australia: sydney

Photo Log: Sydney Coastal Walks 2013 – Part II

26th January 2016 by Gemma Leave a Comment

I have to find a better way of titling my Sydney photo logs, as I reckon I will be making multiple posts of it as time goes, considering my affiliation to it by matrimony! Anyway, on my first visit to Sydney, I did two coastal walks. I posted about my Bondi to Watsons Bay walk previously, although I did that the day after the Coogee to Bondi walk that is featured on this post.

Apparently you can do a walk from Cronulla to Clovelly (then connect all the way to Bondi, I suppose), but I’ve been to Cronulla before I thought of doing this trek and I didn’t really fancy doing a great walk in that heat.

Coogee to Bondi is a much shorter walk than Bondi to Watsons Bay, at just 6 km. There is still so much beauty to see though; it has these interesting rock formations on top of a cliff, well away from waves crashing into it. I kept wondering how they were formed; I could only guess it is probably erosion from the wind and rain but I honestly do not know.

Starting off at Coogee and Wedding Cake Island, which was apparently named because of its flat top surface, kind of like the bottom layer of a wedding cake! It disappears depending on the time of the tide, and I was lucky to see a bit of the top. I wonder if the tide even goes lower than that?

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Photo Log: Sydney Coastal Walks 2013 – Part I

11th January 2016 by Gemma Leave a Comment

If you’re over at Instagram and are a travel enthusiast like me, you may also be following Condé Nast Traveler. Currently, they are having a series on Australia, which they have declared their Destination of the Year. Yesterday were photos featuring Sydney, and the famous Bondi Icebergs were featured (but of course) amongst other things, like surfers and coffee.

As a side note, I have never heard known a more cohesive group of coffee snobs than the Antipodeans (I say this lovingly, as my husband is an Australian, along with his family and friends who are Kiwis and/or Australians) — everyone is in agreement that coffee in any of the popular London coffee chains are rank.

Anyway. So the photo of the Bondi beach surfers was the last straw — and I fully gave myself up to reminiscing of my initial trip Down Under. I visited my S.O. (then boyfriend) in his home city Sydney at the beginning of Australian summer in 2013, and it was glorious (if you’ve experienced London summers, you will know what I’m talking about). Not a cloud in the sky, one brief spell of rain in the week-and-a-half long visit…and the sun! The sea!

J was at his 8-6 job for most of the weekdays, so he took me around during the weekend, and I marvelled at how massive Sydney was, with all its little suburbs far, far away from the city centre. It wasn’t just a city, after all, it was also a state. I fended well for myself when he was at work, and did some walks on my own. One of the most unforgettable was the Bondi to Watsons Bay walk, which has utterly magnificent views of the sea. You walk very close to the cliff side most of the time, which gives you unimpeded views of the blue, blue sea.

I got off the bus on north Bondi, just a few minutes walk from the beach (I saw some locals just padding down to the beach, barefoot of course). I got to the top of a hill and took in the views, and cut through a fenced dog park which had shrubbery along the cliff side, blocking views. It was nice to see some dogs getting walked, but I was a bit surprised there weren’t as many of them as when I would run around Hampstead Heath (think it must have been Raleigh Reserve).

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Food, Glorious Food: Aqua Dining

1st February 2015 by Gemma Leave a Comment

Quick break from books for a quick food post!

Aqua Dining is a waterfront restaurant in North Sydney; at Milsons Point, to be exact. It has lovely sweeping views of the well-known Sydney landmarks — the Harbour Bridge looms close enough to frame the Opera House, and the city skyline isn’t too shabby either. Luna Park is on its right, and I’m sure the ferris wheel is nice when lit up at night. They have a private sunken terrace area at the very end of the restaurant that gives you front row views of the harbour, which you can hire for private events or functions.

Apparently, the young professional Sydneysiders did not know of this restaurant. It was my husband’s mother who booked this place for lunch after our brief civil wedding ceremony in equally beautiful Cope’s Lookout (5 minutes walk if you’re not wearing high heels, less than 10 minutes if you are). It’s definitely a good place for special events, or to impress a date (I mean, that view!).

The mother-in-law chose the set menu and the wines; I couldn’t find anything to disagree with on the choices when they showed it to me.

Entrée: Parmesan praline and octopus

I have to note they served us sourdough bread with olive oil before this, which I scarfed down because I was starving and already had some champagne which had made me tipsy, and it was barely past noon!

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