May 28: Lighting the sails

Friday marked the start of the 2 week Vivid festival of Light, Music & Ideas, in and around Circular Quay.
We travelled in late Saturday afternoon to catch the end of the market and 'lights on' at 6pm.
There are some fantastic interactive light sculptures, some simple and some complex, but the main event is the 3d projection on the sails of the Opera House.  It's pretty much impossible to get any decent photos without a couple of grand's worth of kit so we've added the link to the VIVID website below, along with a link to a videoclip on the BBC website.

http://vividsydney.com/light

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13585671

'Nobody puts daisy in the corner'

May 22: Perfect Day

Woke up early and Nick headed straight out to hire a kayak for a paddle on the harbour (see above!).
Gem & Daisy walked down to meet him afterwards and then bought coffee and sunday papers and sat on the beach making sandcastles.  Met Emily & Matt for lunch in Jellyfish on the sea-front, before taking a walk along North Steyne, some more beach time, and then back to the apartment to finish the papers.  This is what weekends were made for!

May 21: Everleigh

We recently read about a saturday morning farmers market in Darlinghurst, so we got up early this morning and caught the ferry & bus over to the inner West.  We weren't disappointed!  The market is held in an old industrial shed and has various stalls with fantastic food including fresh veg, bread, cakes, meats and wines.  On this particular saturday there was also a separate market in the shed opposite called 'Finders Keepers' which included stalls from young Sydney based designers selling everything from clothes to greeting cards. After walking around for a few hours we started feeling peckish, luckily most of the stalls sold cooked versions of their fresh food so we picked up some burgers and joined the crowd sat in the sun between the 2 sheds.  This is obviously a popular saturday morning event because the place was packed with families doing their weekly shop.  Next time we have to remember to bring bags (and more money).

May 15: Collins Beach

Packed a picnic today and walked up through Little Manly to Collins Beach.  Struggled a bit to get down the path with the buggy, but the little beach at the bottom was great.  There were a few other people there, but not many.  We spent the afternoon exploring the rockpools and building sandcastles.  Saw our first proper widlife - a Kookabura (look closely at the bottom picture) and a possum (we think?).  Sometimes its difficult to remember that we are in the middle of one of the largest cities on the planet!

May 14: Breakfast at Bills

Left the unit at 7:30 this morning for the trek over to paddington and the famous Bills.  The early start was definitely worth it! The scrambled eggs are as good as everyone says they are! We arrived early enough to get a table before the crowds arrived at 9.  Gem & nick both had eggs & toast, daisy had corn fritters and bunny had a carrot.

Afterward we walked to Paddington Market for a wander around the stalls.  Some good stuff.  Walked back into town while daisy slept and caught the ferry back feeling a bit tired after our early start. Bought (great) coffee from Barefoot, bread from the artisan bakery, paper from Humphreys and cakes from Adriano Zumbo, before putting our feet up on the balcony - feeling quite at home already!

May 11: Manly sand

We're back on-line so can catch up with a few posts from the last 2 weeks.  This was Daisy's first visit to the local beach.  She loves it!  Not sure what she's doing in the second photo - either she's forgotten where she's burried Iggle Piggle or she's trying to dig her way home?

May 9: Our new home

Actually this is the view from the balcony of unit 2.  Not bad eh?

The large blur in the centre is the Manly ferry heading back to Circular Quay.

May 7: Sun & Spray

Finally some good weather to write home about!! It's been a fantastic day; really warm and sunny. Although it's still officially autumn it feels like a summers day back home!

Been to sign up for our new apartment this morning so its been a doubly good day!

This shot was taken from the back of the Mosman ferry as we were travelling home from Circular Quay. You can't see it in the photo but Gem & Daisy both have their eyes closed because of the spray!

May 1: Easy like Sunday Morning

Daisy enjoying her breakfast at La Banette on Glebe Point Road

April 26: Daddy's taking us to the zoo....

Taronga zoo today.  Not that we've been to lots of zoo's around the world, but there can't be many with such a spectacular setting as Taronga!  The zoo is built onto the side of a hill facing south, and although this means that pushing a buggy around is hard work you also get fantastic views of the harbour, opera house and bridge from all over the park.  

Despite the wide range of animals available, Daisy's favourites were probably the goats!

Too much chocolate?

April 24: Easter Sunday

Decided to go out exploring today.  Although the day started off cloudy by the time we reached the opera house it was scorching!  It was a busy day at the park with lots of families having picnics in the sun and kids everywhere.  We walked all the way round Mrs Mcquarries point to Woolloomooloo and after strolling along the wharf we decided that we were significantly underdressed for any of the restaurants on the front so we headed inland and stopped at the Tilbury on Forbes street for lunch.  Had a fantastic 3 course Sunday lunch.  Daisy was really well behaved, ate a large plate of veg and a good helping of my desert!  She didn't fancy any wine - too early in the day.

After lunch we walked along Forbes street through 'old' Woolloomoloo and up to Potts Point.  W'oo was a bit run down.  Seemed like most of the houses were empty and awaiting demolition.  The front along Cowper Wharf Road now has lots of  restaurants and I guess the rest of the area leading up to the cross is ripe for redevelopment. 

After climbing loads of stairs we strolled around Potts Point and back to Kings Cross.  The shops in the cross seemed to be nicer than I remember but there were still loads of bars and strip joints!

Walked down the hill to Rushcutters bay where we stopped for a drink at the cricket/tennis pavilion and let Daisy run around.  She ran & ran & ran all around the park.  She's getting really fast, so much so that you can't keep up by just walking anymore! Took loads of photos of her running trying to catch the wobbly cheeks, but this was the best of the bunch.

Sunset on the harbour

April 22: Coogee

After being disappointed by Bondi, we thought we would try Coogee.  Daisy fell asleep on the bus so we sat under a tree with a coffee and enjoyed the sun.  Coogee feels much more laid back than Bondi, smaller and quieter and with more families strolling around.  While daisy slept we took a walk around the headland to the north and then back down to the front for some lunch.  Unlike Bondi the main shopping street runs back perpendicular to the beach and although its small it has lots of good places to eat.  

Weather clouded over later and cooled down so we took Daisy down to the beach for a run around.  first time in her rather fetching rashies!  Played in the sand and paddled at the edge of the water.  FInished the day with the best ice-cream we've found so far (Gelatissimo) and then long trek back to Neutral Bay.

Smell the flowers....

April 17: Bondi Beach babe

Arriving by bus Bondi beachfront looked more 'Blackpool' than i remembered, lots of cheesy shops and backpackers.  crossed the road to walk along the front and immediately saw the attraction as the beach is massive, the water clear and the sand clean.  Thankfully the beach wasn't too busy because the weather was rubbish but you could imagine how it would be rammed with pasty British tourists on a typical summers day.  Walked along the front and passed to the Bondi Icebergs swimming club.  Would love to have a swim but don't think i'm ready for the Sluggoes yet!  Tried to walk along the cliff edge to Tamarama but wasn't a good path for the buggy so we decided to postpone it until we bring the rucksack.  Walked back along the beach and let Daisy loose on the sand which she loved - see above. 

Stormy Day on the Harbour

April 14: Manly

Visited Manly today.  Feels great, very relaxed and a bit cooler than the rest of the city!  Cafes & buggies everywhere, and plenty of space to run around.  After exploring a few apartments we let Daisy play on the beach and Gem took some great photos.  Shared some Ben & Jerry's sitting on the promenade.   Note: if we move to manly don't tell Daisy where the ice cream shop is. 

Still trying to decide where's the best place to live, but we've settled on being close to the beach.  Partly for Daisy and partly so that we don't have to carry the deckchair too far!

April 12: Paddington

Took a bus to Paddington today to explore the shopping area (i.e. look for Dinosaur Designs!).  After walking for what seemed like hours (Oxford Street is VERY long) we stumbled across the aforementioned shop and let Gem absorb the atmosphere for a while.  Luckily there was a coffee shop next door.  

Walked a bit further and found Centennial Park, which is where the above picture was taken.  CP is a huge park just to the South of Oxford Street.  After enjoying the peace and quiet for a hour or so we headed back into the hustle and bustle of Crown Street and stopped for coffee & cake at 'Bills in the Hills'.  Wasn't great, but next time it will be breakfast in Darlinghurst and we're hoping for good things!

April 6: Balmain

Caught bus to Balmain this morning.  Got off on Darling Street which is full of cool cafes and good shopping.  Spent the afternoon walking around a few of the local parks - most have kiddies play areas - and particularly liked Ballast park, which appeared to be a new development on the river marking the entry to the inner west part of the harbour.  

Had lunch in an italian cafe on Darling street (daisy loved the arancini) and then pounded the streets for what seemed like hours.  The residential areas of Balmain are mostly family houses with only a few blocks of flats, the largest being the old Colgate factory on the water front.  Great views of the harbour, CBD and bridge.  

It feels like a village and has a great Good atmosphere - fairly quiet in the resi areas but busy around Darling street.  Good transport links and a few schools and nurseries.  Best of all Adriano Zumbo has a bakery on Darling Street.  

So it's taken us three days to sniff out the best baker in town - don't hold out much hope for long term weight loss then! 

Who's afraid of the big bad shark?

April 5: First trip to the Beach

We're based in Neutral Bay, on the North side of the harbour, about half way along the main road between the city and Manly.  Started our tour of potential places to live by spending the morning walking around Mosman. Ended up at Balmoral Beach for Lunch at Billys and then took Daisy to the beach so that she can get used to the feeling of sand between her toes.  Think she's going to like it!

Went shopping for some food at Woolworths, which surprisingly is still going strong in Aus.  Couldn't find the pick-n-mix but maybe need to have another look tomorrow....

Day 1: The adventure begins

Arrived safely on 4th April, and Daisy immediately begins planning the next stage of the adventure.  Think we need to have a conversation with her about scale....

Sydney: The New Adventure