Sydney 2

Sydney 2
Well, enough said about the Sydney transport system which we have always found great (cry your heart out Auckland!) - we just need to sort out our concession ticket confusion!
Unfortunately the ferry wharf at Cabarita, which is an easy stroll from Dave and Christines, was closed for maintenance for the first few days so we had to get the bus to the train station for our travels rather than getting into the city quickly by ferry, but it was open again by the weekend.

We had a lovely 5 days with Dave and Christine and the 3 'children' - Pants, Fanta and Peppermint, being spoilt with a couple of lunches out - Icebergs at Bondi Beach where we had joined the throngs of people walking in the incredible heat between Bondi and Bronte to view the amazing Sculptures which had been on display for the past week, and a nice restaurant close to the Museum of Contemporary Art which we visited on the western edge of Circular Quay.

On our second night there we met up with Sandy, my old friend, flatmate and bridesmaid from student days at her lovely terrace house in Bondi, wandering into the village after a few tipples for a nice Japanese meal and lots of chatter to catch up on the last couple of years since we had met up in a similar manner. Always good to catch up with young "old" friends!

We enjoyed a bit of walking at Manly, around the Botanical Gardens, Cabarita and Breakfast Point amongst other things before heading off on Sunday afternoon to my niece Debra and Danny's and family, at Gordon, Killara for the last 2 nights before flying home. Their house is in a lovely setting amongst Australian bush and trees. Unfortunately for us, but fortunately for parched Sydney with it's nearby bush fires, the very hot and sunny weather ceased and it rained for those two days but we were happy to laze about doing some local walks, puzzles, scrabble etc while everyone else was either working, at school or preparing for the school ball (Oh to be 17 again, not that I actually want to be!!) And it was so special to catch up with all the family as they landed at home again each evening.