Back In The Far North... At The Beach Again

I left Sydney, said goodbye to my daughter
who is going to live in France...
And flew back to New Zealand.
I spent another week in Christchurch
staying with my Dad, making sure he was
happy and well provided for...
Then back to the Far North... To my bus.
That was a bit traumatic as while I had
been away... the mice will play.
I spent three days cleaning and washing
and getting rid of mouse droppings and nests.
I caught 3 mice but I'm sure many more
had made my bus home while I was away.
I now have mice and a rat trap set all the time.
Yes there was also a rat...
Had made it's home in the motor somewhere and
chewed through the leather sleeve round the old gear stick,
trying to get inside.
The mice, or rat had chewed through some of the
electrical wiring so next was a visit to
the Auto Electrician...
And then I got sick with a virus that I
thought I would throw off in a couple of days...
But 23 days later after eating so much
garlic and ginger the local supermarket has run out!
I'm slowly getting better.


It was lovely to come back to one of my favourite
beaches... Tokerau Beach... And relax and stay in
bed and try to get well again.
I came back with the resolve of walking
10,000 steps along the beach each day...
But haven't achieved that while I have been sick.

We have run the gamut of weather lately...
Beautiful sun, lots of rain... And for
36 hours gale force winds with thunder and
lightening. In between all this there
has been some spectacular sunrises...
The top photo at  at 07.02.17am...
The next one a few seconds later at 07.02.28am.


And some beautiful sunsets...
This is the reflections looking to the North East...
Taken at 17.42.09...

And this one taken at 17.42.56...
Looking west.
The times interested me as the days are getting
shorter... Only 21 days till the shortest day
and it's very noticeable... Then the days will start
to get longer again... But colder...
And I don't like the cold.

My Last Day In Sydney...

We had spent the day at the Art Gallery
enjoying a feast of paintings
then decided we would walk through the
Royal Botanical Gardens... A beautifully kept place.







 We discovered the 'Lewis Wolfe Levy Drinking Fountain'.
Levy was a distinguished member of the Jewish
community who migrated to Sydney from London in 1840.

It's the most spectacular bubbler in Sydney.
It was erected in 1889 and has a base of beautifully
polished red and grey granite.
At the top is a bronze statue of a woman,
allegedly the goddess Diana, surrounded
by reeds and wetland animals including bullfrogs
spraying water from their mouths. The four corners of the
fountain have a large bubbler mounted on them.
Steps provide access for children and it is a popular
stopping point for tourists to have a drink and
pose for photos...
Which is what I did!


The magnificent bubbler... It attracts people to it
and even non-bubbler users are tempted to have a sip
of water.  The burbling of the fountain water
combined with the beautiful sculptural details
make it an auditory and visual treat to use.


We wandered through the Succulent Garden...
It was amazing with some plants so tall
they had to be many years old.


From there we walked through the Domain
to the Sydney Harbour, Mrs Macquarie's Point and Mrs Macquarie's Chair.

It is one of the best vantage points in Sydney.
The chair was carved out of a sandstone rock ledge for
Governor Lachlan Macquarie's wife Elizabeth in 1816.
It is at the end of a road he built that was 3 miles
and 77 yards long. Elizabeth visited and sat here
and enjoyed the panoramic views of the harbour.

We then walked around the harbour from
Mrs Macquaries Point to Bennelong Point...

And the Opera House.

Part of the grounds around the Opera House are
being repaired and up graded and are closed.
A temporary bridge and steps is the access to...


The humming metropolis.
It was early Friday evening and all of Sydney
seemed to be here.

We decided to do the same and eventually found a space
with a table and sat and enjoyed a glass of red wine
as the sun went down.


The city lights as it got darker...


And the the sunset behind the bridge.
It was magical.
We walked to Circular Quay then through The Rocks area...
Then the bus stop and the L90 back to Palm Beach.
Next morning I had my last walk along the beach
to the rock pool, enjoyed my last coffee at the
beach cafe, collected my last shells...
Then packed my bag and off to the airport...
And back to New Zealand.
I had a fantastic 3 weeks holiday.

New South Wales (Sydney) Art Gallery... Archibald Exhibition

I spent a fabulous day at the NSW Art Gallery.
It's a beautiful building...

Old history on the outside...

With old style galleries and exhibitions...

 
And modern galleries with all sorts of interesting exhibitions.

I particularly went to see the Archibald Exhibition
which is Australia's favourite art award...
Awarded for the best portrait painting and is the...
'Who's who' of Australian culture.
Below is the 2013 winning painting...

 




In an adjoining gallery was the Wynne Exhibition...
The prize is for the best landscape painting of Australian
scenery in oils or water colours or the best example of figure sculpture
by Australian artists.
The winning painting below...

 

And the Sulman exhibition...
For the best subject painting, genre painting
or mural project... By an Australian artist.
The winning painting  below...

 

 There was also a 'Packing Room' prize...
This painting was chosen by the people
who unpacked all the entries and hung them.

And 'The Peoples Choice' prize...
When you visited the exhibition you could vote online
at the gallery, for your favourite portrait....
The award was announced on 16th May.

This painting was not the one I voted for...
But it was a very hard choice.
Each painting had hung beside it
the artist's thoughts around who and why they had chosen to paint
and what they wanted their painting to represent.
I found this extremely helpful, as I am not always good
at interpreting an artists work.








I thoroughly enjoyed spending the day browsing in the
gallery, looking at all the exhibitions
and drinking coffee in the excellent cafe.
Another day to be remembered in my Sydney visit.

Rubbish... Trash... Garbage... Again!

I first posted this on my blog in March 2012.
 A lot of it has since 'Got Lost In Translation'
So I have updated it.
Have a read... Follow the links...
Be educated... Make a difference.
Here is the link to that post.

A Bottle of Wine... Or Two Perhaps?

 There are not a lot of shops in Palm Beach
but those that are, are unique...
And this is one of them.
The Palm Beach Deli, on the corner.

It's unlike any other deli I have been in...
And it fascinates me.

I have wandered through here several times on
my various visits to Sydney...

And this time was no exception.
The shelves are packed with things familiar and strange...

And none of them cheap.
I found jams and pickles, packets of all sorts of things.
Breads, cheeses...
Turkish beach towels, candles, body and hand creams...


Teas of every sort, coffee, biscuits...


But I loved browsing the aisles of wine... From all round the world.
The prices were amazing... A mere $799... Perhaps not...
Here's another one $379... The name sounds interesting...
No... $99 sounds better...


Or this looks tempting... I wonder if the 'Pegasus Bay'
is New Zealand... And only $135...
Shall I get two?