended up paying a minor fortune to sit in seats that reclined, had a half table and was generally very comfortable.  We understood after that why the cost was so high.  The film itself was very good and even Bev who won't go to a James Bond movie with me enjoyed it.  Some of the stunts were amazing as were the special effects.  All in all a very enjoyable three hours or so.  We even managed to time it so that we missed nearly 25 minutes worth of advertisements before the movie began.  They must make most of their money from the ads.  Chatswood has a very large Chinese population as a result there is a number of Chinese restaurants of varying quality.  There is a good one in the mall that we had gone to before so as a treat we called in for...

It was such a nice day on Wednesday that the road beckoned.  I always try to ride at least once to Brooklyn which is a very lumpy ride involving lots of small climbs with the occasional bit of relief when one goes down the other side. The result is a lot of climbing and a sense of having had a good workout.  I got to Brooklyn with plenty of time kill before catching the train back to Pymble having cycled 40 kilometres or so. Foreshore Brooklyn

I had a wonderful morning watching day 14 of the Tour de France.  The cyclists had four significant climbs so I expect after another brutal week of riding they were ready to have a day off although I suspect most of them would have done a bit of riding to keep legs moving. Afterwards I went to a friends place where I had lunch and chat with my friend before heading home to create dinner for Bev. Being winter, Bev wanted to try a cassoulet.  It is a stew that originated in the southwest of France.  One book I read suggested that it was created to use up all the geese that had been used for foie gras.  It seems that each region has its own ingredients.  All the recipes have dried white beans as the base.  The liquour that is created when cooking the beans in flavoured water is used later to provide moisture for the stew.  Essentially a vegetable stock.  The other ingredients that are common are Toulouse sausages and bacon.  Some have duck confi...

  It was meant to be a morning of watching the last day of TdeF racing before they, and me, had a rest day.  However, Bev decided we should go for a bike ride to flush out of our bodies all the toxins from the few glasses of wine that we had over the weekend.   It was a slightly longer ride involving a circuit that takes us through Hornsby, Asquith (where I was told that we had to see what had happened in Bev's old neighbourhood) and down the western side of Bobbin Head.  There was the mandatory stop for coffee at our cycling local before we then tackled the eastern side of the Head.  It is almost all uphill from then on with only a few periods of respite.  I was a bit tired when we arrived back at the apartment.   We quickly showered as we were due to see a movie at Roseville.   The train got us to the station as the film was due to start but fortunately by the time we got to the cinema only the advertisements were showing.  W...

Sunday dawned dull and grey.  A perfect morning to watch the TdeF.   The Tour de France stage was in the mountains and the riders had to climb three of them. These guys are supreme athletes especially the climbers who go up these steep inclines at speeds only I have ever dreamed about.  The longest climb so far has been 17kms with gradients up to 15% or perhaps even more.  Often at the end of them some of the riders have to be helped off their bikes.  Bev had wanted to take me walking on one of the many trails in this part of the upper North Shore.  One trail we have cycled past is called the Bobbin Head trail which takes one down to Bobbin Head.  Neither of us had any idea what it would be like, although Bev thought it would be through the bush.   We drove to the North Turramurra shopping centre and stopped for a cup of coffee.  We chose a café that neither of us had been to before as we figured the coffee might be nice.  The ...

After watching the Tour de France we went to the Balmain area to a market we had made acquaintance with a few months ago called Orange Grove Market.  It is held at a local primary school with the same name.  I think it is almost as good as the Eveleigh Farmers Market.   We were able to get some good quality vegetables at a very reasonable price.  There was a nice fromager who had an interesting range of cheeses.  We got a comté to celebrate the TdeF passing through the Jura where this cheese is made.  The other cheese was a blue from Gippsland in Victoria.  We were impressed with the flavour and is the best blue cheese that I have had from Australia.  There were of course a number of food stalls and being lunch time we availed ourselves of some of the goodies.  I had some very nice dumplings and Bev a serving of Gozleme.    The previous night I had made a Lamb and Guiness Pie of which there was sufficient to feed an army. ...

The last two days have been quiet with me mostly watching the Tour de France, doing local walks and cooking dinner for Bev.  So I thought I would talk about a little about the small things I have noticed on this trip to Sydney.   The weather has been beautiful.  The days have been warm with the past two days reaching into the early twenties; more like summer in Wellington.  Overnight it has been cool which generally makes it easier to sleep.  Bev's apartment is lovely and warm due in part to its orientation (to the north) and the good insulation as it has double glazing (something that is unusual in Australia).  Unusually, I gather,  western New South Wales has had a reasonable amount of rain.   The cost of living is an issue in Australia  as are house prices and interest rates.  However, as there is not an election this year it doesn't seem to have as much political weight.  After years of experiencing a very populist app...

Wednesday promised another beautiful day.   We had an early start as we had to go from Pymble to almost the southern edge of metropolitan Sydney to a suburb called Caringbah which is where Bev's son and daughter-in-law live. Our purpose was to provide school holiday fun for their children.  On the train it takes about 75 minutes.    It was peak time when we left and the train was crowded with only standing room from Chatswood.  We had a coffee stop at Town Hall station and then proceeded south on a relatively empty train.   The kids parents had decided on a wildlife park half an hour south of Caringbah.  I was entrusted with the newly purchased Mazda CX5.  A nice car to drive but rather fuel hungry.  The zoo had mainly Australian animals including a whole lot snakes one of which was the most venomous in the world.  Apparently one bite of it has enough poison to kill a hundred people.  The kids fed kangaroos and wallabies, ...

 It was a cool start to what was to be a beautiful day.  A friend of mine had suggested that I might like to meet a friend of hers who lived in Sydney.  I thought it would be nice to do and made contact. We had arranged to meet in Brook Street which is in the inner west of Sydney in a place called Annandale.  I was not at all familiar with the area so it was a new adventure.  Central Station Concourse The instructions were get to Central (Railway Station) and take Bus 470 direction Lilydale.  What could be difficult.  It was an early start so I was on a full train with office workers heading to the CBD.  Alighting from the train I found a sign that directed me to go, on what turned out to be a long walk to the bus station. The route took me under the railway lines in a series of tunnels.  Despite the long walk it was interesting as there were lots of interesting murals. The tunnels seemed new and I suspect were part of the upgrade to the stat...

We are changing our travel plans for later this year.  We had earlier booked a trip to Europe commencing in September and lasting for about seven weeks.  However, concern over the length of time we would be away while there were serious health issues in both our families led to us to reconsider.  Bev has a brother in Ottawa and I also have friends so we thought it would be a good place to go and it is not quite as far to travel if we have to urgently return to New Zealand or Australia.  We are now going to Canada for a couple weeks commencing at the beginning of October, just in time to see the autumn colours.  Hopefully by then the fires will have burnt out and it will be a bit cooler.  Thus I spent a significant amount of time getting our tickets changed. The service from the Air New Zealand customer service agent was superb.  She could not have been more helpful. After an intriguing morning watching the TdeF I decided it was time I got on my bike an...

It was an even slower start on Sunday morning due to both us sleeping in.   I watched the TdeF as per my morning ritual.  Late in the morning we headed to Willoughby, which is on the North Shore near Chatswood, to visit a French market that we had been told about.   On the nice sunny winter's day it was clearly a destination as there were cars and people everywhere.  Many of the stalls had run out of there products.  However we were able to source some items for a cassoulet that Bev wants me to cook.  Most of the food for eating was sold by the time we arrived so we made do with a coffee and people watched.   Cheese is one of life's great pleasures and French cheese, in my opinion, is some of the best in the world.  It could not be a French market without a fromagerie and the little stall was flat out selling a range of cheeses from France with a queue that was quite long.  Fortunately the queue shortened sufficiently for us to...

We had a very relaxed start to the day.  Eventually we stirred ourselves, me from watching the Tour de France and Bev from her book.  We picked up a coffee from Chez Nous then went to the St Ives Showground to visit a little market there.  It is very small with a limited number of stalls.  While there we tried some Turkish Gozelme a Turkish  style pancake which was rather nice  That evening we went over to Ashfield to do some babysitting for Bev's son and daughter-in-law.  Fortunately the roads were not too clogged and we made good time to their place.  Bev even managed to avoid the tunnels and other places which could have taken us to parts unknown something I have also managed to do.  The grandson is a wee cutey and is now much more active than when I saw him five months ago.  He was even plonked into my arms and he didn't even protest. The parents kept him to his routine and soon he was bathed and in bed.  His parents then went o...

Bobbin Head On Friday was time to get back on my bike   Bev insisted that we do a ride down to Bobbin Head and I was also keen to see if I felt better than the last time that I did the same ride.  That was a a week ago when I ended up running out of puff and curtailing my ride at the entrance to the National Park.  This time I felt good from the get-go and enjoyed the ride down to Bobbin Head where I met Bev who had taken off before me. We had a coffee and then it was on our bikes to do the 3.65km drag up to the park entrance and then another kilometre or so of climbing to whre there was a bit of down hill.  Most of the ride from the Bobbin Head Waters is climbing and I was pleased to get back to the apartment feeling good.   Apart from a morning watching the Tour de France that was my day.  Of course I cooked a gourmet meal for Bev and treated her to a wonderful bottle of wine or two.

  Pymble is a wealthy suburb judging by the size of houses, the prices of apartments and of course the car brands that are being driven.  The area has lots of trees and the sections are also quite large.  I suspect you would not be able to buy anything for under $1.2 million.  At the moment there is a shortage of housing in the city with house prices rising very rapidly and rentals are also hard to come by.  This seems to be partly driven by the large amount of immigration at the moment. Nearby here is a remnant of a forest and in desperate need of some exercise and a requirement to get some supplies for dinner I decided to combine the two.  The forest has some very large blackbutt trees and other eucalypts with an open understory.  It is a nice and peaceful place in which to walk.   After exiting I walked for a few hundred metres alongside Pacific Highway which is very busy and noisy.  The train was caught at Turramurra and a few minute...

Friends had been to see a movie called The Last Rider and recommended it as worth while seeing.  It was not on when I left Wellington so I searched to see if it was playing in Sydney.  Sure enough it was on the other side of town.  A friend was also interested in going as well. The weather was perfect for the movies, wet and cold.  I took the train to Chatswood and my friend drove us the rest of the way.  Google Maps guided us poorly to the destination.  Prior to the movie we had a nice healthy lunch.  The auditorium was vast and we had the choice of about 250 seats.  The movie is about Greg Lamond the only American to have won the Tour.  It focus's on his life and primarily one edition of the Tour.  It was absolutely riveting.  For TdeF tragics like me it was a supplement to the morning dose of watching a replay of the previous night's racing. 

On Monday we decided to go into the city to have some Yum Cha in Chinatown and then to visit the Museum of Sydney where there was an exhibition of the building of the Opera House.  We found a place to have Yum Cha, the food was ok (I've had better) but the service was rubbish.  Afterwards we wandered through Chinatown and then to Darling Harbour.  Chinatown and Darling Harbour have been transformed since I first went there in 1988 when development was starting.  Now it is all pedestrianised which makes it delight to be in but on warm summer days it is very crowded.  I think the open space and the opportunity for children to play is an attraction.  Chinatown looking toward George St As we wandered along toward Barangaroo we noticed a crowd of people and some red "carpet" outside the convention centre.  Ever curious we wandered over to see what it was all about.  On first glance it seemed like it was all to do with the new Mission Impossible movie....

Pearl Beach (near Patonga) Bev had a arranged that we have lunch with her daughter in Gosford which is about an hour north of Pymble on the Central Coast.  It is an easy drive on the motorway.  We arrived a bit later than expected due to a bit of congestion (we think it was the school holiday traffic and it was a nice day).   Her daughter suggested we go to a café in a place called Patonga which is a bay and part of a vast waterway where the Hawkesbury River exits to the coast.  It was a half hour drive there and when we arrived it seemed that much of Sydney must have been there as there was cars everywhere and we had diffcultly finding a park.  However, we finally found a place and then headed to the only eating establishment that had lots of seating with most of it outside.  Out of the sun it was quite cool and fortunately we were reasonably wrapped.  The food was good but very pricey.  Over here many places add 15% on a Sunday (I think the...

Inside the farmers' market On Saturday morning we often head into the city to a market called Everleigh Farmers Market which is in a repurposed train workshop.  The whole area is called Carriageworks and on the opposite side of the market is a events venue for the arts. Having had a rather late night and few glasses of wine we were rather late in leaving but by the time we got there the crowds had dissipated and there was plenty of produce to choose from.  I stocked up on some macadamia nuts which are from a producer near Newcastle and are fresh and yummy to eat. We also got vegetables and other bits and pieces.   Bev then had this idea of going and having a look at the fish market.  The market is in Glebe about five  kilometres from Everleigh through some quite busy streets.  It was very busy there but we were fortunate to find a park quite quickly.   The range of fish was wonderful and it looked really fresh.  There was even fish from ...

A cousin of Bev was celebrating her 60th and had invited Bev and her plus one to go along.  I was fortunate to be that person.  So on Friday last week we got into our glad rags and headed into the city.  The restaurant is in Australia Square a rather large building that has a circular restaurant that revolves at the top of it (a full revolution takes about 2 hours).  I was rather looking to forward to the event and we headed off early on train hoping to have a drink in one of the many bars nearby.  As it turned out we got there on time and were treated not only to a rather delightful prosecco to start with that was far better than others I have had.  It was that or the view.  There were 17 guests and a private room had been arranged for us to dine in.   After the aperitif we were seated.  There was a stampede to get the seats with the view and unfortunately Bev and I were seated with our back to it.  It was not a problem as the conv...

My good friend Janet suggested I write an occasional blog that features my visits to Sydney.  This will be an evolving blog as I don't want to bore anyone with the minutiae of my days here.  However, this is a big city and an even bigger country which means there is much to explore.  At times it makes New Zealand feel very small and at other times I am glad I live in a small country that has a gentleness about it.   It is good to come here at this stage in the New Zealand electoral cycle with an election three months away.  The way the opposition would have it we are a broken country with crime out of control, a cost of living crisis, the health system broken, housing in crisis and the government over reaching.  It paints a very negative picture.   Australia has many of the same issues; the health system is barely coping, cost of living is a major issue, crime is perceived to be an issue, housing is in an even worse state than ours with rental cos...