Showing posts with label sydney harbour bridge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sydney harbour bridge. Show all posts

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Bridge Walk with my No. 2

22nd September 2015

Harbour Bridge view from Kirribilli.

Okay so the Spring term break is upon us once again, I hadn't even gotten back into the routine of the kids being back to school after their Winter break and here we are, the holiday cycle is in motion again.

This holiday No. 2 asked if we could walk across the bridge this holidays and I was more than happy to oblige {more photo ops for moi}, as long as we did the flat one and not the arched one.  The weather is always a little unforgiving when it comes to holidays especially the two mid year breaks, we got lucky this time, we went the first Monday and the weather turned on a great show for us {the rest of the week was a little wet, cold and windy...to say the least}.  This was my second time on the bridge walk it's easy enough, we went at a slow {and constantly stopping for pics} pace taking twenty minutes to the reach the suburb of Kirribilli on the other side.  Easy enough for us to think "oh maybe we can walk the return trip as well"... but we chose the other scenic mode of transport, the ferry ... which took all of five minutes to cross the harbour.


So this is the arched way of walking across the bridge.

No. 2 enjoying the view from up high

The scenic route via the harbour ferry

Lots of activity happening on the harbour with
Fort Denison in the background

Food is the first thing in our minds when we stepped of the north side of the bridge... it was closing in on lunch time, we walked around the two streets bordering the Milsons Point train station {which was also one of our options for getting back to the other side}...we settled into a quaint little place set back in a quiet street called "Cool Mac", a Japanese fusion cafe, quickly being asked by the owner "oh so where are you from?"...a common question that gets asked of us Aussie Chinese in which we reply with a quick "oh we're just {boringly} from Sydney".  The food was a fusion of Japanese sauces and dressings with your normal cafe food, no. 2 went with mushroom "oh I love mushrooms" on sour dough and I went with a light Chicken and Salad...happily watered down with no.2's vanilla malt shake and my skim latte.

Mushroom with poached egg on Sour Dough and Chicken Salad
BTW if I could I would've taken this table home with me.

Can't do without one of these most days

I may have said this before but I really do think Sydney Harbour is one of the most beautiful harbours in the world...it is easy to forget but when you get a chance to get out there and enjoy it on a beautiful sunny day...it is a sight to behold when you are looking over the emerald seas from above...it is really quite the gem.

Unsure of what to do when we got off the ferry and not really wanting to end the day we walked over to the big sails of the Opera House and sat on the front steps enjoying her Choc Mint and my Burnt Caramel ice creams from Gelatissimo...giggling at all the tourists with their selfie sticks and checking out the locals like us out with their holidaying children.

With the Botanical Gardens near by we decided to walk through it and catch the bus on the other side of it home...being in the midst of Spring fever there was obviously an ulterior motive on my part to choose this route home...and I wasn't disappointed...


Honey bees are always in abundance when the sweet lavenders are blooming

Poppies never fail to make me smile everytime they bloom...
just love their random pops of colour

No idea what this bloom is but have never seen one before, they seem to have weeds
growing out of the middle of the flower itself

This one of growing out through the iron fence

It's nice to get out with my no. 2, haven't done this in a long while and we both enjoyed it.  As they both grow older it gets harder and harder to find things that they are interested in doing with you...as you noticed it was only no. 2 in this post so you probably guessed my no. 1 is definitely no longer finding this something he would like to do with me anymore...much to my disappointment but we have to accept the changes that happen along the way and to cherish and treasure the little moments that were shared before the changes happened.

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Thursday, June 5, 2014

VIVID MMXIV II

There were plenty of these cruisers full of Vivid admirers.


Rain 21ºC

We are lucky, we live in near one of the most beautiful harbours in the world, sounds a little boastful I know…but if you have ever flown into Sydney by night all lighted up you would find it very difficult to disagree with me.  And when one of the most amazing light festivals come to town, one visit is just not enough…so last night I went with my little family for another visit, as I had done the MCA and the Opera House the first night I was there, this night would be about the little ones, I found that there were less of the smaller displays compared to last year but I personally thought they were much better in design {some might disagree…one of them just happens to be my hubby} and they were more interactive.

We began as we did last time in Martin Place, unfortunately the water feature that I photographed last time was no longer there, why?, not sure…malfunction, safety issues or just wasn't right for the festival?…it's just gone, I had hoped my kids got to see it. But there were still lots to see…


With this head display you can actually project your own image onto the displays face, quite a novelty for people up for the queueing.



Along the shores of the harbour were various interactive displays...



Despite all the commotion around them these two girls still had time to
be on their phones.




Strictly Sydney…a dance floor.



A wall of projected Magnolias.


And ending with some more beautiful pics of the Harbour Bridge…







I have yet to venture to the Darling Harbour part of the Vivid, not sure I'll make it there this year as there is only one weekend left and I don't really fancy the shoulder to shoulder crowds that the last weekends are famous for…maybe next year.

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Saturday, May 31, 2014

VIVID MMXIV

Cloudy 20ºC

It is here again, the annual Vivid Light Festival set on the Sydney Harbour,  Sydneysiders have come to love this creative collage of lights in and on all forms, in particular the 3D light displays on all the landmark buildings…and if you like me are an avid photographer then this one would be 'The Event' of the year…and judging by how many folds the crowds have grown, I think many non avid photographers think so too.

Thinking back to the first time I went when it all began in 2009, when it was with much less fanfare than it is today and undoubtedly much less the crowds, I had just got my hands on my very first SLR, with no tripod in hand, we know how those photos came out…but it was enough to get me hooked.

The display on the Opera House, many would agree must be the highlight of the festival, everyone is bound to get a front seat space to admire or photograph the colourful icon…


Light show on iconic Sydney Opera House.


While I love the openness of the Opera House display I also quite like the MCA building light show with it's many human silhouettes…it adds a little taste of what the atmosphere was like on the night and most every other night whilst the show is one…


3D Light show on the Museum of Contemporary Arts building.


Besides the 3D light shows there are plenty to see and the one that I thought was a standout is the water feature setup in Martin Place…a cycle of words and patterns written by the falling water droplets...








A few more of the displays I managed to capture among many more that I didn't get a chance to…






White rabbits under the bridge.

#vividsydney sign…out of the way but strategically placed to show off our beautiful icon.




Some more of our other beautiful icon…









That's all for now but I should be back for more…I'm not good with crowds, I tend to not want to take photos of the displays if there are too many people near them…which rules out 90% of the displays…must make more of an effort…this is three hours worth of my night which probably translates into one photography hour.

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