Circular in name and rather circular for this trip as I have come back to the same cafe I began my trip in Sydney on 8 August! I am meeting Nicky at the Rocks area later on and thought an early beer together with refreshing wedgies would be just the trick!
A busy few days in Sydney, which have been really good. Over the weekend we went up country to the Hunter Valley winemaking area and a spot of wine tasting on Sunday. The local speciality is the semillon grape, and very nice they were too! What I love about the Aussies and wine is that no one seemed to be using the spit bucket! Drink all that alcohol down, every last bit! The weather was not the best, but it was easy to appreciate the landscape up there. On the way there we dropped in at Newcastle which appeared to mirror its namesake in lots of ways - but we found the beach and fed the seagulls with our left-over chips - Aussie big portions.
Back in Sydney I have been busy taking in lots of sights - and the weather the last two days has been perfect.
Yesterday I went across to Cockatoo Island in the bay. Quite a history beginning as a penal colony and later becoming a shipyard, and a major one at that, particularly in WWII following the fall of Singapore to the Japanese. I did an audio tour of the island which was excellent.
They are increasingly using the island for cultural events - the shipyard closed its doors in 1990 - and when I was there a cultural event was on which I checked out too.
Today a shift in emphasis and a bit more exercise, taking in Bondi beach, a walk around the coast, through Sydney's leafy suburbs and back to the centre via the Sydney Cricket Ground - of which I did a tour!
It was fantastic, we visited the Football stadium - home to three teams, one Rugby League, one Rugby Union and a football (the right version) team. Pretty impressive, but the cricket ground was the one I guess we were all keen to see: 150 years' history, Bradman, the bodyline series - why am I trying to sound knowledgeable about cricket - and the fact that they use the ground for Aussie Rules Football in the winter. So two stadiums next door to each other and five teams: only Australia.
So, now the sunsets - literally - over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and it is time for me to head around the other side of the Rocks to meet Nicky.
And nearly the end of this blog since I fly back home to chez les Belges tomorrow. No doubt I will add one final post when I get round to posting some more pictures from the trip. Rob
