Sydney together

Two and a half years of regular WhatsApp catch ups have been great, but nothing meets a catch up of old friends in real life, in real time. My dear friend Jane arrived in Sydney last Thursday, ready for four days of fun with our also dear friend Tania, with lots of time for chats about family, art and travel (that mostly never happened), plenty of walking and good food and wine. 

Friday was the opening day of Sculpture by the Sea and we had plans to walk from Coogee to Bondi, meeting up with Tania at Tamarama to see the works together.

With rain threatening we took some time out at Seasalt, Clovelly Beach for our first cup of coffee along the way.

Tamarama Beach always makes a spectacular setting for some dramatic sculpture installations. This year was no exception.

Tania is very well connected in the contemporary sculpture scene, so it was great to hear the stories behind some of the works and meet the artists who'd showed up for opening day. We had a lovely conversation with the two brothers from the Ukraine, Egor and Nikita Zigura (in front of Egor's work). The two sculptors have escaped from the Ukraine and Egor is now working in France. They're really enjoying their stay in Bondi for Sculpture by the Sea and have found everyone very welcoming! They'd already met Tania at her Le Petit Salon de Sculpture exhibition a few days before.

and this distinctive work is by Nikita .....

And this work by Tony Davis really seemed to resonate with Tania ....

We ended off our Sculpture by the Sea experience with a very very long, late lunch at Bills on Hall Street - a perfect end to an exhilarating experience of Sculpture by the Sea.

We woke up to some welcome sunshine on Saturday morning, a chance to introduce Jane to our light rail service and the architectural delights of Barangaroo, all new territory for her ...

Then we met up with Tania again at the Museum of Contemporary Art cafe, and another very long lunch with a lot of art and family talk on the menu .....

as well as a celebratory tipple among friends .......

I love looking at (and talking, laughing and learning about) art with this pair ....... we really haven't changed a bit since those days, over thirty years ago (!!!!) when we all taught art together at Canberra High School.

We saw a movie at the lovely old Randwick Ritz on Saturday night - something we haven't done in a l-o-n-g time. We had a tasty meal at La Sen afterwards, all very nice but The Spot dining scene looks completely different to the last time we were regular patrons.

We ventured over to Manly yesterday - by way of the ferry, and showed Jane one of our favourite walks around North Harbour.

as well as the delights of Anita Gelato on the Corso ........

But our main goal was to make our way up to the old Quarantine Station at North Head where we were meeting Tania at Le Petit Salon de Sculpture exhibition in the historic hospital precinct. 

We were hoping to see some of the local echidnas on our walk through to the exhibtion but today we had to make do with this close up of a very bold cockatoo.

This was Jane's first chance to see Tania's amazing "Terrible Beauty" installation on the wharf entry to the Q Station - still standing proud after three years of many visitors, a change of owner, lots of storms, king tides and other weather events, and many thousands of photo taking sessions..

Jane loves Middle Eastern food - which is not all that prolific on the Sunshine Coast so we took the opportunity to dine at Nour, Surry Hills last night - a very special meal of beautifully executed flavours on our last night together in Sydney.

It was pouring rain when we woke up this morning and it was still pouring as we packed up and tried to load the car out on Carrington Road while avoiding the torrents of water gushing down the roadway and gutters. It was good to dry out a bit and enjoy a slap up breakfast at our old fave Pool Cafe at Maroubra before braving the traffic mayhem around the airport and then the drive back to Canberra.

Jane's heading back to 30oC on Queensland's sunny coast and we're heading back to cloudy wet Canberra. We made some wonderful memories together with Tania this visit and can't wait until we have the chance to do it all again.

Update: My clever friend Jane sent me this hand drawn memento of our time in Sydney together - she is such a clever girl. Isn't it brilliant?