Parramatta Town Hall

Bardwell Valley Morning

This morning I went to the gym for my usual swim, and no-one showed up to open up. So, I headed back home and went for a walk around the local area. Here's a view taken in the early morning light (6.45am daylight saving, so really 5.45am), looking over the olive grove planted by Council in honour of residents of Greek origin, and to the golf course and creek valley beyond. Pity about the real estate advertising brochure sheltering under the sandstone outcrop, but I guess it shows we are smack bang in the city, not some pristine wilderness! The trees in the foeground just behind the rocks are left: a Casuarina ('she-oak'), right: a Banksia serrata, both native to the area.

I've posted about the olive grove before - click here to see how the trees have grown.

Gladesville Bridge from the air

Backyard Sunday

Sunday barbecue lunch at my place. Tom was the youngest guest...and the only one aware of the camera.

Boats for hire, Rose Bay

El Alamein Fountain II

The El Alamein fountain was erected as a war memorial to the men who fought the battle of El Alamein in Northern Africa during World War II.

El Alamein I, Kings Cross

Did you notice?

I deliberately didn't draw attention to this "cow" on the grass of the house pictured yesterday, wondering whether anyone would notice it.

Did you see it?

I wonder whether it was bought after the worldwide phenomenon Cow Parade was in Sydney in 2002? I looked for it on the Cow Parade website, but for some reason Sydney isn't on the list. (Why not?) And the link to the Cow Parade Australia site doesn't seem to work.

So, I kept searching. I found an independent site which is also perplexed about why the Sydney site no longer exists. There are no pictures of the Sydney ones, but there are names. I don't have time right now to go through them all.

Life On The Harbour Shore

Two views from Duff Reserve off Wolseley Road, Point Piper - where SERIOUS money resides.

Above: looking west towards the city.

Above: Looking east across Felix Bay towards Vaucluse.

The Archaeology of Bathing, Woolloomooloo Bay

"This artwork by Robyn Bracken traces elements of former ladies baths at Woolloomooloo. A floating jetty and marine piles mark tidal change, the stair cage and portal frame reflect on the enclosed spaces associated with early bathing machines. "(City of Sydney Archives, CRS 904/C006). It is one of many sculptures found along the Sydney Sculpture Walk.

There have been baths at Woolloomooloo Bay since the 1820s. For a history of swimming baths in this part of Sydney Harbour, you can't beat this entry on the City of Sydney website.

Nowadays, the Andrew Boy Charlton pool is a very popular pool. I have blogged about it on my Swimming Pools Blog : here when the Queen Mary was visiting, and here.

Cauliflower Hotel, Waterloo

In the older inner Sydney suburb of Waterloo, amongst heavily trafficked streets, and a congestion of power lines and traffic lights, is the Cauliflower Hotel, first established in 1838. (A pub is often called a hotel in Australia - derived, I think, from hostelry. Many used to offer accommodation in the upstairs section.)

I'm really not sure what the couple from yesterday were pointing at, but it may have been this fisherman, who stayed poised on this narrow concrete groyne for the hour or so I was there, or even the 16 foot skiffs out on the water from the nearby sailing club.

Look! Over there!

What had they spotted? You'll have to wait for tomorrow for a possible answer.

Grand Pines Tourist Park, Ramsgate

The last thing I expected to find in the middle of a suburban area, where property values have increased astronomically, and medium density re-development is proceeding apace, is a cabin and caravan park. But there it is, its entrance in a suburban street in Ramsgate.

Et In Arcadia Ego*

An area of Greater Sydney, called Arcadia, with market gardens, orchards, parks and nurseries. Aptly named.
* apologies to Nicolas Poussin!

Looking from Monterey to the city

Once the beachfront along the Grand Parade through Brighton-le-Sands, Monterey and Ramsgate was high sand dunes, which regularly drifted across the road. Nowadays they are lower, and stabilised with plantings of native vegetation.

Photo from Rockdale its beginning and development by Philip Geeves and James Jervis, rev 1986, published by Rockdale Municipal Council.

Spices at Flemington

Flemington Markets are Sydney's main produce markets. As well there is a "Paddy's" market - stalls with countless cheap knockoffs of socks, handbags and plastic toys. Amidst it all i stopped in my tracks and was transported to memory of Istanbul's Spice Bazaar! I just stood and breathed deep for quite some time...


OK, I've been tagged by Bergson at Chateaubriant Daily Photo. And I have to pass the tag on...

Here's the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. List eight (8) random facts about yourself.
3. Tag eight people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving them a comment on their blogs
Here's 8 Random Facts about me:

1 I love swimming - it's the only exercise I can bear!
2 I studied french and german at school, remember a little french and almost no German
3 I have one adorable son, aged nearly 14
4 I have lived in Melbourne, Sydney, Moree, Istanbul and Dorset (England)
5 I am standing for election as Senior Vice President of my teacher union (which is why I haven't spent very much time commenting on blogs lately!)
6 I love going to the theatre
7 I 'm a Francophile and hope to live in France for a while some day
8 My sister has just been travelling through from Beijing to Istanbul, through Central Asia, and I am jealous!

I'd like to tag:

Nathalie - Avingnon in Photos
Gail's man - Nottingham Daily Photo
Alice - Arradon Daily Photo
Fabrizio - Torino Daily Photo
Ayetn - Sheki, Azerbaijan
Ced and Angelique - Lyon Daily Photo
gmg - Blogtrotter
photolicious - La Republique Etrange

Ramsgate Baths

At Ramsgate Baths, a remnant of the last surviving timber pool enclosure within the Botany Bay/Georges River area. Its construction technique and use of materials is unique within the Sydney region. Such enclosures are built along the bay to provide safe swimming free of the threat of shark attack. Sharks are numerous within the bay.

Bin unwanted fishing line

This is the first time I have noticed these receptacles along the beaches of Botany Bay. Great idea. Discarded fishing line has a nasty habit of endangering sea life. Read more about the TAngler Bins here. Hope the guys below do the right thing!

Beach games

Happy Birthday! St Matthew's Anglican Church, Windsor

St Matthew's Church at Windsor is the oldest Anglican Church in Australia and the second oldest of any denomination. It is widely acknowledged as one of the best works of the great convict architect, Francis Greenway. Built by convicts between 1817-1820, the site was chosen by Governor Lachlan Macquarie. Macquarie laid the foundation stone 11 October, 1817 - 190 years ago today.


An interesting feature of the interior is a Crying Room. Mum tells me many theatres and cinemas used to have them - a place parents could retreat to if their babies started crying and still watch the movie. I've never seen one in a church. This one was built in 1957. See here for more about St Matthew's.

There's a Barbie girl who's lost her thongs, Sandringham

Yuck factor 100%

She spent the afternoon squeezing his pimples!

Platform diver?

Sunday afternoon my husband (this is not him!) and I took a walk along Botany Bay. Looks like the council has been busy replacing railings - last time I was along here they were very rusty. And building platforms! Our guess is they are going to be a new set of steps down to the beach. I wonder if this fellow reached the same conclusion?

Stay tuned for some more of what we saw on our walk in the coming week.

Lunchtime outside Customs House

Fishing near Tom Ugly's

Fishing in the Georges River. Photo taken from Tom Ugly's Bridge looking toward Captain Cook Bridge. Have a great weekend, whether you go fishing or not!

Rock platform, Terrigal

The track to the lookout at the top of the headland was seen in yesterday's photo.

Pilates in the park, Terrigal

A little while ago I showed a picture of someone being put through their paces by a personal trainer in Hyde Park. Here's group exercises in public open space.

Early morning "boot camps" have caused some controversy as they stomp past people's bedroom windows before dawn, with the instructor barking instructions, or as some see it, despoiling the amenity of public parks or beaches where people want to walk, swim, or exercise their dogs withour intrusive music or loud orders. I can't see mothers with strollers doing Pilates invoking the same reaction!

Curious horse, Windsor

I stopped to take a photo, but beat a hasty retreat as this horse came close. Not because I was scared but because NSW has had an outbreak of equine influenza, which has completely stopped race meetings in NSW and Queensland, and caused a ban on the transport of all horses. i didn't want the horse owner to start razzing me for being close to the horses...the influenza is amazingly easy to transmit between horses by anyone who has been close. (I know these aren't race horses!) .

Mural, Trades Hall, Sydney

Yesterday, October 1st was a public holiday in NSW for Labour Day. It celebrates the introduction of the 8 hour working day (ha!) , won first by striking masons at Holy Trinity Church, in Millers Point, in October 1855. The major success came in 1856 in Melbourne, where the 8 hour day was won across the building trades.The first Monday in October holiday was gazetted across all NSW in 1963, not without controversy in areas like Newcastle, which had a strong May Day tradition. Read more about Newcastle here. The ACT and South Australia share the NSW Labour Day date; in Victoria, it's the 2nd Monday in March, as well as in Tasmania, where it's called eight Hour Day; in Western Australia, it's the 1st Mon in March. Queensland and the Northern Territory have their Labour Day holiday on the 1st Monday of May, the traditional European day of celebration.

PS - for pedants, "Labour" is sometimes spelled the 'American' way - Labor - in Australia, because that was the spelling adopted by the Australian Labor Party in 1912. According to the ALP's own history, it was because of the influence of the American labor movement.

Sitting Pretty: Angel With A View

This Angel in Waverly Cemetery (between Bronte and Clovelly beaches) is sitting pretty enjoying one of the best views in Sydney,and I'd hazard a guess, one of the best views from a cemetery anywhere in the world.


For some more pics (including a fallen angel and angels who have turned their backs on the view) see here.

You can still get buried here, but plots are scarce, and it doesn't come cheap. Probably better to enjoy it while you're alive, and happily the Bondi to Coogee (and beyond) coastal walk takes you right past here (the path is defined by the white fence and orange stuff).

Now have a look at these theme interpretations from around the world. Time zones mean different places come on line at different times.

St. Louis (MO), USA - San Diego (CA), USA - Cleveland (OH), USA - New York City (NY), USA - Boston (MA), USA - Mainz, Germany - Hyde, UK - Arlington (VA), USA - Cape Town, South Africa - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Toulouse, France - Arradon, France - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Montego Bay, Jamaica - Ampang (Selangor), Malaysia - Joplin (MO), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Mexico (DF), Mexico - Seattle (WA), USA - Baziège, France - Baltimore (MD), USA - Chandler (AZ), USA - Sequim (WA), USA - Stayton (OR), USA - Stockholm, Sweden - Austin (TX), USA - Singapore, Singapore - Grenoble, France - Greenville (SC), USA - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Nashville (TN), USA - Tenerife, Spain - Manila, Philippines - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Jacksonville (FL), USA - River Falls (WI), USA - Chateaubriant, France - Quincy (MA), USA - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Buenos Aires, Argentina - Crystal Lake (IL), USA - Inverness (IL), usa - Lubbock (TX), USA - Phoenix (AZ), USA - Moscow, Russia - Norwich (Norfolk), UK - Crepy-en-Valois, France - Minneapolis (MN), USA - New Orleans (LA), USA - Montréal (QC), Canada - West Sacramento (CA), USA - Toruń, Poland - Philadelphia (PA), USA - Christchurch, New Zealand - London, England - Paderborn, Germany - The Hague, Netherlands - Selma (AL), USA - Sunderland, UK - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Stavanger, Norway - Fort Lauderdale (FL), USA - Weston (FL), USA - Portland (OR), USA - Forks (WA), USA - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Boston (MA), USA - Sydney, Australia - Wellington, New Zealand - Montpellier, France - Jackson (MS), USA - Wailea (HI), USA - Petaling Jaya (Selangor), Malaysia - Evry, France - Saarbrücken, Germany - New York City (NY), USA - Santa Fe (NM), USA - North Bay (ON), Canada - Melbourne, Australia - Port Vila, Vanuatu - Cypress (TX), USA - Saint Louis (MO), USA - Paris, France - San Diego (CA), USA - Wichita (Ks), USA - Haninge, Sweden - Prague, Czech Republic - Zurich, Switzerland - Budapest, Hungary - Paris, France - Saigon, Vietnam