Happy New Year

Happy New Year from Sydney, Australia to all my blogging friends in New Zealand who have just tipped over into 2017!

The 9pm fireworks in Sydney are smaller than the more famous midnight ones, but they're great for families.

All the harbour pontoons synchronise their displays, so that fireworks light up the sky all around the various coves and bays of the city.

Our Inner West suburb is dotted with wonderful viewing spots.

We haven't been here for years to celebrate NYE - I'd forgotten how exciting it is.

The suburb is closed off at lunch time, so that only residents can drive in.

All the parks start to fill up with families about 8.30pm. 

Parties seem to ooze out of every second house to watch the fireworks.

Everyone oooh's and aahhh's, a few young children cry, we all applaud at the end. 

Then everyone takes the kids back home and put them all to bed.

The parties continue, the young adults start arriving, the pubs fill up, party boats dooff dooff around the harbour & Mr Seasons & I meander home to put our feet up under the air con, with a beer in hand & watch the Robbie Williams in Talinn concert until it's time to meander back to our secret viewing spot for the midnight display.

Pop back just after midnight for some pics of the big display!

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WOW! The midnight display is always so much better in real life than the TV.
It's nice to have the occasional Christmas and NY at home so that we can enjoy these fabulous Sydney events up close and personal.

All the the booklets are home safe and sound now, so I'm off to bed.

Happy New Year one and all, whatever your time zone, may your new year be joyous, healthy and full of grace.

This post is part of Saturday Snapshot.

Supermoon Monday

Monday night, very fittingly, was Supermoon night.

Unfortunately, though, Monday was also a cloudy day in good old Sydney town.

Not ideal for watching a supermoon rise.

However that didn't stop lots of local luna lovers from gathering on the foreshores of our peninsula, just in case.

There's always plenty of picturesque views to admire regardless of the moon.

The cloud cover hung low, so we did miss the moon rise.

But we did get a break as the moon reached the arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

People cheered, cameras clicked and #supermoon2016 trended!

The middle of the bridge! How lucky!

How perfectly picturesque!

How lucky to have your Bridge Climb walk booked for the night of the supermoon!

You can see one group crossing the centre of the bridge and another group beginning their descent.

The Australian flag and the flag of NSW were flying tonight.

And there she goes!

45 minutes of la bella luna, before the clouds obscured her pretty face once again.

I'll be 66 for #Supermoon2034 - I wonder where I will be?

This post is part of Saturday Snapshot.

Hermitage Foreshore Walk

During my summer holidays I tried to do a few touristy things around Sydney.
One of them was to walk the Hermitage Foreshore Walk that goes from Rose Bay to Nielson Park.

In the Sydney Top 10 it says:
Overlooking Shark Bay, this park (Nielson) has been a favourite since 1912. At it's north end is Shark Beach and the Historic Greycliffe House. To the west is Steel Point, site of a former defensive battery, and the start of the 1.5 km Hermitage Foreshore Walk back to Rose Bay. pg 51

Rose Bay (east)

Rose Bay: The largest cove in Sydney Harbour is embraced by Point Piper to the west and Vaucluse to the east. Northeast of Point Piper is Shark Island. To the east is Hermit Point, reputedly the haunt of a reclusive former convict. In 1942 a Japanese submarine lobbed shells into Rose Bay, presumably aiming for the former flying-boat base; it's still the base for Sydney Harbour's seaplanes. pg 97 

Beginning of the walk at Rose Bay

Sisters of the Sacred Heart Convent cemetery 

Queens Beach

Hermitage Beach

Tingara Beach

We stopped here for an hour or so to swim, relax and read. We shared the beach with lots of kayaks and only one other couple. Magic! Perfect!

Shhhhhh don't tell anyone about this little beach - it's our secret.

Milk Beach

It was an easy walk along boardwalks and beaches with spectacular views of Sydney Harbour at every turn.

View from Steel Point

Shark Beach

Nielson Park: On summer weekends, this sheltered harbour beach is packed with picnicking families. The adjacent park has good spots for cricket or frisbee. Small children can safely play in the water, but keep in mind that the harbour floor dips away suddenly. pg 49

We finished with lunch and another swim at Shark Beach.

A perfect summer's day activity.

This post is part of Saturday Snapshot

Seven Bridges Walk

The Cancer Council Seven Bridges Walk is an annual event in Sydney. 

This year was it's 10th anniversary.

 It's a 27 km walk around the bays, coves and by-ways of Sydney Harbour. 

'Villages' are set up near each bridge.

You can start your walk at any of these points.

You simply collect your 'passport' to be stamped after you cross each bridge and visit every village.

We picked up our passports at Rozelle Village around 7:30am and started off across the Iron Cove Bridge. It was a lovely 21℃.

The Iron Cove Bridge is a steel truss bridge designed in the Art Deco style of the early 50's.

In 2011 a second bridge was placed next to it to ease traffic congestion on Victoria Rd.

It's this new section that the walkway is on.

 The Gladesville Bridge was the longest single span concrete arch ever constructed in its time (1964).

The bridge was hot, open and dusty.

But the views of Sydney Harbour and the Parramatta River through the palings were glorious.

Tarban Creek Bridge, which spans the waters from Huntley's Point to Hunters Hill, was opened in 1965.

Fig Tree Bridge spans the Iron Cover River from Hunters Hill to Linley Point.

It opened in 1963.

From here, it was a LONG walk to the next bridge.

Fortunately it was through some of the most beautiful parks, reserves and waterways.

Burns Bay

Burns Bay Reserve Aquaduct

Tambourine Bay

Tambourine Bay wetlands

Gore Creek Reserve Suspension Bridge (not counted as one of the 7 though)

 After a long hot hike through Lane Cove, Greenwich, Wollstonecraft and North Sydney we finally reached the Sydney Harbour Bridge around midday.

Underneath the Harbour Bridge is a lovely old pub called the Australian Heritage Hotel.

We felt we had earned a beer or two and a plate of hot, salty chips!

Underneath the Pyrmont Bridge at Darling Harbour.

Spanning Cockle Bay, this steel swing-span bridge was once one of the main ways out of the city into the inner west suburbs (along with the old Glebe Island Bridge). It was closed to traffic in 1981 and is now only a pedestrian bridge.

Escalators took us up onto the Pyrmont Bridge

Last but not least, was the Anzac Bridge.

It is the longest cable-stayed span bridge in Australia.

It replaced the old Glebe Island swing Bridge in 1995. You can still see the old bridge permanently open for water traffic, but closed to cars and pedestrians, underneath the walkway as you cross the Anzac bridge.

I could almost see home from here!

27 km's, 7 bridges, 2 nature reserves, 1 wetlands, 2 aquaducts and 1 pub & it only took 7 hours.

I was a little teddy tired by the time I got home and gratefully soaked in a warm radox bath!

But it was worth every step (and aching muscles the next day).
I hope to do it again next year.

The walk!

This post is part of Saturday Snapshot