Winter on the harbour

A long bow, I know, but still officially winter even though by our topsy-turvey reckoning the seasons change next week. We don't go for that solstice muck, but change our seasons by the calendar. I will irritate you northern-hemispherers further by claiming that our weather has been like this for most of August.

Cabbage Tree palm

These are Cabbage Tree palms - livistona australis. When Sydney was settled by Europeans in January 1788, there were healthy stands of CTP around the area. However, within a few short months, there were very few within 10 miles of Sydney Cove. The fanned leaves were sought after for thatching daub and wattle huts.

The City of Sydney is replanting these palms at a great rate of knots. They are not my favourite. I gather the inner part of the fan develops a fruit in the shape of a cabbage. It also has long brushes of white flowers.

The bridge that stalks

Apropos of absolutley nothing, when I was a kid I was a fan of two comics: Caspar, the Friendly Ghost; and, Phantom, the Ghost who Walks. I thought to share that with you when concocting a title for this post, because what sprang to mind scanned perfectly with 'the ghost who walks'. As you were ...

In the inner city, everywhichway one turns, one sees either the Sydney Harbour Bridge or Centrepoint Tower. Centrepoint kapows you in the eye, whereas the bridge sneaks upon you around corners.


These shots were taken on a walkway over the still-being-renovated Pitt Street Mall. The first two shots are looking north toward the harbour, and the final shot is looking south. I was walking from Myers, across the walkway, through Westfield and then into David Jones, hunting for a pair of grey-checked Converse sneakers. Need to wear them when negotiating the jungle with Phantom and Diana.

Lines to shapes

Some lines go up and down; some lines go round and round.

The Overseas Passenger Terminal on the western side of Sydney Cove, with the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background.

Greenhouse by Joost

This 'pop-up' restaurant occupies prime real-estate on the harbour until 27th March. I was absolutely smitten by the 'terrace' of wild strawberries. It is down in Campbell's Cove, which is between the Opera House and the Bridge, around from the Overseas Passenger Terminal.


'Green-house by Joost' is a bit of a foodie-fad, so I have given you a link to a review rather than to the hype from the creators of the concept.

Originally a Melbourne initiative by Dutch-born florist, artist, builder and environmentalist Joost Bakker in 2008, Bakker has chosen a pop-up as a vehicle for hard messages about how we should be constructing buildings, sourcing produce and materials, working with others and interacting with our planet.

Some of the comments on the review are not particularly flattering.

Behind Bars

The same Cutler Footway that I have featured this week. The walkway - as opppsed to the viaduct - is encased in barbed wire reminding me of the scenes where Steve McQueen was checking out the fencing on the internment camp in 'The Great Escape'. It is as though every man and his dog is hell bent on ending it all and it is the role of the 'nanny state' to prevent this. The Sydney Harbour Bridge has similar barbed cages.

Now this is really scarey ...

This is the viaduct that I featured on Monday, which crosses Boundary road, Paddington, at the back of St Vincents Hospital. I would cross it every other day, by either foot or bus. It was constructed in 1916 for a second tram route from the city to Bondi. The trams were discontinued in the late 50s and this viaduct became a roadway. The only bus route that uses it is the 389. Andrew found the original plans (how did you DO that?) and the walkway was not included.

And look at the condition of the walkway from underneath!


My guess is that the walkway was attached after the tramtracks were ripped up. We had a governor then with the name Cutler. However, he had a tin leg so naming a walkway after him is a bit off. Australians have an advanced sense of the ridiculous ... but ...

From Yarranabee Road

This is BEFORE I walked down the hill to the water's edge. I am looking across Rushcutters Bay toward the harbour bridge. The opera house is obscured by a massive P&O liner which is berthed at Garden Island. There are two helicopters in the second image (on the right) but I have no idea what the attraction was on that particular day.

My World - Opera Bar

Basking in the warmth of a 19C Sunday afternoon on Sydney Cove, soft rock coming from a live trio, swirling a cab/merlot around the glass, I watch as P&O's 'Pacific Jewel' glides between Bridge and Opera House. I take a sip ... and then another ...


So why the foot?

I have recently contributed to a new site called 'Toemail', which is looking for submissions of toes from identifiable sites around the globe.

Go on - give it a try!


A new member of the My World Tuesday community.

Two men on a bridge

The south east pylon of the bridge is a tribute to the people who brought the bridge to fruition.

Separated by eighty years but joined by a vision of the power of engineering to bring peoples together.

Sixty years old at the end of June and never been up the pylon nor walked across the bridge. We soon rectified that!

Everywhichway ...

North

South

East

West

Not on your nellie ...

Oh yes, I can clamber the 200 steps to the top of the SE Pylon which is where this photograph is taken from, but you will not find me climbing the arch of the bridge like this intrepid lot. The cost of a climb during the day on a Saturday is AUD198.

That would buy me a Bushnells 8x42 binocular!

'Who's that tripping over my bridge?' roared the Troll

Plonked square in the middle of Sydney Harbour, immediately west of the bridge, lies Goat Island, so named because of its shape, so the Ranger sheepishly explained. The constant din of trains crossing the bridge would awaken the most gullible of trolls, should one happen to inhabit the island.


The location and aspect of the island is enough to cause apoplexy in a den of property developers. Just imagine: 13.5 acres = 54 building blocks @ $10m each = *ker-ching*!!

The two aerial shots of the island are courtesy of the National Parks & Wildlife Service, the current custodians of the island.


Looking directly east, and on full 250mm zoom, using the deck of the SHB as my spirit level, we experience the working harbour in all its glory. Under the bridge, on the left, is Admiralty House, the Sydney residence of the Australian Head of State. The fort like island in the centre is Fort Denison (or Pinchgut). From memory, the water tower on the ridge in the background is way out at Bellevue Hill. There are a coupla ferries and the square rigger is ... umm ... its not the replica Endeavour, nor is it the James Craig ... mmm ... it's the Southern Swan.


In 1788 there were 14 islands in Port Jackson. Since 1788, five islands have been connected to the mainland via reclamation (Berry, Garden, Bennelong, Glebe and Darling Islands) and two small islands have been joined (Spectacle island). Eight islands remain – Fort Denison, Rodd, Cockatoo, Snapper, Shark, Clark, Spectacle and Goat.

Sydney-siders might care to enlarge the images of the city skyline. This is where property developers (and Paul Keating) are going to put a red monstrosity 500m out over the harbour and step (expensive) apartment buildings along Barrangaroo. All in the name of returning the foreshore to the people.

Harumphf ...


Tomorrow: come with me to explore the Queen's Powder Keg and the spirit of convicts past.

A slumbering collosus

Atop Bald Rock, looking so'east across White Bay and Glebe Island, over Johnson's Bay and beyond Pyrmont: skyscraper canyons are warmed by the first rays of a new day. Spliced between Bradfield's iconic arch - off stage left - and the swaying humm of the ode to the ANZACs - off stage right - the bitter draughts of an exiting winter swirl around the footings of this slumbering collosus.

Sydney skywatch

Light creeps over the ridge of the city and washes into the nooks and crannies of Blackwattle Bay: across the fleet anchored near the FishMarkets and over the early morning commuters humming across ANZAC Bridge.


... all the people of the lulled and dumbfound town are no longer sleeping ...


Share the interpretations of other Skywatchers around the world.

Sleeping rough

Concerned, I asked the security guard posted at the base of the southern pylon of the harbour bridge whether he knew there was a rabbit on the grassy slope. He smiled in a benignly condescending manner: "They have been there about four years. There are quite a few of them". I only managed to sight these two and they are most certainly not wild rabbits.

When I was a kid living on a farm, rabbits were pests that we had to trap to prevent them decimating the grasses meant for the sheep. In the Great Depression in South Sydney, unemployed men would wander the laneways calling "Rabbito" trying to sell rabbits they had trapped in the wild to earn money to feed and clothe their family.

Knowing the breeding habits of rabbits, "quite a few" is probably an understatement!!