Good-bye Gorgeous Sydney
We have spent our last full day in Sydney exploring its outer reaches. There hasn't been time for a trip out the Blue Mountains or to a number of the places that looked worth a visit. There are also many restaurants that will have to wait until we can return. We won't even get to Bondi beach.....well who wants to see a whole lot of bronzed Aussies in marginally better physical shape than we are and a year or two younger to boot! I'll cling to my fantasies and illusions thank you!!
Instead we have bought a one-day travel card which will allow us to use all the bus, ferry and train services throughout the city. We start by heading out to Palm Beach. Apparently this is where the seriously monied have their ocean-front properties. The journey out is pleasant enough, though not quite on a par with the drive from Sorrento to Naples on the Italian Riviera. However, once you reach Palm Beach, Whale Beach and Avalon it is not difficult to see why the wealthy settled here, though for all their millions, they need to enjoy the company of close neighbours. You would struggle to slide a cigarette paper between some of the houses. Imagine St Georges Hill, Weybridge with lots of ocean and a population density crisis! We have decided not to buy anything here!
Returning to Sydney, we climbed aboard one of the ferries that did a circular tour of some of the places we didn't see with Annie. It really is the water that makes this such an exceptional place and it is from almost anywhere on the water that the city looks its best.
No wander through a city can be complete without a stroll through it's botanical gardens. In Sydney, the Royal Botanical Gardens are fabulous. Occupying a huge area along more than 2 miles of harbour shorline and stretching along almost the whole length of the peninsular on which the main area of the city sits, it boasts a huge variety of plants, specimen trees and amazing bird life - cockatoos, parrots and water birds too numerous to photograph or identify. There is also an area of high trees in the garden in which tens of thousands of flying foxes are roosting. These are every bit as large as the ones we saw in Cairns. In such huge numbers in the trees they are quite a sight.
Before we return to our hotel to freshen up and change for dinner, we cannot resist stopping at one of the Guylian Chocolate shop/cafes for afternoon tea and one of their amazing cakes. Sooooo naughty - yum yum!!
Annie gave us a 2009 Sydney Good Food Guide. Tetsuyas was the highest rated restaurant we could find with a score of 18/20. Aria, our first night restaurant scored 17.5/20. Tonight we had a reservation at Summit, a revolving restaurant 47 floors up with fantastic views of the whole of Sydney. The room moves at a very leisurely 1m per second and takes just over an hour and three quarters to go once round - just long enough to enjoy two adequate courses served in the finest pretentious style. The Guide rated this a 14/20. We would probably rate it 'ordinary'. Are we becoming overly critical? Has Marcus Wearing set a standard that no other restarant will ever match? Well Southern Ocean Lodge managed to serve fabulous food for the three days we spent there. Why does everywhere else find it so hard?
Perhaps we've just become jaded eating out too much. Friday morning will see us flying to Perth, our last stop in Australia and we have our own apartment for the next three days. It'll be nice to spend a couple of evenings in for a change, preparing and cooking local produce.
Instead we have bought a one-day travel card which will allow us to use all the bus, ferry and train services throughout the city. We start by heading out to Palm Beach. Apparently this is where the seriously monied have their ocean-front properties. The journey out is pleasant enough, though not quite on a par with the drive from Sorrento to Naples on the Italian Riviera. However, once you reach Palm Beach, Whale Beach and Avalon it is not difficult to see why the wealthy settled here, though for all their millions, they need to enjoy the company of close neighbours. You would struggle to slide a cigarette paper between some of the houses. Imagine St Georges Hill, Weybridge with lots of ocean and a population density crisis! We have decided not to buy anything here!
Returning to Sydney, we climbed aboard one of the ferries that did a circular tour of some of the places we didn't see with Annie. It really is the water that makes this such an exceptional place and it is from almost anywhere on the water that the city looks its best.
No wander through a city can be complete without a stroll through it's botanical gardens. In Sydney, the Royal Botanical Gardens are fabulous. Occupying a huge area along more than 2 miles of harbour shorline and stretching along almost the whole length of the peninsular on which the main area of the city sits, it boasts a huge variety of plants, specimen trees and amazing bird life - cockatoos, parrots and water birds too numerous to photograph or identify. There is also an area of high trees in the garden in which tens of thousands of flying foxes are roosting. These are every bit as large as the ones we saw in Cairns. In such huge numbers in the trees they are quite a sight.
Before we return to our hotel to freshen up and change for dinner, we cannot resist stopping at one of the Guylian Chocolate shop/cafes for afternoon tea and one of their amazing cakes. Sooooo naughty - yum yum!!
Annie gave us a 2009 Sydney Good Food Guide. Tetsuyas was the highest rated restaurant we could find with a score of 18/20. Aria, our first night restaurant scored 17.5/20. Tonight we had a reservation at Summit, a revolving restaurant 47 floors up with fantastic views of the whole of Sydney. The room moves at a very leisurely 1m per second and takes just over an hour and three quarters to go once round - just long enough to enjoy two adequate courses served in the finest pretentious style. The Guide rated this a 14/20. We would probably rate it 'ordinary'. Are we becoming overly critical? Has Marcus Wearing set a standard that no other restarant will ever match? Well Southern Ocean Lodge managed to serve fabulous food for the three days we spent there. Why does everywhere else find it so hard?
Perhaps we've just become jaded eating out too much. Friday morning will see us flying to Perth, our last stop in Australia and we have our own apartment for the next three days. It'll be nice to spend a couple of evenings in for a change, preparing and cooking local produce.
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