Experienced some more temperamental Australian weather last week. Apparently it’s been the worst summer in Sydney for over 50 years. It’s not like Scotland though. Although it rains now and again (mostly intermittent showers, occasionally it can be the ‘take cover’ torrential rain), it doesn’t last long and it’s been so hot recently, you actually welcome it. It did mean, however, that we postponed our out of town trip to the Blue Mountains to next weekend instead. Fingers crossed next Saturday will be lovely and sunny, with beautiful blue clear skies!
Despite the unpredictable weather, we still managed to get up to a lot of fun things last week....
• Australia Day
Thursday marked Australia Day, a national public holiday. The city was packed with people (a lot were kitted with full outfits donning the Aussie flag) and the pubs were even busier. We spent most of the afternoon in The Rocks (a small historic part of Sydney near the harbour. The cobbled streets give it a real Edinburgh feel), with three stages of live music and lots of stalls. After deciding the Harbour Stage had the best mix of music, we settled there for a while and watched a couple of bands. We ended the day in Darling Harbour, where we joined the masses to watch the boat parade and fireworks.
• Surrey Hills
A really funky part of Sydney; all the streets are named after English streets, such as Oxford St and Crown St and they are packed with interesting restaurants, bars and independent clothes shops. We only really went to the area to use the internet at the public library, but we plan on going back next week to try out some of the bars.
• Gallery of New South Wales
There’s lots of interesting museums in Sydney, unfortunately the majority are quite expensive, but there are a couple of gems that are free. We spent Sunday afternoon in the Gallery of New South Wales. Amazing building, great contemporary art exhibits and...free Wi-Fi.
• Chinese Twilight Parade
The Chinese New Year Festival is currently in full swing in Sydney, with lots of events on over the next couple of weeks. Really glad we are in Sydney to experience this. Last night we attended the twilight parade – a parade spanning a couple of miles along the main street, from the town hall to Chinatown. We managed to get a good spot to watch the parade (although, there did seem to an unusually high number of trams going past to block our view every now and then!). It was great seeing the masses of dragons (2012 is the year of the dragon), floats and dancers. Although, I think the best part would have to be the mini panda parade (a mass of children dressed up in panda costumes!).
Today seems to be one of the hottest days in Sydney so far (and there’s no sign of rain), so it seems a pity to waste it in the library. Off to find a beer garden for a couple of schooners (small pints) in the sunshine.
The Chinese New Year Festival is currently in full swing in Sydney, with lots of events on over the next couple of weeks. Really glad we are in Sydney to experience this. Last night we attended the twilight parade – a parade spanning a couple of miles along the main street, from the town hall to Chinatown. We managed to get a good spot to watch the parade (although, there did seem to an unusually high number of trams going past to block our view every now and then!). It was great seeing the masses of dragons (2012 is the year of the dragon), floats and dancers. Although, I think the best part would have to be the mini panda parade (a mass of children dressed up in panda costumes!).
Today seems to be one of the hottest days in Sydney so far (and there’s no sign of rain), so it seems a pity to waste it in the library. Off to find a beer garden for a couple of schooners (small pints) in the sunshine.
