Friday 2^nd January

Today was hotter than yesterday and after a leisurely breakfast, we caught the 1pm ferry to Watson’s Bay which gave us good views of the coastline, followed by a bus trip to Bondi beach. This was less crowded than Manly, didn’t have sun umbrellas everywhere and also had plenty of space on the grassy banks in front of the beach.

We enjoyed a very pleasant breeze as we walked for an hour along the coast path past Taramara Bay to Bronte Bay.

From Bronte we caught the bus back into Sydney, to the central railway station, and then our usual bus up Glebe Point road.

We went and had an early dinner, as we hadn’t had lunch, at a Vietnamese restaurant a few bus stops down Glebe Point road. The food was tasty but not as good as some we’ve had.

Thursday 1^st January 2015

We had a late breakfast today at 10am and as it was much hotter than yesterday we decided to take a bus down to Circular Quay and catch the ferry to Manly. It seemed that most of Sydney had decided the same thing but we found seats on the 1pm ferry for the half hour ride and wandered around Manly beach and the Esplanade watching the waves and the hundreds of people.

It was too hot to walk far so we called in at the Skiff Sailing Club as recommended by Gary and Julie and had a cool beer. Iain also had some crostini with smoked salmon and wasabi cream which was quite delicious. We caught the 4pm ferry back and then the bus again, although we got off a stop too soon.

This evening Gary and Julie invited the four of us guests to a barbecue which was lovely – prawns, snapper and steak with pumpkin soup, salad, roast potatoes and cumara, and homemade cheesecake for afters.

Wednesday 31^st December

After a lovely breakfast, sat outside in their little garden, with a German couple who are also staying here, we discovered that the laptop wouldn’t work or charge. Gary kindly took us into a computer shop but they weren’t very helpful and said we probably needed to order a new battery. Julie (Gary’s wife) didn’t think that was likely as plugging into the mains bypasses the battery so it should have lit up and we agreed. Later, having removed the battery and re-inserted it, everything seemed to be working perfectly again!! We’ve no idea what was wrong....

We caught the bus into the centre at Circular Quay and had a short look at the Museum of Contemporary Art before having a cup of tea. We then wandered up to the Bridge and climbed up the 200 steps in the pylon for some stupendous views.

Surprisingly it wasn’t busy although there were a lot of people around the harbour already staking out their positions to watch the fireworks. We then walked through the Rock area and had a couple of small pizzas (crocodile and a kangaroo and emu!) which were delicious and rather different from your average pizza! We then wandered all around the Darling and Pyrmont harbours trying to determine where we get the boat in the evening. We missed the actual spot but found it when we got internet connection back on the laptop. It was a nice walk though and not too hot.

Gary gave us a lift down at 6.45pm and we discovered that we weren’t the only ones wondering where to go – there was no signage at all to indicate that our boat was docking there. Anyway the boat Commissioner 11 turned up and we found a table inside although almost all the time we were out on deck. It was a bit breezy at times but not really cold at all. There was free beer, wine and champagne, as much as you could drink, and a wonderful array of finger foods circulated throughout the evening. We had a great position to see all the fireworks – right in front of the bridge- but it was also a wonderful way to see the harbour as we circled around for a couple of hours before the Parade of Lights. After the 9pm fireworks all the boats (including ours) in the Parade of Lights switched on their outline lights and gradually promenaded around the main harbour – magical!

There was a short firework display at 10.40pm but then the skies erupted at midnight with the main display. The display was all we’d been hoping for and the reverberations from the fireworks were amazing! We returned to the wharf about 1am and caught the light railway to Glebe. It was just like being on the London underground, it was so crowded!

Tuesday 30^th December

We drove up to Binalong Bay to admire the coastline with the blue green sea and white sands,

before driving south along the coastline and then up and over St Mary’s Pass and Elephant Pass. Unfortunately the trees at the side of the road were so dense we didn’t get many views. We stopped at Bicheno to take a look at the blowhole there in the rocks

and then continued down the Tasman Highway. It was very windy as we went south and we drove through some fairly torrential rain before stopping at a café in Orford for some lunch. Iain had seafood chowder and I had seafood lasagne, both of which were very good.

We found our way to the car returns at Hobart airport and then had to readjust the luggage a bit as the big case was 2Kg too heavy. I had suspected that this might be the case and had made sure we had some room in one of our carry on bags.

Gary from the B&B met us at Sydney airport and we were made very welcome in their lovely house which is about 15minutes walk from the harbour area. We went out and wandered up the road to find somewhere to eat and ended up in an Indian restaurant where I had a couple of dishes I’ve never seen before. One was tandoori cauliflower with spicy mushrooms and the other consisted of spinach leaves deep fried in chickpea flour and served on spicy chickpeas and potatoes with tamarind and raita sauces.

Monday 29^th December

We decided on a lazy day today, especially as it was somewhat cloudy, though warm. We strolled out into the town at lunchtime and had some excellent seafood before relaxing for the rest of the afternoon – apart from catching up on the blog, photos and washing! I also managed to arrange a ninety minute massage appointment which was great as my back and neck have missed their regular dose!

We discovered that Tasvacations had sent a nice bottle of wine to our room and later Bruce came round from Bed in the Treetops with a bottle of champagne to say sorry about the mixup. We decided that champagne wouldn’t travel too well so we enjoyed it that evening with bits of cheese , pate and salad we still had leftover from when we were self catering – very nice!