A Sydney Long Weekend

The Long Weekend. No it's not a film noir, it's the Aussie version of a Bank Holiday. We just had Labour Day, a time of year when we put away the jumpers and heaters and pull out the fans and the summer clothes from the back of the wardrobe. One thing I miss about Britain is the seasons - or at least the change of seasons. In Sydney we don't have seasons, just temperatures. And this weekend we went from winter (ie wear a jacket) to summer (ie phew) temperatures.
In my continuing quest to discover the hidden delights of Sydney I found a deserted island right in the middle of the harbour, and nearly got blown off a thousand foot high cliff in the Blue Mountains.
The island was Cockatoo Island - a former naval dockyard now being transformed into an industrial museum and park.
On Saturday morning I rocked up at Circular Quay in the spring sunshine and found to my dismay there was a huge crowd already waiting for the ferry at Wharf 2. But to my surprise when the ferry pulled in only one other person got on - everyone else was waiting for the jetcat ferry upriver to Parramatta. And so it was that ten minutes later after cruising under the Harbour Bridge I was deposited on the wharf at Cockatoo Island. It was here that I discovered that me and the other geezer were outnumbered two to one by Park Rangers, who plied us with maps and told us to watch out for the aggressive nesting seagulls.



I spent a happy couple of hours pottering round the old workshops, barracks, slipways and exploring the old tunnels on what had once been the Sydney equivalent of Chatham or Rosyth. You could walk up to the top of the rocky island where there were great views over the posh suburbs of Hunters Hill (Hi Cate Blanchett!) and Balmain.
But here I was with the whole place to myself - what a great place to escape the madding crowds of Sydney! And it' all free. To be fair, the island is still a work in progress and there's still a lot of industrial junk, rusting cranes and decaying old buildings, but I reckon it's well worth a visit.



When I left the island I took the ferry upriver to Homebush Bay [not far from where I live], and on the way got a completely new impression of Sydney as seen from the water. As we docked at places like Abbotsford with its boat club, and as fisherman zipped by on the water in their aluminium "tinnies" I felt like I was on the Gold Coast rather than in the middle of a city of four million people. The whole day out cost me $15.20 - including my sandwich.
On the Sunday I took the tribe out to the Blue Mountains - a 90 minute drive up the freeway [motorway] from where we live in the inner west. Again, another sunny day and I dressed for the hot weather. Big mistake! When I stepped out of the car in Katoomba I was hit by a scalpel-like icy wind blowing in from the valleys. Katoomba is really just one main street that slopes down from the station to the cliffs where you can overlook the famous pinnacles the Three Sisters. I quickly found a warm cafe where we had a massive brunch to prepare us for our major bushwalking expedition.
It actually only lasted an hour. Instead of doing the usual attractions such as the Three Sisters or the Bush Railway (actually a very steep funicular), I drove a couple of streets over and we walked down to a small creek called Bonnie Doon Falls, where there was an awesome view into a very steep valley with the cissyish name of Nellie's Glen from a very exposed lookout right on top of the cliffs. Even on this busy long weekend we we had this all to ourselves - as with so many places in Australia it only takes a few steps off the beaten track to find yourself utterly alone - a scary experience sometimes.



We left early to try beat the notorious traffic jams that develop along the Blue Mountains highway on weekends, but not before stopping to look over into another awesome valley at a place called Malaita Point. The view was just amazing - but we dare not stay long because the wind was gusting very strongly and it really felt like we might lose our balance and get blown over the edge of the cliffs.
And so back to Sydney, with two worn out kids asleep on the back seat. And we never did hit any traffic jams.

For more Sydney pics check out my photoblog: In Sydney With an Old Leica.