A Day in Sydney

We haven’t been in Sydney in the lead up to Christmas for many years, so thought it was about time to have a day trip to play the tourist.

Lots and lots of photos here, so grab a cuppa.

The planets aligned for last Monday. Our calendar was free, the weather was forecast to be 23C and some friends were free as well.  We caught the early train down.

Our first Christmas tree - on the Town Hall balcony.

The first stop was morning tea with Karen at the Queen Victoria Building (QVB).  We have tried to catch up a few times before, but something always foiled our plans.  As Mick and I had breakfast at 4.30am, we treated ourselves to a second breakfast of French toast.  It was so good.  Karen’s banana bread was pronounced excellent as well.

Check out the floor in the cafe.

Now that we were fortified, it was time to start exploring.  Firstly, the Christmas tree in the QVB.  No Swarovski crystals on the tree these days, but it was still impressive.

And huge.

A kind lady took our photo.

The obligatory photo of the stained glass.  It’s hard to believe this building was nearly derelict for many years.

Time to have a wander through the CBD.

Surprisingly, many businesses had no Christmas decorations at all, while others were lovely.

The Strand Arcade is always a show piece and this year did not disappoint.  We loved how the main decorations were gum nuts and gum flowers.

A fun view of Centrepoint Tower.

Next, it was Martin Place, with its flower stall and Santa’s hut.  It would look lovely during the evening, when everything was lit up.

Another kind lady took our photo in front of the huge Christmas tree.

As we wandered along Mick and I were taken with a sculpture in front of one building.  I wonder why?  We have seen another of this artist’s installations at Forbes.

We also stumbled up on the art installation of bird cages to commemorate all the birds that used to live in what is now the CBD.

As always, there was lots of construction taking place and Mick had to stop and watch the crane lifting some air conditioning ducts to the top of a very high sky scraper. 

Once we reached Circular Quay, Karen headed off home.  It was great to have an explore with her.  Hopefully, we can catch up again at some stage.

We had a bit of time to kill before our next catch up, so had a wander around the Opera House precinct.

Looking back towards the city.

There was a bit of a traffic jam with all the ferries on the harbour.

There are plaques set into the pavement to commemorate Australian literary figures.  This is just a small sample.

A.D. Hope was a poet and received his high school education at Bathurst High School, so a bit of a local connection.

We then met up with Betty and Stephanie for a quick bite to eat before heading off to do some exploring through The Rocks historic area of Sydney.

The first spot that Betty took us to was underneath the YHA building.  It is a large building tha only received building approval if it was built on stilts to expose the archaeological dig on the site, which is called “The Big Dig”.  Very original.

All this exploring was thirsty work, so time for a cool beverage at the historic old Australia Hotel.

From here we wandered along, with no real direction to be followed.  There are some wonderful views, showing the vast contrast of our first settled city.

As we walked down one lane way we came across an art installation like the outline of a terrace house.  We didn’t think too much of it and didn’t take a photo.  Nearby was a cordoned off set of very narrow steep steps, with a more accessible set nearby.  We went down and discovered what appeared to be the footprint of rooms with bronze sculptures of furniture in the them.

It was set on the side of a small sandstone cliff and there were even more really steep steps going down.  

The handrails around our pathway had the cutest little bronze terrace houses as finials.

And looking back up.

We were suitably intrigued and were happy to find an information board that advised that there had been eight homes on the side of this cliff and that they were demolished in the 1930s.  There was a photo from 1908.  Oh my!  I can’t imagine living like that.  A little Google revealed that we had been visiting Foundation Park, which was established in the 1970s.  You can read more about it here.  

Once we reached the bottom, we passed through a narrow passageway into the vibrant section of The Rocks.  Such a hidden gem.

And, we found another giant Christmas tree.

From here we took the light rail from Circular Quay back to the QVB and a bit more wander around the shops, before farewelling Betty and Stephanie.

Mick and I continued to wander around and found a couple of more intersting shop Christmas windows.

A gaping hole in the Christmas landscape was the famous David Jones window displays.  The only Christmassy one was advertising their Christmas shop.  This was so controversial that it made the news on the TV and newspapers.  It will be interesting to see if they take note of the backlash and resume their windows next year.

Anyway, the day was getting on, so we walked back to Central Station to wait for our train.  There were some nice trees there as well.

We caught the later train, so didn’t get home until nearly 10 o’clock, so a very long day.  The “Bathurst Bullet” may be the slowest bullet in the west, but it such a wonderful service.

It was a rather enjoyable day, made all the better for being able to catch up with the girls.  We did all that we had hoped to do, as well as the bonus adventure around The Rocks.  We need to do it more often.

The First Week of December

The first week of the month has flown by in the blink of an eye.

I haven’t done a great deal of crafting, but that is OK.

Firstly, I finished the secret stitching, which didn’t take long.

Next, I removed all the papers from the Wensleydale Quilt blocks.  It was a good, mindless task to work on at my Wednesday patchwork group.

However, while doing so, I discovered an “Oops”.  Can you see it?  Yes, I had accidentally trimmed one block on the stitching line instead of the cutting line.  Just as well I had made 61 blocks and that this one was not one of my favourites.

For my Friday stitching group I was at a bit of a loss as to what to take along.  My first choice was to start my oatmeal coloured knitted beanie.  I had attempted to make a start the previous week at my Wednesday group, but do you think I could count on the casting on row? Not on your Nellie.  I put it aside for another day.  Well, Friday was the day.  Before I headed off, I cast on, putting stitch counters along the way and then was very careful not to twist the work when I joined in the round.  Then, I knitted the first round of rib, only to discover that I had in fact twisted it.  I put it down in disgust, as I was running out of time before I had to head in to the group.  

In its place, I quickly grabbed a cross stitch bookmark kit that I had bought in Wales back in 2018.  Surely I could at least make a start on that, and it would match my pretty tin.

I stitched the first colour and then started the second, only to discover I had missed a row of the pattern.  Blast!  Don’t you hate that!  I really should learn not to take cross stitch to my stitching days.  I will undo what I have done and start again, but that is a job for another day.  However, now that I have got it out I would like to complete it fairly soon.

After I returned home I picked up my knitting and had another look at it.  Guess what?  I hadn’t twisted my join after all.  It was just the way it was sitting.  Believe me, I was one very happy cookie to see that.  I was ready for a win.

This afternoon, while watching the cricket I made a little bit of a start on the ribbing.  I won’t do much more, as that will be good to work on this coming Wednesday, which will be our last for the year.

Speaking of my stitching groups, my Friday U3A group had their final day on Friday, which was followed by a lovely lunch.  We will catch up for lunch at some stage during January, but don’t return to our usual Fridays until February.  The Wednesday group also had a lovely lunch on Wednesday.  All very social.  We will continue to get together except for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

One of my December wishes was to extend the length of my linen knitted top.  Well, today I finally bit the bullet to get things started.  Firstly, I stitched up the side splits, before trying it on to see how much more length I want to add.  Well, you know what?  It didn’t look too bad once the splits were stitched up. I can get away with it….just, so I have decided to leave it as it is.  It will be fine for wearing around home and for very casual outings.  I wouldn’t mind knitting another version of the pattern, but a tad longer with no side splits, as it didn’t turn out too bad otherwise. We’ll see.  Good intentions often don’t get to be realised.

In the background, the inside of the house now has the decorations up.  Mick has been really busy at the bowling club, as they had their annual tournament this weekend.  He has been helping prepare the greens and grounds over the last couple of weeks and they received lots of positive comments, which was nice.  The plan for tomorrow is to get the outdoor lights up.  We are running a bit late, but better late than never, as they say.

We have continued to have rather variable weather.  Fortunately, the frost failed to eventuate, but we are glad we covered the veges, just in case.  Since then, we have had a maximum of 36C yesterday, with wind gusts of 85 kph.  Today, was much better, being calmer and cooler.

In the garden, the flowers have moved on from spring with the hydrangeas now flowering.

The fiejoa is just starting to flower, which will attract lots of little birds and hopefully provide a nice crop of fruit in the autumn.

In the vege garden, I picked the first zucchini yesterday.  For tea tonight I made Garlic Zucchini Bites.  Another new to me recipe that sounded rather nice.  The recipe calls for, among other things, zucchini, garlic, parsley, oregano, basil and chives, all of which I have been able to pick from our garden.  The egg is from our mate’s chooks.

They were definitely a success.  The recipe called them an appertiser, but they were nice for an easy Sunday tea.  The dipping sauce was also our homemade tomato sauce.  It was nice to be able to use so much of our own produce in the recipe.

Now, to go back and watch the end of the cricket test in Brisbane.

My December Wishes

December, the final month of the year.  I can’t quite believe it.

On the stitching front I don’t have a great deal planned.  

The main priority is to remove all the foundation papers from the Wensleydale Quilt blocks and get them stitched together into a flimsy.  I’m rather looking forward to playing with this one.

I have a little secret stitching to still complete, but that won’t take too long.

The blue and cream linen top needs to have its extension created, so I can actually wear it, once the weather finally decides to become summery.  I do hope it works out.

On the non stitching front, who knows?

We do have to get our Christmas decorations up very soon.  They should be up by now, but we have both been a bit otherwise occupied.

We would like to sneak in a couple of Christmassy outings.  If they happen they do, but if they don’t it doesn’t matter.

I bought a few Christmas themed novels at the recent Lifeline Book Fair, so would like to read at least one.

While I’m at it, check out their beautiful Christmas tree.  This was used for Santa photos, which would be so much nicer than some of the ones you see.

Christmas Day will be rather low key.  It will be a very different day, being the first one in 60 years without seeing my Mum.  Obviously, Mick will miss his Mum too.

In that rather strange few days between Christmas and New Year Mick will be glued to the tele, watching the Boxing Day Test of cricket.

I will keep up my new tradition of completing a jigsaw puzzle.  I came across another quilt themed one earlier in the year, so it has been placed at the top of the queue.

Oh, and I am receiving a nice Christmas gift.  I’m a tad excited.  More on that as the time arrives.