Empty till

This is what you do when your restaurant is closed and you want to discourage robbers.

Olive grove

This is a grove of olives planted in a park near where I live. It was in appreciation for the contribution made by people of Greek background to the development of the area. It is such an unexpectedly delightful thing to come across in a suburban park.

In the background is the city; in the middle, the ,ong slender tower is Sydney Tower, and to the left you can just make out the rounded arch of Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Peugeot graveyard

I wonder if it is being restored? I spotted it through a chink in the fence at a nearby car repairer's workshop.

Wheel away watermelons

Outside one of my local shops, right before the halal chicken shop and the Lebanese pastry shop.

Brolgas

This fountain at Darling Harbour has a series of dancing brolgas ringing it.

The "Brolga Dance" fountain" is the work of Terrance Plowright.

Brolgas are a type of crane native to northeastern Australia, noted for their elegant coutship dances.

There's even an Australian Christmas carol about brolgas. You can listen to it here.

Sydney Tower from Hyde Park

Sydney Tower is atop an office and shopping centre in the centre of the city. It is a popular tourist site giving some great views for the city. You can even walk outside as part of a commercial venture - Skywalk.

I just liked the way the "wires" were framed by the trees in Hyde Park.

Daisy, Daisy

When I worked in Sussex St in the city, this was the assembly point when we had fire and evacuation drills. Now it's isolated in a traffic island, due to road changes in the area necessitated by the cross-city tunnel.

Now THERE's a Sydney controversy : is it a road no-one needs to use? Or is it that people object to the hefty toll? Whatever, it's not carrying nearly the capacity predicted. Yet.

Whatever the issue/s, the state government is copping a hiding from the public, mainly due to its ineptitude with the Public-Private Partnership contract which saw it built.

What wikipedia says. And here's a blog.

Spanish Quarter

The Liverpool Street area west of George St of Sydney is dubbed "The Spanish Quarter". There are lots of Spanish restaurants there. This sign is on the side of The Spanish Club. Some friends and I got very, very ill there one night, and it couldn't possibly have had anything to do with the 22 jugs of sangria and numerous bottles of wine that were consumed...

Terra Australis Incognita

Today I'm off to Barcelona.

This fella dressed in the Shakespearean outfit is Pedro Fernandez de Quiros (1565-1615). Portuguese-born, in the service of Spain, who some claim discovered Australia (highly disputed). He did reach one island of the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) and call it La Austrialia del Espiritu Santo. . . the name "Australia" was apparently coined by his translator. He took it to be part of the mythical Great Southern land (Terra Australis Incognita). What Wikipedia says.

This statue is in an untidy little square called the Plaza Iberoamericana near Central railway station. I often wondered what these statues were about and stopped to have a look. The plaza was established as part of Australia's 1988 Bicentennial celebrations to recognise the contribution of Spanish speaking people to Australia.

A stylish couple (oops, where's my hand?)

Shop window in Sydney.