Last 2 days in Sydney

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Geo: -33.8671, 151.207

When in Sydney we usually stay in the Rocks area as this is close to the Harbour, Bridge and Opera House etc. This time we stayed at the Harbour Rocks hotel which is a boutique hotel, a conversion from an old warehouse. The painted bricks and stone and wood interiors are pleasing to the eye. It only has 3 floors but does not have a lift and there is a lot of winding wooden stairs so do not stay here if you have bad legs! The other downside is that the windows are not double glazed but are the original old windows, which may look pretty but also means there is noise from the street. The first room 311 was no good as it was too small and the aircon was noisy and the TV did not work so we moved to 301 which was a very nice large room. Once the huge cruise ship which was moored in the harbour had sailed away we could actually see the Opera House from our window. Breakfast is a reasonable buffet with pay extra for cooked food, all organised by the very charming young English waiter Felix, who spends most of his time apologising for the delay as he is on his own. The cooked breakfast was not worth having as the scrambled eggs were oily and the poached eggs had a strong taste of vinegar so we stuck to the continental of cold meats, boiled eggs, cheese and fruit after that.

On our first evening we met Helen who had come to join us at the same hotel for 2 days. We were joined by old friends Bob, Jackie, Brita and Tim in the hotel bar for happy hour before going to the Golden Harbour restaurant in Chinatown. Here we had an excellent meal and lots of catch up conversation. Tim and Brita surprised us by announcing that they were going to be married later in the year so it was celebrations all round.

The Museum of Contemporary Art, which is on the Harbour front, had been undergoing renovations for the past 12 months but was now reopened with an Anish Kapoor exhibition, so this was a must to see. As usual his work was fascinating. We also went around the permanent collection so after such a dose of culture a bottle of wine at a harbour front bar while people watching was another must. Thus revived we strolled a while around the harbour and finally found The Oyster Bar which had been recommended. The oysters were very good as was the other seafood so we spent a long time over lunch before walking back to the hotel via the shops. Unfortunately we were not here at the weekend so missed the Rocks Market, but there are plenty of souvenir shops in the area. In the evening we went out to Balmaine, a suburb of Sydney on the other side of the Anzac bridge. It has lots of original houses, shops and restaurants and Helen knew of it as she had lived around here while doing some training on her Paramedic course. We ended up at La Sangria, a Spanish Tapas bar which was packed with diners- always a good sign. The tapas dishes were excellent and we had several different ones washed down with their very good Spanish rosѐ .

After suffering a heat wave the weather in Sydney had changed and was now cloudy with some drizzle though it was not cold. Needing some exercise before boarding the long flight home we drove down to Bronte, another suburb on the sea. There is a coastal walk which has been laid out with a gentle path which extends for a few kilometres in either direction from here and is favoured by joggers and dog walkers. We took the northern route and almost reached Bondi beach before having to turn back as we could only park the car for one hour – at $5.80 for one hour! There was just time for lunch before being dropped off at the airport. You may have noticed we always find time to eat and drink! This time we had free parking in the Westfield Centre in Bondi Junction. On the 6th floor is the Kam Fook Seafood restaurant, which does a Kum Cha lunch. This is the equivalent of a Dim Sum lunch but the difference being that trolleys are wheeled around and you pick which dishes you fancy and this is marked off on a card at your table. An excellent idea being able to see what there is and chose just enough. As usual we have had some really good times in Australia with excellent meals with lovely people. It is not cheap however as the Aussie dollar is strong, but would still recommend this as a holiday destination.

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Photos

Memory
A huge space which when viewed from the left side into it seems huge

Comments

[andrew]

how come you weren't surfing bondi beach !!!!!!Saw Anish Kapoor in London it was fantastic ,did they ave the red wax cannon

[tizwoz]

Did not have the cannon- saw that in London too. It was a huge mound of wax slowly being carved by a big hammer thing in Sydney- not too exciting.