Market day on the fly...

Good morning from sunny Sydney!
After a somewhat restless night disturbed with a bit of jetlag, fog horns from departing cruise ships and general city noise coming up from 26 floors below us, it was time to break out into the clear blue skies of Sydney. We've opted not to take breakfast with this hotel room, in favour of eating on the run en route to whatever it is we end up doing  each day.
If Friday was a day of weddings, then Saturday was to be a day of waling, markets, beer and fireworks. Oh, and amusing fly posting. We have found ourselves a nice quayside resteraunt that does a good brekkie and orange in the mornings overlooking the cruise ship port and harbour bridge, so that was our first port of call. (Pun not intended, but then was intended). In the several bits of literature we have picked up since the start of our time in Sydney, some of them have referred to the markets held on a weekly/monthly basis around the different suburbs of the city. So, i loves a good market i does, and we decided to pay Paddo market a visit. We caught the bus out of the city, out past Hyde Park and staight to Paddington. Familar names, but infinatly more pleasent places to be! paddo market has about 200 stalls selling all sorts of clothes, art, food, dickie bows for dogs, jewelry and such like. In the food area, a stall was doing a roaring trade in smoothies and there was seating to sit at and listen to some locals performing for the bustling market. The market is held in the school grounds and is perhaps something that could be adopted my many schools in the UK. I expect the schools make a bit of money from selling the pitches to the stall holders, and they even had several children running the schools own stall selling cakes and munchies for the passing people. We didn't buy anything from them. We only bought a smoothie each. But it was still nice.
The chuckle of the day was provided to us by two people. Whilst waiting for the bus to head back to the city, a ranger walked by. It was obviously his job to walk up and down the streets of Paddington and remove fly posters and generaly keep the place looing tidy. Next to the bus stop, there was a lampost with a poster on it for some event or orther. We watched him dilligently take a photo as evidence of the offending pster, and then type in some detail of it into his phone. He then took out his stanley knive, cut the poster away and put it into his rubbish back before taking another photo of the now bare lampost, to prove that the poster had been removed. Fair enough i thougt, whilst casting my eye up and down the street seeing several other lamposts that were apparently going to receive the same treatment. We watched him carry on down the street, stopping at the next and removing a poster from that one too. At the point, coming up the street from the opposite direction, a young lad with a man bag, listening to his iPod abbruptly stopped by the first lampost, and after quickly checking around produced two fly posters for a different event and a role of sellotape. In an obviously well rehearsed routine, within seconds, there were two new posters taped to the lampost, an he was on his way. To get two posters up in that short amount of time was an art form. The ranger had been at that lampost less than a minute before, and was still within site albeit it 100m down the street. Genius! Unfortunatly, the bus came to pick us up before the ranger returned, but i would have loved to see his face when he returned to his parked truck next to the same lampost to see the new poster.
Anyway, on the bus we did go and we made our way back to Hyde Park. We got off at the Northern end of the park, and headed for the Anzac Memorial. A huge stone built monument building next to their pool of reflection built to commemorate the lives lost in war.
We walked through the park and on to Archibald fountain, which seems to be the central area of the park. Its good food month in Sydney, and for the next week, Noodle Night is held in the grounds of the park. We will visit this before we leae the city, but it looks a big and significant afgair with many stalls set up and thousands of chairs provided for people who attend.
Lunch obtained, we headed back for the park before then moving back down towards circular quay. We had also heard of a market running in the Rocks area. Another collection of stalls selling all sorts, but perhaps slightly more geared up for the tourist brought by the thousands tl the cruise ship port only a matter of a couple of hundred meters away. We want to buy hats. Though there were many stalls selling hats, we didn't. In fact we didnt buy anything.
We went, back to circular quay to Buckleys. A good bar come bistro serving a good selection of beers and wines. Drinking followed. Tatachilla pinot fruit based drinks for the lady. A selection of James Squire craft brews for me. Much hilarity also followed based on facebook chatter between the Wood Martin clan and the Hill Horton hoodlums. Top tip for a gelato in Sydney, try the place next to the train station in Cirucar Quay. Tidy :-)
The sun was begining to fall towards the horizon, and it was time to head back to the hotel. It was time for a quick freshen up, before an evening walk over to Darling Harbour. If you are ever in Sydney, pay a visit in the evening to eat at one of its many waterside resteraunts. It's crazy and really lively. We also found out that every Saturday, there was a free fireworks display around 9 ish for the month of October. We went harbourside and found space in a resteraunt, drank more beer and wine and ate pizza. The fireworks were good, and following them various street entertainment popped up harbourside and the partying into the night continued. Harbourside around Darling Harnour is also full of shops and other attractions. We still wanted to buy hats. We didn't. We still haven't bougt anything. Apart from food and drink.
Join us next time to read more about hat shopping, and not buying anything else apart from food and drink.
Cheers!

Lovely pair of domes.

'Can all passengers please remain seated for a few more minutes while paramedics board the plane to see to a passenger in Economy' are the words that greeted us to Sydney when we eventually touched down last night.
Our first night was at the Rydges hotel just outside the international arrivals of the international terminal. The room was very good, modern and clean, but perhaps the best feature from the 7th floor was the view over the runways of the airport. We were one of the last arrivals of the night before the airport closed down for noise curfew, but this morning was excellent. We were greeted by the arrival of about 6 A380 aircraft all in quick succession, all terminating about 300 yards in front of us. Im not sure what the people get off the plane thought if they looked across to see me looking out the window in nothing more than my pants. But, it was a good way to start the day.
So, we've made our way into the city via train and cheked into our corner suite at the Amora in Sydney with views across the Sydney skyline. Room is good, if not a little tired and worn in places, but satisfactory no less.
In an effort to make up for not much moving around yesterday, today, we've mostly walked. And walked. And walked. In fact, sitting down has once again become a pleasure.
Mobile SIM acquired, and we were off splorin' what Circular Quay has to offer. This is one of the main ferry quays around Sydney and also provides tours, and jet boat rides etc. It's flanked by the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge and is full of city folk going about their breakfast, dinner, and post work rituals. Fueled up on fresh orange from one of the quay side cafes, we walked around to the opera house. A fantastic building, and oddly enough, not as white as you might think, but nice nonetheless to be able to visit this iconic world landmark. Overlooking the Opera House there was a wedding taking place, where most of the congregation seemed to be happily standing around under white umbrellas. And it wasn't even raining. Bizzare. Anyway, photos taken, we then set off back around the quay towards the harbour bridge passing the bag drop off point for the latest cruise to depart Sydney. From this side of the quay, we could get the more familiar view of the area, and as we approached the bridge, we came across someone setting up for a wedding. That was a coincidnence. We past one of the those the other side of the quay. Of well I thought, if you know the weather is gong to be nice, then why not
?
According to the city map of Sydney, the Sydney Observatory wasn't far away, so I suggested we walk up to there to take a look. This meant walking under the harbour bridge. A fantastic feat of engineering, it's not until you walk under it that you realise how much more of the bridge there is other than just its span across the water. It seems to go on for ages on land too. Its built to support road and rail, and the popular activity of walking the arch of the bridge too. Through the morning, we saw dozens of guided groups being lead up the archways and then back down again. It wasnt until later than we realised that these people were paying on average in excess of $200 each for the pleasure. Just under the bridge, we came across a photoshoot - of a wedding, using the harbour bridge as a backdrop.
This is when we started wandering a bit, slowley winding our way up through the side streets until we found..... a pub :-) Excellent. The Hero of Waterloo was conveiniently timed for around dinner time, we decided to stop off and try out some food and beers, but only after passing another two photoshoots - of weddings. Again. As we come out of the pub, just to the right, we were presented with a mighty fine pair of domes. A bit green in colour. But symmetrical in every way, and quite large. Nice. These were the domes of the Sydney observatory which is built on the hill in the Rocks area of Sydney. It gives good views of the harbour area and has some lovely grounds which you are free to walk around. So we did. Whilst we were doing this, we came across something quite unusual. A wedding was being conducted in the grounds of the observatory with the couple using the harbour bridge as their backdrop whilst blasting out from a hidden tape recorder, More Than Words by Extreme. Yep, they love them down this way!
Anyway, back to the obsie. Built in the 1800's it is home to several refractor telescopes still in use today. Within the buildings, there is a museum which is free to walk around. However, interactive guided tours are also available for solar viewing and educational purposes along with evening observing sessions too. The various rooms and exhibits weave their way around two massive stone piers which support the telescopes above. Impressive in their own right.
So, that's about it for now. Appologies for dodgy spelling. Its getting late :-)
Cheers!

Blogging at Mac 0.84 at 40000 feet.

We must have just started our journey over the Indian Ocean when the call came over the cabin intercom 'If there is a paramedic, or doctor of medicine on board, then please make yourself known to a member of the cabin crew'.  The first thought that entered my head was 'I've never been to India before. This could be exciting!' thinking that we could possibly be in line for a medical emergency diversion. However, I am pleased to report that no further news has been received, and personaly, I put it down to trapped wind.
Role back the clock to a couple of hours before and a mad dash for our connecting flight. It's the quickest trip to Dubai airport either of us has ever experienced. Naturally, we had barely an hour between touching the runway one end, getting a bus trip around the airport, locating our next gate which was already boarding by the time we got there, and the leaving the other end of the runway. I will be mightely impressed if our luggage has made the same journey.
Emirates have thus far lived up to my expectations with decent grub and inflight entertainment. One thing i have noticed though is the difference between the A380 we travelled on to New Zealand, and this one. This seems to have even more room!
Officially, we're 7 hours away from Sydney at the moment, but lets face it, the body clock is well and truely screwed already. In Sydney, its 15.40 and 5.40pm in the UK. We've had breakfast at about 2am, tea last night and will be having tea again when we get to about 5ish again. We seemed to have lost dinner somewhere, but we have had pizza. And for those people wanting to start the whole breakfast/dinner/lunch/tea discussion, i put it to you that in school we had dinner ladies, not lunch ladies. Discussion over :-)
Anyway, I adorn this interim post with a lovely picture of sunrise over the Indian Ocean last night at some point, and a not too flattering orange tinted selfie from our seats here at 40000 feet.
Being too tight as I am to fork out for wifi access whilst mid Indian Ocean, i expect this entry to be saved, and published when we're back on terra firma, so the posting date migt not add up.
We're getting a tad bit excited now. We're going on holiday :-)