Ravishing city, rubbish weather!

Arriving at the letting agents offices last Wednesday and finding it empty, devoid of everything but junk mail behind the door, has to be one of the scariest moments so far. My first thought, 'they've gone bust,' followed swiftly by the second, 'we've lost all that money,' was nothing compared to the third, 'now where are all four of us going to stay.'

Turns out 'we' didn't read the instructions properly, telling us to go to a shop to pick up the apartment keys! Thank God for google maps, we found our way, got the key and made our way to North Sydney, just over the bridge to a place called Neutral Bay. The apartment, booked on the Internet last June, is gorgeous. I can't tell you what a relief that is! It's split level, in a lovely residential area, 10 mins to walk to the wharf and the ferry across the harbour, 15 mins to where you can walk across the harbour bridge and in the other direction, 10 mins drive from Manly beach.

As usual we hit the ground running, there's no sitting down, putting your feet up for us you know. A quick familiarisation walk of the area, unpacked, meal cooked and we feel like we've been here for ages.

Neutral Bay sits on the north end of the Harbour Bridge bordered by the areas of Kirribilli (bohemian) on one side and Mosman (upmarket) on the other. We walked down to the bay and feasted our eyes on the views.










That evening we wandered around a lovely market in Mosman. Determined to sort ourselves out a Christmas, on Friday we went to Manly, it has a lovely laid back feel, with quirky shops and bars.

THE CHALLENGE
Buy gifts for each other, Liam and Alex and something to make the apartment look Christmassy.

TIME LIMIT
One hour (watches synchronised)

WHERE
The parade of shops known as The Corso.

3, 2, 1 - we were off......

We met at the appointed time, me carrying seven bags and Jim carrying two. Hmmmm.

As well as presents we bought: tea lights, a set of 20 clear Christmas lights, ribbons, a tablecloth and candy sticks. Later that evening we dragged back a stripped branch from a local park - our 'tree.'

Our evening stroll took us over the harbour bridge, just couldn't resist. First sight of the opera house, yumm.





The weather has been dirgy, grey skies, windy and the odd shower. Apparently Oz is caught in a weather system called La Nina, but not just one, oh, no, there's two back to back, producing a very wet spring and the coldest start to summer for 50 years. Typical!

Day 100 of our travels, that must be worth celebrating. We haven't killed each other, we're still having loads of fun and we don't want to go home. It was a gloriously sunny day so we caught the ferry across the harbour and meandered around the quayside to the opera house, its enormous close to and so beautiful. There was a band playing, the restaurants and bars were full. It was one of those 'pinch me' moments. We had a fantastic day doing what tourists do. Walking back later over the bridge the massive cruise ship, which had been anchored at the quayside all day, set off. We ran down off the bridge and to Milson's Point under the bridge to watch it go. We decided it was little more than a posh coach trip, a whistle stop tour. I think I prefer our way, it's not been 5 star, nor even 3 sometimes, but we have managed to get below the skin of the places we've been and we've met some real characters.










Today (Monday) we've been for a long walk following a trail around several of the bays, it has chucked it down, then brightened up, then chucked it all day. Jim is taking it personally, he 'didn't come to Australia to get rained on.' We're counting down the hours until Liam and Alex get here now, they leave Manchester at 10 past 5 this evening, onto Heathrow, then, with a stop over, arrive here at 5 past 6 on Wednesday morning. I bet we don't sleep on Tuesday night! I am so looking forward to seeing them, seems ages since we left home. Only fly in the ointment? I think they're expecting bright blue skies and sun and are picturing their days revolving round beaches. It won't quite be like that!!!

This is how I've entertained myself this afternoon as the rain reached torrent proportions. Do you like my makeshift tree?


Jim has watched Tottenham v Sunderland. Oz is so like home!!



- Posted by Annie & Jim using BlogPress from THE iPad

Location:Lindsay St,Neutral Bay,Australia