Sydney
After a memorable week in Melbourne, I left for Sydney to stay with Simone and Greg in Petersham, just round the corner from Parramatta road. There I met their sons, Jack (6) and Sam (4) and began to drink my way through Greg’s cellar.
Simone and Sam
Jack
On our first night, we drank d’Arenberg’s Dead Arm Shiraz (2000) and Grosset’s Polish Hill Riesling (2001).
d’Arenberg’s Dead Arm Shiraz (2000) and Grosset’s Polish Hill Riesling (2001)
The Beach
The next morning, Simone and I went to the beach. We started at Bronte and walked passed Tamarama (derived from the aboriginal name “Gamma Gamma”) to Bondi. This is the Bondi to Bronte coast walk in reverse. The cliff top paths enable great views of the beaches below and several people were walking and jogging that route. All of the Sydney beaches were closed that day –there were floods in Queensland and New South Wales and the waves were really rough. That didn’t stop the surfers at Tamarama from heading out to the surf. Now, bear in mind that Tamarama is a beach with a lot of rocks just under the water and at both sides of its mouth and therefore, quite possibly not easy to surf at the best of times – you have to surf across the wave and stop before coming right to the beach and then paddle back out. The waves were rough as heck, yet some guys were diving off of the rocks into the surf. I have seen surfers do this in Cornwall, where I had assumed that they did not know what they were doing. It was explained to me that there is a current which, when you catch it at the right time (i.e. when there are no waves coming in for a little while), will pull you away from the rocks and you can then paddle out past the break point. I have to admit that it looked terrifying to watch.
Having forgotten my camera, I went back to the beaches a week later and through a few parks on the way. We stopped at was Queen’s Park, where people were insanely jogging in the midday sun, covered with sun cream.
Queen’s Park
Bronte beach, our next stop, was a lot calmer than last week.
Bronte Beach
We stopped at Tamarama, again.
Tamarama
It was low tide and the beach was still closed. Again that did not stop the surfers.
Surfing at Tamarama
The waves were not as spectacular, nor the surfers as good. I learnt that when the beaches are closed as they were last week, the surf schools cancel lessons. The surf instructors take the opportunity to surf, themselves, which explains the difference in quality. The low tide made entering from the rocks impossible. This didn’t stop one (fool) hardy soul from thinking about it though.
Fool Hardy
We went along to Cloverley next, where we admired the bathing pools.
Cloverley beach
Finally we ended up at Coogee, where we had lunch and walked the beach.
Coogee
Adriano Zumbo
We stopped at Adriano Zumbo’s (http://adrianozumbo.com) new store just before leaving the coast. We bought chocolate brownies and Smartie/Milkshake macarons for the boys, a Dirty Dani (salted caramel, milk chocolate, passion fruit and hazelnut) for Simone and a Bastard Cake (blackcurrant, coffee, peanut and salted caramel) for me. Sam loved the smartie macaron which left his lips blue. I thought the “bastard cake” was way too busy and discordant. It could easily have been split into three different desserts. The technique and flavours were good but perhaps not all together. It was a bit gimmicky.
Centurion Park
On our way back home, we went past the SCG, where I will go to watch cricket later today, and through Centurion Park.
Centurion Park
Greedy Gyal 
Did you leave the man any alcohol at all? 🙂
Yes…. I left him a bottle of 1919 which I had to drink most of cos West Indies lost the cricket…..
Nice pics . .