Well, a lengthy travel layoff has meant a chance to catch up with Christmas, New Year and new work action, and planning for 2020 – as well as weather watching as months of  horrendous fires and now summer storms have kept too much celebration at bay.

So it was with much anticipation that the weekend of a trip to Sydney came around.  Expiring frequent flyer points and an urge to see the city again and visit a niece were the impetus.

The ping of the text messages at 3 am should have been the clue as to the weekend ahead.  Yes, our Jetstar flight was cancelled.  But after 2 hours of trying to get our reconfirmed booking details we propped up the eyelids and headed off.

And then along came the rain…….our drive from home to the airport parking, then the airport was a wakeup for LSM as he hadn’t encountered traffic snarls like that on the motorway before.

However, we made it, Qantas eventually rebooked us all and we cranked up our Lunar Festival trip, found our driver Jeffrey at the other end, and arrived at our little apartment at Surry Hills to find Jeffrey had given us the wrong apartment number.  Once sorted, we found our bearings around Oxford and Golbourn Streets, supplemented ALDI’s profits and enjoyed the great location and a quick Chinese meal.

So to Friday – The wet weather started heading to the coast, and we headed for the umbrella stand up the road. Our 9am tour of the Opera House was drizzly but thankfully inside.  Having always admired the Utson architecture and engineering genius from the outside, it was a real treat to see the inside, learn about its history and see the contemporary changes.  It is an undeniable amazing feat!

From the Opera House Concourse we strolled under the new brollies to Circular Quay.  Here we saw the 12 Chinese zodiac sculptures all the way to the cruise ship terminal – all different and all a visual pop to announce the 2020 Lunar festivities.

Along the quay with its iconic ferry, coat hanger bridge sights were the plaques dedicated to well known Australian authors, poets and activist voices.  The seagulls and I read them all….umbrella unfurled!

Of course our itinerary by this stage was disrupted, and we were now seeking indoor spaces, and were eager to travel on the very sleek light rail.  Senior concession for the Opal card was a handy $7.50 each for a 3 day pass which covered train, bus and ferry travel.  What a great deal!

With each break in the weather we walked and gaped a tourist gape.  We headed to Martin Place and walked to the Reserve Bank Museum. Always something interesting to see here – dampened protests, beautiful garden beds and the car of the future.

Yes, it may sound less than riveting, but on the strong recommendation of friends, we enjoyed the Museum immensely.  It reflects the history of the Australian economy through its bank notes, and we learnt so much.  Quite fascinating and definitely worth adding to your itinerary.  Free entry as well.

Back to The Rocks and hopeful of the Lunar Markets, we were not surprised to see the wet weather cause its cancellation.  However, for my fellow gf ers, I discovered Old Time Bakery Buckwheat and Sorghum gf wraps.  Delicious and didn’t fall apart.  The find of the weekend!  It was at the small shopping centre that we saw a small blessing of the shops for Chinese New Year good luck.

The Gallery of Contemporary Art was a midway stop.

More tapping on and tapping off the Opal Card as we hopped on the train from Central Station to Holsworthy where our beautiful niece Kymberley met us and entertained us with her recount of recent adventures in Nepal, Fiji and family scootering skills….yes, her chin injuries are healing nicely!  😋

Leaving Syd, Damien and Sam to their own devices and pizza, we trained it back to Chinatown where we enjoyed more dishes, and then walked back to our digs in the drizzle – trying to keep our mojo motivated.

Saturday was to be the Coastal walk from Bondi to Bronte, lunch at the beach and a relaxing gelato.  Well the drenching rain soon put paid to that, didn’t it.😎🌻

We went to the Museum of Sydney which was a great place to be on a damp Saturday morning.  Of course many families with unwilling children also claimed its sanctuary…….say no more.

Another big learning curve, with excellent exhibits and av around First Nations history, Cook’s ‘discovery’, colonisation, the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Opera House and contemporary Sydney art scene – the chess set of the Luna Park characters was a lot of fun, and Gollings photography of global architecture was superb. Another recommendation!

When we came out, all hope of the coastal walk disappeared as the wet closed in, so we refigured again, and off we went to Paddy’s Market where the highlight was the spices LSM bought to add to his culinary experiments once home.  Lunch, then waiting for the light rail to travel a few lines we hadn’t seen.  Drenching rain, full carriages and dripping umbrellas everywhere.  We got to Fish Market station and decided to return to the city, only to find that at Convention Station the line ahead was flooded so we all had to disembark…..😁

So our final activity was the stroll with umbrellas up, then down, then up around Darling Harbour.  We did get the ice cream that had originally been planned for Bondi….lol.  Lots of new architecture everywhere.

 

So we went back and read…..then a taxi back to the airport yesterday, flight not cancelled thankfully, and the drive back home to green grass knee high and lots of weeds and fungi greeting us.  Home sweet home!

Our 2020 house improvement project of the hallway, dining room and kitchen floor reno well underway in our absence.  Though we are batching in the back of the house this week until it is completed.

Soggy Sydney, but we did get to see lots.  Back in October for that Coastal Walk.

Next travel adventure is Penang Foodies tour in April…..see you then!