Ferry Doors of Sydney Harbour.

During our three week stay at Cremorne Point on Sydney Harbour, I became something of a crazed ferry catching maniac and couldn’t stay off the things. There were numerous, almost daily trips across to Circular Quay which is essentially ferry central on Sydney Harbour, although I’m not sure that it’s fair to say all ferries go via Circular Quay, it certainly seems to be the case.

I love Sydney’s ferries. Although they’re relatively modern and only date back to the mid 80’s, they seem older and have a aged, vintage feel and are ubiquitously part of the harbour as though they’ve always been there. Of course, that obviously not the case, and even I vaguely remember the wooden ferries from my childhood, but even they were Johnny-come-latelies and for tens of thousands of years the various Aboriginal people who were the traditional owners of lands around Sydney Harbour fished from their boats in a timeless procession. That is, until they were gone.

At times, I sense all this history yet much of the time I was tantalized by the magnificent views, exhilarated as the ferry picked up speed and the wind was blowing in my face and I was having the most thrilling time of my life living right on the very edge of the waves.

There was definitely something deeply captivating about these ferries which remains very hard to translate into words on the page. You just have to be there.

Anyway, today I decided to fuse my love of catching and photographing ferries with a blogshare I also enjoy called Thursday Doors, and I always find it interesting to see where people have spotted doors this week and where their adventures have led. Photographing doors can tell a much, much broader story than something that simply opens and shuts.

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Of course, in the case of the ferries, the doors can also have a safety function, especially on a rough crossing. However, much of the time you don’t see much of the doors on the Sydney ferries because they’re open allowing passengers to move freely out onto the deck to enjoy the views, wind and salt spray in your face. Then, there’s that moment when the ferry pulls in and the deckhands madly thrown the gangplank out across the wharf to allow passengers to disembark. This whole process seems very old-worldy these days when everything is getting automated and there are even driver-less trains. I like it and it’s good to see people around and operating something and having a human interface. After all, we are not machines.

Emergency doors on the Manly Ferry

By the way, I think I’m going to put my mind to writing some poems and possibly a song about catching these Sydney ferries. Much to my surprise, there don’t seem to be many around and certainly nothing which immediately comes to mind. That said, I did come across two songs about catching the Manly Ferry:

There was also this Song about Manly ferries, written and sung by Pippa Johnson.

While whizzing around the Harbour on board the ferries was a lot of fun, there’s also that awareness that journeys come to an end.

Ferry From Rose Bay to Circular Quay.

Indeed, ferry timetables are something you really need to keep an eye on at night. There was only one ferry on the hour to Cremorne Point after 7.00pm I think it was and the last ferry leaves Circular Quay at midnight during the week and they don’t start up again until 6.05am which is a long wait unless you fork out for a water taxi.

Manly Ferry with the reflection of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the window.

Every a ferry needs a goodnight’s sleep!

Do you have a memories of catching ferries? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

Best wishes,

Rowena

Catching the Manly Ferry…(my travels in Sydney continue).

As I’ve mentioned before, we were house minding at Cremorne Point on Sydney Harbour for three weeks in January, which gave us quite an opportunity to see my home city as a tourist would, cramming as much as we could through the ever shrinking hour glass. Having been caught up with parenting for many years and then covid, extended lockdowns and self-imposed isolation due to my health; it felt like an eternity since we’d been to most of these Sydney landmarks and we were definitely out there to carpe diem seize the day. Moreover, with the ferry wharf conveniently down the road, the thrill of catching ferries and almost immersing ourselves in our beautiful harbour, they became our compass.

We left Circular Quay and were poised out on the deck with the wind in our hair and thriving on the exhileration as the ferry gained pace amd we left the Sydney Harbour Bridge behind.

Not unsurprisingly, catching the Manly Ferry was our first extended ferry trip. Catching the ferry to Manly has always been a very Sydney thing to do and the ferry makes the beach accessible to those living further afield. The ferry trip itself is also out of this world heading East through the harbour with spectacular 360 degree views. Then, you cross the Sydney Heads. That can get very lively with the ferry swooning up and down and chances are you’ll get wet, but its thrilling all the same. Wouldn’t miss it, especially for the safety of an inside seat. Boring!

I have so many memories of catching the Manly Ferry. There’s footage of me on Super 8 film catching the Manly Ferry when I was about five, which I still sort of remember. I also went to Manly as a teenager with friends and I remember buying Chinese food by the plate load on the famous Corso in a variation on the usual “chew and spew”, “all you can eat” venues which were around at the time. My best friend also lived in Collaroy and was forever catching the Manly Ferry back home after a night out on the town. Recently, my friend’s parents told me about how they’d met at Manly Beach years ago and there was such a sparkle in their eyes…happy days!

Manly wasn’t quite so perfect the day we went. There was quite a strong wind blowing and Ocean Beach was punctuated with signs warning “Dangerous Current”. When the lifesavers left for the day, everyone was even ordered out of the water, which seemed fairly exceptional. The beach was officially closed…even to idiots who didn’t care about sacrificing their own lives and taking their hapless rescuers with them.

The currents weren’t the only dangers we encountered in Manly. There were the seagulls, and before you burst out laughing about me being afraid of measly little seagulls, these weren’t your ordinary sea gulls. They were sea gulls on steroids, veritable terrorists swoop diving and snatching bits of our kebabs right out of our hands. They were an absolute menace! I’ve encountered pushy sea gulls before. You know the ones who puff themselves up, look real bossy and squawk like a union boss. They were nothing compared to this gang of thugs. The most aggressive of these sea gulls actually had no feet but was so annoyingly menacing, we had no pity. This was war. We were sitting on the steps down to Ocean Beach at the time and I seriously considered moving away. They were horrid!

Our shadows at Manly Beach

I’m About to Blow Away At Manly Beach.

Anyway, here I am listing Manly’s faults when I’m usually much more sunny side up. So, let me reverse back a bit and return to Circular Quay so we can take catch the ferry together and start over and return to Manly Cove where the ferry pulled in.

I’m going to do a bit of a very basic walk around Manly in a separate post.

Meanwhile, we’re going to catch the ferry back to Circular Quay. By now, sunset was approaching and the light was doing its magic and performing all sorts of tantalising tricks. I was smitten, but then again. I’m an easy target.

Unfortunately, I’d managed to get salt crystals on the lens on the way over, and while they didn’t show up on many of the shots, they were very noticeable photographing into the sunset and unfortunately I lost many good shots. Such is life, as a photographer. Lady Luck doesn’t always work in your favour and there are inevitably disappointments and lessons for next time.

Ferry Leaving Manly

Ferry Leaving Manly with Geoff in the stripy shirt

Manly Ferry Returning to Sydney at Sunset.

A fragment of the Sydney Skyline at Sunset. Looks like the sky is on fire.

All too soon, the Sydney Harbour Bridge came into view and ever closer welcoming us back to Circular Quay. Even though I saw The Bridge multiple times a day while we were staying in Sydney, I was still in awe. She is absolutely incredible.

Good night, Sydney. Sleep well.

Have you ever caught the Manly Ferry? Do you have any special memories? I’d love to hear from you.

Best wishes,

Rowena

Night Time Ferry Fever…Sydney Harbour.

Sometimes, all your Christmases really do come at once, and you have to make the most of them because there can be a long wait for the next big buzz. My first day jaunting around Sydney Harbour after overcoming covid was like that. Indeed, it was so good that I’ve had to break it down into four posts to give each part of the whole an opportunity to shine. Naturally, most days aren’t like that and there’s a lot of blah, blah blah instead. What also made this day extra special, and indeed all of my time houseminding in Sydney, was having my world open up again post lockdown and after being shut away from Sydney all that time, it blew my mind going back. I’d also been away from Sydney because we bought our home just North in Greater Sydney and what with having the kids etc we became pinned down. it was now Macquarie’s Chair where I photograph the Sydney Harbour Bridge after dark when it was all lit up like a Christmas tree.

The other aspect about night photography, is that it’s tricky for a woman to go alone and feel safe. I’m not sure if it’s any safer for blokes either. Too often there’s someone just busting to start a fight.

However, the ferry is ideal.

Waiting For the Ferry – Circular Quay.

Well, it would’ve been if I had my tripod with me and the ride can also get a little bumpy., but that didn’t hold me back and what with the wind blowing in my face and trying to capture the Sydney Harbour Bridge with the wake from the boat in the foreground, it was truly exhilarating.

Then, to blow me away completely, this voice calls out to me. “It’s you again. Remember me from Balmoral Beach?” Sure enough it was the woman I’d met while I was photographing my reflection on a back mirror in the Bather’s Pavilion. Here she was again. We got on so well. We were like Thelma and Louise having so much fun taking photos together and almost blowing away with the thrill of it all. I tried to find a pen and paper but the ferry was soon at Cremorne Point and I disembarked a bit disappointed to lose my new friend, but on such a high. Photography can do that to you. That is when all your Christmases come at once and all your hopes haven’t been dashed against the rocks, which unfortunately happens quite a bit. Indeed, many of these photos were blurry, but I now had a vision and a few weeks left to improve. Yet, regardless of how the photos turned out, I had so much fun that I’ll never forget this particular ferry ride or my new found friend.

Best wishes,

Rowena

Reflections of Sydney Harbour- The Overseas Passenger Terminal.

My goodness! I could fall down on my hands and knees and thank all the architects or whoever it was who incorporated reflective surfaces into their structures! Have you ever noticed how they can produce such intriguing and captivating combinations of images just begging to be photographed? Of course, it helps when you have such stunning fodder as Sydney’s Opera House and Harbour Bridge. If by chance you also get the weather gods supplying perfect or intriguing light, don’t bother buying yourself a lottery ticket. You’ve already cashed in all of your good luck.

A curious photographer chasing reflections in the glass.

To be honest, I don’t recall truly exploring Sydney’s Overseas Passenger Terminal. I’ve never been on a cruise or seen someone off there, although I have seen the massive cruise ships which I guess are anchored there the largest being Ovation of the Seas. So it was something new to check out and you know me, I was only looking at it through the lens and that was keeping me busy enough. BTW as I’ve mentioned before, I tend to zoom into the details of a building and forget to photograph the whole and as annoying as it is, I took no photos of the Overseas Passenger Terminal as a whole. Of course, I wasn’t thinking about writing a post about it once I arrived home. No I was too caught up in reflections.

Anyway, I thought I’d better provide a map showing the location of the Overseas Passenger Terminal at Sydney Cove just around from Circular Quay.

Reflection Ferry Passing the Sydney Opera House

What attracted me to the Overseas Passenger Terminal was all the industrial equipment and other details. While Sydney Harbour has all it’s postcard glam, it’s also a working port and these striking industrial elements framed the Opera House well offering a fresh perspective. No doubt I’m not the first person photographing it from this angle. Indeed, there were even a few photographers lugging around tripods while I was there. However, my eye is my eye and who is to say that we’re seeing and photographing the same thing even if we were standing side-by-side?! Besides, one or both of us could screw up the shot, although at least in this digital era you can check before you leave and just keep snapping away until it works if need be.

Last but not least, photography from the Overseas Passenger Terminal isn’t just about reflections in the glass, but also some stellar up-close views of some of Sydney’s most iconic sights.

The Southern Swan and the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Sydney’s Most Famous Face – Luna Park.

At the time I took these photographs, I was incredibly excited, especially with the quirky reflections I’d captured, but I’m intending to head back and see what else is possible, especially exploring the timing of the light.

Have you been doing much photography lately and what have you stumbled across?

Best wishes,

Rowena

Catching the Ferry: Cremorne Point to Circular Quay.

Forgive me ferries! It’s been years since my last ferry ride, but trust me! I’m seriously about to make up for lost time. Circular Quay here I come now I’m covid free and out of isolation!

Not being an early bird and being on the mend, I didn’t get to the wharf until halfway through the afternoon. At least, I got moving before sunset!

Covid free, I couldn’t wait to catch a ferry and started out with a trip from Cremorne Point to Circular Quay (ferry central) and walked around to The Rocks.

Ferries are fantastic! I love just watching ferries, let alone actually being on board with my hair flying in the wind and just taking in all the incredible sights of Sydney Harbour. I felt like a little kid again almost bursting with joy. Do you know what I mean?

Carnival Cruise’s Spendor dwarfs the Southern Swan (left) and Sydney ferry , Sirius. Indeed, Geoff pointed out that the Splendor’s passenger capacity of 3012 is double the population of his town growing up. Then, there’s also 1150 crew on board.

Moreover, there are also surprises and the unexpected on Sydney Harbour. Today, I was intrigued to pot a tall ship out there. The identity of this ship generated a bit of debate. Initially Mr thought it had to be the Young Endeavour, which had sailed on almost a year ago as a “youthie”. However, the Young Endeavour had two masts and this ship had three. The next suggestion was the James Craig, but it’s a bigger ship. This all took us off the the great know-it-all of the modern age, Google, and it turned out to be the Southern Swan. I kept spotting the Southern Swan as I jaunted around the harbour, my new best friend.

Well. I’m only covering the trip to Circular Quay as I have further adventures to share and the trip home after dark deserves a post of its own.

Above: Ferry parking lot, Circular Quay.

Please stay tuned as we head over to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in my next post.

Best wishes,

Rowena

Photographing the Sunset Sydney Harbour

Continuing my explorations of Sydney while house minding in Cremorne Point, I drove down to Cremorne Point Wharf the night I was cleared from Covid isolation, and could barely contain my joy. The approaching sunset was out of the world and ever so photogenic. While the harbour was dotted with sunset watchers who might’ve been sharing a bottle of wine of picnic, I was far from relaxed…a photographer on a mission for that elusive perfect shot. I was on the hunt.

Centre stage, of course, was the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I might be Sydney born and bred, but I never get bored of the bridge. It is beyond magnificent and it has this omnipresence in Sydney. Almost anywhere you go, you catch a glimpse or a oblique perspective of it somewhere although possibly not from a postcard perspective. Indeed, it makes a perfect exercise in how something can appear remarkably different from alternative perspectives.

Selfie with Harbour Bridge fragment

Photographing sunsets seems easy and such a gift to any photographer. How could you go wrong? With diminishing light, the chances of blur increase and ideally you would have a tripod, which I didn’t because I operate on spontaneity and lugging tripods around really weighs you down. So there I was awestruck by such awesome splendour and yet having to hold my breath and hold the camera dead still to prevent that nasty of nasties camera shake.

Yet, I’m pleased with the results and I really did enjoy the sunset spectacular and gaining a deeper appreciation of the Sydney skyline, which has changed quite a lot since I was doing more of the sunset cityscapes about 20 years ago (pre marriage and kids).

Ferry Charlotte departing Cremorne Point Wharf

I hope seeing these photos gives you a sense of being there in person yourself. Despite my agitation to create impeccably beautiful photographs, I managed to appreciate the serenity and unwind.

Best wishes,

Rowena

Sydney in the Rain…Cremorne Point.

“Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby. “

Langston Hughes

Inevitably, when anyone pictures Sydney Harbour with its magnificent arching bridge and the towering sails of the Sydney Opera House, the weather is postcard perfect with bright blue skies. Moreover, as the sun casts its magic spell over the ancient ocean, it sparkles like a brilliant sapphire carpet and comes to life. It couldn’t get any better. I’ve experienced days like this on the harbour myself with ferries zipping around and crowds of colourful but faceless hundreds and thousands drifting around Circular Quay. Talk about paradise!

However, when I arrived in Sydney to begin three weeks of house minding at Cremorne Point, it was bucketing with rain, even before we left home. Indeed, the drive down was treacherous, and I was driving down the freeway grateful for the taillights in front to guide my path. All of this was particularly hair raising for an anxious driver like myself. Yet I persevered like an epic hero, albeit with a much humbler objective. I was no Luke Skywalker or Princess Leia. I’d simply got out of bed, onto the freeway and was driving my car. Yet, I was incredibly motivated. Thrills and adventures awaited me at the other end of the rainbow along with my friend’s dog, two cats, and two Guinea pigs. I was also simply overjoyed to get out of the house and be in Sydney again after two years of covid, lockdowns and isolation, especially on top of the horrific bushfires of the Summer of 2019-2020.

Yes, indeed! I was a lucky duck!

Just to put you in the picture, I am from Sydney. I spent my first few years living in a flat in Rose Bay with my parents and then we moved to the North Shore where they bought a house with that all important backyard and soon after that, my brother arrived. I went to Sydney University and moved into student digs nearby. After graduating, I mainly lived in terrace houses around Glebe, although I frequently went to Whale Beach on the Northern Beaches where my parents had a weekender. So aside from my early days in Rose Bay, I’ve never lived close to the harbour or near Cremorne Point and I was looking forward to embracing this opportunity 200% and carpe dieming every single minute of every day. I didn’t want to waste even a fraction of a moment. Perhaps, that explains how I found myself down at Cremorne Point Wharf on my first night not only in the dark, but also the rain.

At the same time, I did question whether photographing in the rain was a good idea. After all, my Nikon SLR is a valuable piece of ELECTRONIC equipment and it isn’t waterproof. Secondly, I could hear my grandmother calling out: “You’ll catch your death of cold.” This wasn’t such a random idea either considering Geoff and our son were both back home with covid and after spending the day in the car with them returning from Surfers’ Paradise, I was clearly at high risk of catching it myself. Could drenching myself to the skin be just the thing to push me over the edge into being covid positive? I briefly considered the science and didn’t think being wet could aid germ transmission yet I couldn’t switch off my grandmother’s warnings completely.

As you can see from the photographs, I got absolutely drenched and as much as I tried to protect the camera, it did as well. Yet it didn’t fizzle out and neither did I. We forged on.

Although this grey and muted perspective of Sydney Harbour wasn’t cliched perfection, it had a different kind of beauty which was strangely serene. Moreover, I’d never seen anything like it. This was mine. All mine. Yet not in a possessive capitalist sense, but in more of a profoundly spiritual, and deeply personal way. I felt like I’d almost merged into the landscape.

Have you experienced that sense of riveting and almost all-consuming awe being outdoors and absorbing an aspect of our wonderful world?

I have, especially looking through my camera lens where some kind of mystical fusion occurs, which is not that different to falling in love.

Anyway, this was just the beginning of three weeks in wonderful Sydney. So stay tuned.

Best wishes,

Rowena

Weekend Coffee Share – 29th January, 2023.

Welcome to Another Weekend Coffee Share & a Belated Happy New Year!

My apologies for not being active lately. However, we went away to Byron Bay and the Gold Coast just after Christmas. We spent New Year’s Eve taking in the New Year’s Eve fireworks at famous Surfers’ Paradise. To be perfectly honest, we were sorely disappointed. The fireworks suddenly stopped without a finale as though someone had poured a bucket of cold water on proceedings. There were a few fights around us, loads of drunks but the beach was a sea of joyful revellers and it was mind-blowing to see so many people there. We caught a tram from Geoff’s sister’s place in Southport into Surfers which was very convenient, but the crowds coming home were phenomenal and sardine tin doesn’t come close to describing how packed it was.

Not unsurprisingly, Geoff caught covid NYE and two days later tested positive on a RAT. I was in disbelief. As you may recall, I’ve been continuing to isolate to avoid covid due to my lung condition and being immuno-suppressed. However, I get sick of being a wet blanket and just wanted our family to have fun. Geoff and I met on NYE 1998 watching the Sydney fireworks at a mutual friend’s place and I’ve always wanted to watch the fireworks together in person as a family and this was our big chance. The “kids” are about to turn 19 and 17 and are starting to forge their own paths. We don’t have forever to be doing things as a family.

A rainy night for our arrival in Sydney.

Following Geoff’s diagnosis, we came home early to avoid passing it onto his other sister and husband and hoped we might be able to beat the odds and get me home without getting infected. I was booked in to mind my friend’s house in Sydney the day after our early return so we hoped our quarantine would work. It didn’t. The night we arrived home, our son tested positive. The next day our daughter and I had a pcr test and that was negative. However, the next day I was overcome by the most mind-blowing fatigue. I sank like a stone. That probably sounds familiar. By this stage it was Sunday and I did the dreaded RAT test and much to my horror, was positive. Have any of you noticed how doing these rats is like taking a pregnancy test? Fortunately, I was much more excited about the results of the pregnancy test all those years ago. By this stage, covid had struck my sinuses and was nasty but thank goodness, stayed away from my lungs which are my Achilles Heel. Next day, I got onto the antivirals which seemed to give me a bit of pep. No doubt they made a difference. Meanwhile, Geoff had a chest infection and was on antibiotics. Our daughter felt symptomatic but didn’t test. So, that was the end of our status as “novids” and so far so good.

Our house minding gig was a wonderful opportunity. We were staying at Cremorne Point on the magnificent Sydney Harbour. We were a short drive up the hill from the wharf with harbour glimpses, a balcony looking out across the street where I could ponder who was living in the flats across the road and also watch the lightening display one stormy night. However, we weren’t really house minding. We were pet sitting. We were minding a dog, two cats and two guinea pigs. This is never a matter of just filling up their hungry bellies and topping up the water bowl. We loved their pets like our own. Indeed, our daughter was particularly excited to have cats and Guinea pigs as we’re a dog only family.

Sydney Opera House framed by the Sydney Harbour Bridge

While others probably would’ve planned out every second of their holiday time, we had no plans and getting covid only fueled the uncertainty. Three weeks sounded like a long time, but it disappeared in a flash and while a caught up with a few friends, I barely caught up with anyone. However, I caught loads of ferries and have become what you might call a “Ferry Hopper”. I caught the ferry to Circular Quay a couple of times initially but then I went further afield to Manly.

My fine self at Manly Beach about to blow away

Catching the Manly ferry is such a Sydney thing to do and I was reminded of trips in days gone by as a child but also as a teenager with my friends where we used to buy a plate of “chew and spew” Chinese for $10.00 and head to the beach. Manly is on the Northern head of Sydney Harbour.

Not the best beach day in Manly. The beach was closed once the lifesavers finished for the day. Everyone was ordered out of the water.

Watson’s Bay

We also caught the ferry over to Watson’s Bay, near the Southern Headland. Watson’s Bay used to be a fishing village and despite the influx of luxury homes, many of the historic cottages still remain and have been preserved under the National Trust.

Miss & Geoff at Watson’s Bay

While on the subject of bays, I also caught the ferry to Rose Bay. My parents were living in a flat on Old South Head Road there when I was born. They moved to Wahroonga when I was about two (in around 1972) when my brother was on the way.

In addition to my ferry hopping, we also visited Taronga Zoo. Not only does it have the wildlife, the harbour views from Taronga are incredible.

also went to the Art Gallery of NSW and it’s new offshoot, Sydney Modern. I think it’s been three years since I’ve been to the art gallery and sometimes I’d go a couple of times a year. Just another casualty of covid and covid lockdowns. The new gallery was great but I couldn’t help thinking they could’ve squeezed more paintings into that vast space. However, these gallery people seem to be great believers in conserving white space and less is more. I know it makes sense but what about all those paintings consigned to the dungeon that we could also be seeing? Well, clearly no one asked for my opinion.

Lastly, I went to Cockatoo Island , a UNESCO World Heritage Site at the junction of the Parramatta and Lane Cove River in Sydney Harbour. Cockatoo Island is the largest of several islands that were originally heavily timbered sandstone knolls. Cockatoo Island became a penal establishment in 1839 and convict-built buildings remain today. Exploring Cockatoo Island through my camera lens was a lot of fun.

Indeed, I’ve taken a swag of photos while I was in Sydney. Our son estimated I’d taken 3000 photos, but I’m not sure. Moreover, I had a lot of trouble with the auto-focus on my Nikon and too often I’d have to take at least two photos just to get one in focus. It would be fair to say my Nikon SLR is an endangered species.

However, all too soon we were packing up to come home. Arriving home with two packed cars to a packed house, although at least the Christmas decorations could disappear back to the roof. Geoff has also had to resurrect his working from home facilities and did a massive clean up yesterday. Still a long way to go.

Lastly, I’ll just mention that we still have Christmas pudding, brandy butter, Stollen, Christmas cake and even a spare Turducken (turkey, chicken and duck) in the fridge/freezer. My parents didn’t make it up here on Christmas Day and we weren’t terribly hungry. Hopefully, we might manage to have Christmas in February along with birthday celebrations.

How are you going? I’m looking forward to catching up.

This has been another contribution to the Weekend Coffee Share hosted by Natalie the Explorer

Best wishes,

Rowena

Weekend Coffee Share – 14th June, 2021.

Welcome to Another Weekend Coffee Share!

How are you all and how was your week? I hope it’s been good overall, and that you’ve been able to savour some of the zest of life.

My week has been quite a rollercoaster ride, which is quite an apt description after we visited Sydney’s Luna Park after midnight when it was well and truly shut and the rollercoaster was fast asleep.

Darling Harbour

Last night, we went on a Sydney Harbour Cruise to celebrate a friend’s 50th Birthday. I was really looking forward to it because I’ve never actually been on a Sydney Harbour cruise before. I know that sounds like quite a travesty for a Sydney person, but I’ve certainly been on ferry rides around the harbour and they’ve been absolutely magnificent. Anyway, our ferry ride began at Darling Harbour at 6.00pm after sunset, and went for four hours and then we drove across the Sydney Harbour Bridge to Kirribilli to absorb the magnificent imposing grandeur of the Bridge just overhead, the inky black water and the view across to the Sydney Opera House in the background.

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It was a fancy dress party, and some of our friends had really gone to town and that really added to the festivity. As you can see from the photo above, some of my friends went all out, and really looked spectacular. I’d had such a crazy week, all I managed was a pair of rainbow socks. I also wanted to keep warm and went for long pants and my trench coat. I looked rather like Inspector Gadget if I had to put a name to my get up.

Above: I’m dancing to “YMCA” a party classic.

While I naturally enjoyed the people, party and full but floating immersion into Sydney Harbour after dark, what I probably valued most was the opportunity to get to know my friend and his family better. I really appreciated the significance of that after being a part of my friend, Lisa’s funeral two weeks ago and getting to know her much better after she’d passed away. It wasn’t too late, but it certainly meant lost opportunities. We really need to get to know and appreciate each other in all our technicolour glory now.

Anyway, so the Harbour Cruise party clearly represents the what went well this week. On the other hand, our daughter ended up in hospital to expedite some medical tests. When she was about ten, she was diagnosed with a digestive condition called gastroparesis, which involves delayed gastric emptying. She has been a lot better. However, over the last couple of weeks, it flared up again and I took her to the doctor on Wednesday morning, and by the afternoon, she was fed up and asked to go to hospital. Oh joy! Gastroparesis is a complicated condition and I wasn’t expecting a lot of answers or understanding at Emergency. Indeed, all I expected was a wasted night and being sent home after midnight exhausted with making any progress. However, they were actually very supportive and decided to admit her to expedite the tests and give her some medication before she could get an appointment with the gastroenterologist. So, it actually turned out to be a brilliant plan and she had an ultrasound, barium swallow, blood tests and left with a script for Domperidone, which speeds up peristalsis. She’s looking so much better today. So, fingers crossed we’re on the right track. It’s so hard seeing your kids unwell, or being around other sick kids. I take my hat off to anyone who works in paediatrics and helps our sick little people.

I am still feeling the loss of my friend, Lisa.

What more can I say?

The last song for the night on the Harbour Cruise was: “Hey Jude”, and the lines: “take a sad song, and make it better” hit me in a new way. I got pretty emotional during that song, but it is so true. It’s telling me to take my grief, and make something positive out of it. Help Lisa to leave a positive legacy. I also really believe it’s important to acknowledge our sadness, disappointment, hurt and losses and not just paint a glossy veneer over the top. That it’s not healthy to hold it all in and rather, that it can be self-destructive.

Not unsurprisingly, my research went on the back burner this week. However, I did manage to read C.J. Dennis’s: “Old Digger Smith” and am currently reading “The Adventures of Ginger Mick”. These books are part of a series of books featuring the Sentimental Bloke, which is the title of the first book in the series and it’s been made into a movie. It’s an Australian literary classic, and written in the Australian vernacular of the WWI era, it not far off trying to unravel Chaucer. However, I find when I speak it out in my head, it mostly makes sense. By the way, the “Sentimental Bloke” was a best seller and a popular read for WWI soldiers and a special pocket-sized edition was made which fitted into their coat pocket. (I wonder how many sentimental blokes are around these days and how many are reading books? We had the New Age Sensitive Guy when I was younger and I wonder if he’s still around? Or, if all of us have had to harden up? Keep calm and carry on?!!)

Well, I’m still sentimental, and my friend shed a few tears in his speech last night. So, we’re not gone yet.

Anyway, it’s the long weekend here in Australia. One benefit of still being part of the Commonwealth, is getting a day off to celebrate the Queen’s Birthday. With a long weekend, families are catching up and I finally managed to meet up with my friend’s daughter and grandchildren and met up with them at the beach. Silly me, forgetting it’s Winter, I went barefoot and my feet were absolutely freezing. They hurt.

Anyway, that pretty much covers my week, and stay tuned for some photos from the Harbour cruise. The Weekend Coffee Share is Hotsted by Natalie the Explorer and here;s the link:

https://fresh.inlinkz.com/party/3c1e93537aea4ffcb5dad6b688cae536

Best wishes,

Rowena

PS I just had to include another phot of my friends dancing in their glad rags looking absolutely sensational. I’ll have what they’re having.

Weekend Coffee Share – 8th March, 2021.

Welcome to Another Weekend Coffee Share!

Happy Birthday to my 17 year old son , and Happy International Women’s Day. I’ve just woken up to wih my son Happy Birthday, and I’m not planning on staying up for long, and my stomach feels like I’ve swallowed Draino and my back feels like it’s been run over by a truck. I could say, that’s the power of positive thinking. That that’s me looking on the bright side. Well, I am looking at the bright side because I’ll feel bettter after a bit more sleep. I might also feel better if I wasn;t trying to type with a chewed up tennis ball under my right wrist too. There’s also an expectant do parked in front of my chair, too. That’s Rosie and the other two, Zac and Lady, are parked right in front of the door. I don’t know whether they’re hoping I might actually levitate out of my chair to take them for a walk. If so, they’re dreaming.

Our gorgeous little man as a new born in hospital.

17 years ago today, I became a mum and my husband and I became parents. I don’t think we truly understood what that meant at the time, even though we knew their were huge responsibilities and sleepless nights with our little bundle. I think beyond all of that, our fundamental feeling was profound and overwhelming joy. I’d had an elective caesarean. So, there isn’t a lot to say about that, except Geoff still hasn’t recovered from the stress of trying to juggle the video camera, SLR etc and actually seeing the baby. It was exciting times. Our hospital was also still using cloth nappies. I have no idea why because i was 2004 and they’d changed to disposables by the time our daughter arrived just under two years later just so she could always be first with the birthday, although she was the youngest and clearly number 2.

Little Man and Mum in Tasmania late 2005.

Meanwhile, I used to taken International Women’s Day a lot more seriously and have even gone into the local march and was on the organising committee. Today, I think International Women’s Day can also be able having a rest, taking it easy, and making birthday cakes.

Last week, I ended up heading down to Sydney for my first medical specialist’s appointment since covid and in just over a year. This was a big milestone in terms of feeling safe and being able to take what now amounts to an almost negligible risk, and also in extending my personal freedom.

We went out for lunch in Kirribilli afterwards, and also walked down to the harbour to fully soak in the magnificent views of the Sydney Opera House and the sheer imposing grandeur of the Sydney Harbour Bridge which truly towers over the top of you their almost stretching a protective arm around like like a father towering over a small child.

Walking back up the hill, I spotted a pair of boots sitting on a street corner.

Not only that, the boots were around the wrong way and looked plain odd, which of course told a story they wouldn’t have told if they’d been around the right way.Of course, I have no idea what they were doing there.

Whose boots they were.

That turned out to be part of their appeal, and their inspiration.

Of course, I photographed the boots, and needless to say, I wrote a post about them, which I’d like to encourage you to read: https://beyondtheflow.wordpress.com/2021/03/06/boots-under-the-bridge/

After all, they made a perfect analogy for how we respond to people who don’t quite fit the norm.

So, how are things at your end?

Before I head off, I thought I’d just update out on the vaccine roll out there. Well, to start that story off, we’ve had over 42 days without any community transmission here in NSW, which is wonderful news, and further praise for our response to the virus. Without the imminent virus threat, we’ve been able to wait to get the vaccine through the proper government approval processes, which also means vaccination is only just kicking off here. Vaccination began on the 22nd February, and they’re still just starting to vaccination health and aged care workers who are in category 1a. We fit into 1b of people with health conditions, and last night I heard that we’ll be eligible from March 22nd. That’s only a few weeks away as along as all goes to plan. I still don’t know how I’ll go with getting the vaccine via my local GP. They have nothing written up about it on their web site, but I should have faith, shouldn’t I?!! I shouldn’t panic. Freak out or desperately long to have some peace of mind?!!

Well, what do I have to worry about anyway? It appears covid isn’t here and yet, when it gets out of its box, it truly takes off and as we all know, you can’t tell you or someone else has it and it turns out this early barely detectable stage is when it’s most infectious. It doesn’t do a lot to ease my concerns. However, I’m not really complaining about taking measures to stay safe, because I’m still here and a year ago I had a chest infection, breathing difficulties and was concerned hospital would be full of covid cases and it would be too risky to go. Thankfully, that never happened here, and friends of mine who are even more vulnerable than I, are still around. I say that not to show off, but to show what is possible. We should never give up on what is possible, because sometimes, it can actually come to pass, and the worst case scenario passes us by.

Humph. I’m not sure whether I should spend so much of our coffee time talking about covid. There’s so much more going on, but at the same time, i is having a daily impact on our lives. I’ve decided no to go to a physical Church service until I’m vaccinated, because people are singing and not wearing masks. Indeed, our Church has taken a stand against it because they feel the Church is being discriminated against when restrictions aren’t so stringent in other places, especially sporting arenas. However, singing has been shown to be a super-spreader. So, their decision counts me out. Moreover, when you’re having to make decisions all the time about wearing masks, hand sanitising etc, it’s hard to ignore covid’s omnipresence in our lives, and for that longing to boot covid out once and for all to reach fever pitch.

I hope you and yours are doing well and keeping safe. What have you been up to this week?

This has been another contribution to the Weekend Coffee Share hosted by Natalie the Explorer at https://natalietheexplorer.home.blog/

Best wishes,

Rowena