Sydney birthday

We really lucked out scoring a second trip to Sydney this weekend - only a week after our last one. This time we were helping sister Ros celebrate her birthday - on the last weekend of Sydney Vivid - which made for a pretty special, "illuminating" backdrop to our much anticipated get together.

We did the Fantasea harbour cruise a second time around on Friday night - and loved it just as much as the first time! As first timers Rod, Ros and Pete, got a real extra buzz out of seeing Sydney all lit up for their benefit.

We got out of the CBD for dinner afterwards and made our way up to the Trinity Bar in Surry Hills (an old favourite of ours) on the Light Rail for a laid back gastro pub meal away from the crowds thronging the city.  

Saturday morning Rob, Rod and I made a return visit to our fave Fine Food Store in Kendall Lane, The Rocks, for breakfast before meeting up with Ros and Pete at the Manly Ferry Terminal - ready to celebrate Ros's actual birthday on this day (18th June).

At Manly we enjoyed a stroll along the Esplanade despite the blustery conditions before hitting Four Pines Brewery for a cosy lunch. Afterwards we walked some more showing Ros "our villa" on Fairlight Street and the start of the beautiful harbour walk from Manly to the Spit Bridge. Love Manly!

Saturday night we partaaaayed!! .....starting with drinks and cake at the moody Ovolo Darling Harbour 1888 Bar (where Ros and Pete were staying) just to prove it really was this girl's special day!!!!

Then we braved the crowds and crowds of Vivid revellers outside to make our way to Zaaffran, an upmarket Indian restaurant on the waterfront at Darling Harbour. Ros had the foresight to book the best table in the house, months ago, so we enjoyed a beautiful aromatic array of dishes while being able to watch the amazing light shows playing over the harbour below us. The queues of people lining up outside all the nearby dining establishments proving how lucky we were to have our booking at the best spot on the harbour.

The time with Ros and Pete went so quickly - but we made it a completely memorable way to celebrate Ros's birthday - and gain some very precious sister time together.  And we'll try and do it again next year too Ros?
 

Long weekend in Sydney

Josh and Jody had invited us to spend the Queen's birthday long weekend with them in Sydney - woohoo! .....and what's more, we were able to get an early start on the fun, with the girls, even before the long weekend got fully underway, last Friday.

First stop was at our fave Coogee Beach - with lunch in the sunny courtyard of the Coogee Bay Hotel, a walk along the beachfront and time for the girls to have a bit of a shop in the local surf shops (they both love a bit of a shop these days).

We settled into our rooms at the Intercontinental Hotel facing onto historic Macquarie and Bridge Streets and looked forward to our first peek at Sydney Vivid on Friday night as soon as the lights came on at 6.00pm.

Ella couldn't resist striking a pose as we walked past the Justice and Police Museum on the way to Circular Quay.

Abi, in particular, was quite excited by all the light shows on the Quay (it's because of her well developed photographer's eye I'm sure).

Our room at the hotel looked out to Bridge Street and the Botanic Gardens beyond. This was our beautiful early morning view from our 18th floor window.

Josh and Jody had driven up (in their new car!) late on Friday night - so we all felt very happy meeting up for a slap up breakfast together at the Fine Food Stall on Kendall Lane at The Rocks on Saturday morning.

We spent most of Saturday pounding the streets of the CBD: shopping and sightseeing and enjoying Yum Cha for lunch at Sky Phoenix in the city. These have been very rare pleasures over the last two and a half years and we all really enjoyed the novelty of being among crowds, with all the big city shops and restaurants fully open for business.

Saturday night we were booked on a one hour Sydney Vivid cruise, departing Darling Harbour as the lights came on at 6.00pm.

Once again, Abi was probably the most thrilled by all the lights on show in this part of town.

Rob's killer photo of the new Star Casino, under lights, taken from our cruise boat .......

Sydney was CROWDED for Vivid this (cold) long weekend - it was actually really difficult to find anywhere decent to eat in the city without a prior booking. After our cruise ended we walked and walked - ending up at East Ocean in Chinatown before we found a table free. It was a memorable meal there however with some wonderful seafood (lobster!!!) available for our delight.

Sunday morning saw us back at The Fine Food Store for breakfast (when you're on a good thing stick to it!) ...

.... before we headed around to Barangaroo Reserve - new territory for J & J and A & E.

The Wulugul Walk at Barangaroo ....

The girls finished off some shopping in the city after the long walk around this part of the harbour. We had some downtime at the hotel in the afternoon before setting out again - this time across The Domain and down to Woolloomooloo, hoping to avoid the Vivid crowds around Circular Quay, Darling Harbour and the city.

Abi was quite impressed by the "horse sculptures" on the wharf front at Woolloomooloo (22 hands she estimated!).

We enjoyed our meal at the relatively uncrowded Woolly Bay Hotel (with no walk ins accepted in the more up market restaurants along the Woolloomooloo finger wharf) and afterwards Joshy led us the long way back to the hotel, around the edge of the Botanic Gardens (part of his early morning running track), and past Mrs Macquarie's Chair where we recorded this historic moment.

Possums are actually very cute - but only in the right place!!

We estimated we walked about 18 klms on each of our two days in Sydney - I was surprised the girls coped with it as well as they did - with no complaints .... but they both looked pretty tired this morning at the end of our stay with only the drive back to Canberra to look forward to.

We enjoyed the hotel's buffet breakfast this morning before heading off for a final stopover in sunny Coogee before the inevitable drive back to Canberra.

The company of J & J and Ella and Abi is a precious gift for Rob and me - but to be able to enjoy their company is such relaxed and happy (and memorable) circumstances is precious beyond words.

 

Last days in FNQ

Saturday morning at Cooper Creek was a stunner, allowing us our first view of the mountains without their customary cloud cover.

We were heading back to Smithfield this morning, but took the opportunity for one more walk in the adjacent rain forest so we could hear more about David and Ro's plans for it. This part of the forest near Ro's cabin is a regrowth area so she would like to do more plant identification and get some old machinery from the original settlement cleared out. Meanwhile, I learnt that you should wear close fitting clothes in the rain forest - there are lots of vines wanting to grab onto loose fabric!

We had a lunch date at the Thala Beach Nature Reserve Resort restaurant to break our drive back to Smithfield - a brilliant way to celebrate our fabulous stay in the Daintree. We shared wonderful seafood platters and a bottle of Derwent Estate Riesling (2018) - they were indeed worthy of the stunning setting of this unique place!

Sunday morning we were awake early (Ro's idea) so we could do a dawn walk to Glacier Rock - a 6.8 klm out and back walk that is described as moderately challenging but which we thought was well within our capabilities. After a walk through dense rain forest the path brought us to the Kuranda Scenic Railway train line. There were an awful lot of mechanical stairs to climb at this point.

But after reaching half way (the mango tree) the path opened out, the breeze freshened and we could start to see fabulous views of the Cairns coastline behind us.

 

The last third of the hike took us back into the rain forest ...

Until we reached the lookout at the highest point of the peak with its stunning views of the Barron River, the Cairns coast and across to the Coral Sea.

Such a memorable way to end our stay in this amazing place in the world with our dear friends David and Ro...... (and we can't wait to get back!)