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This above all; to thine own self be true. 
William Shakespeare

Day 8~~Paddy's market~~Chinese Garden

3/3/2013

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Sunday 3rd March 2013

Today, weather permitting, we have decided to visit a couple of attractions that are quite close to our hotel, “The Park Royal” on Darling Harbour. We have decided to visit Paddy’s Market and the wonderful Chinese Garden. We had a leisurely breakfast in the hotel today as it was Sunday and we do not have very far to walk. The weather was dry to start with, but with showers forecast, I decided to borrow another umbrella from the hotel and we set off for the market.
The sun started to shine as we made our way on foot and I began to use the umbrella as a sunshade. We reached the famous market after a ten minute walk along roads thronged with people enjoying a Sunday morning in Sydney. The market is huge with many hundreds of stalls selling almost everything you could ever possibly need and more besides. Margaret needed a scarf to wear in the evenings and she quickly found a stall selling what she was looking for and purchased a new scarf at a very reasonable price.

We wandered around taking in the atmosphere and marvelling at the huge range of goods on display for sale. The interesting thing that strikes you about ”Paddy’s Market” is that the stallholders are mainly of Chinese and Oriental extraction. I think this was a wonderful contradiction in our expectations, until one realises that “Paddy,” must have been a very shrewd Irishman who set the whole thing up.
I needed a new chain for my St Christopher pendant and I purchased one from a very personable and friendly Oriental lady. I also bought a very nice blue Opal stone set in a pendant on a silver chain for Margaret as a souvenir of a wonderful week in Sydney. I like buying light blue colour for her as I think she has such beautiful light blue eyes.

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 We wandered through the busy Sydney streets to the Chinese garden which is just around the corner from the market. There were many people queuing for tickets for a concert along the way and when we reached the Chinese Garden, we found there was a huge Turkish cultural festival in full swing across the road. We chose not to bravely cross over and attend this festival, as we were quite tired from getting jostled in the market. 
 We needed the calm and tranquillity of the Chinese garden. We paid for our tickets and we included the cream tea option of a nice cup of tea and a scone at the end of our visit.
 The gardens are absolutely beautiful, restful, with plenty of seats located in some wonderfully strategic spots where one can enjoy peace, tranquillity and calmness. After the hustle and bustle of the dynamic Sydney streets and the commercial bartering in Paddy’s Market it was pure heaven on earth. The wonderful Australian birdlife was in evidence, with about a dozen or more resident Ibis, some perched on weeping willow trees and many mynah birds were flying here there and everywhere. Ducks were swimming in the many pools that were located throughout the garden, some of the larger pools were home to some very big and beautifully marked golden Koi carp, swimming in shoals of about a dozen looking for food.
 
 Water and rocks are a huge feature in this wonderful garden, with some lovely man-made waterfalls cascading through flowering trees and shrubs to streams that are crossed by stone bridges and flow into a large lake set in the middle of the garden. The path around the lake takes you past some wonderfully shaped rocks, apparently rocks are hugely significant to the Chinese people. We noticed also that the garden is home to a variety of lizards and we photographed about five different varieties that were sunning themselves on the rocks as we strolled around. We then enjoyed a very welcome cup of tea and a scone in the restaurant at the end of a very memorable and wonderful visit.

 It  started to rain again as we returned to our hotel, where we had a rest and washed and changed for our evening meal. It was still pouring with rain when we left the hotel and we had to take the umbrella with us. After wandering around Darling Harbour for the last evening of our visit looking for a place to eat, we decided on a restaurant called, “The Harbourside,” which was a steakhouse that served Portuguese chicken for me, and Margaret had lamb shank. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal and left the restaurant to return to our hotel. The rain was still pouring relentlessly, but we slowly wandered back sheltering under our umbrella. We have had a super time here in Darling Harbour in Sydney and I am certain we will return again and repeat the experience. We then took to our bed to sleep the night away before we travel to Brisbane tomorrow.
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Day 7~~New south Wales Art gallery~~Sydney Botanical gardens

2/3/2013

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Saturday 2nd March 2013
The showery weather was still with us but we had decided to visit the New South Wales Art gallery today, and weather permitting, the Botanical gardens next door. We set off with another borrowed umbrella to have breakfast in our favourite little restaurant on Queen Victoria mall, it was fairly dry when we walked there from the hotel. By the time we had finished our meal, the heavens had opened and the rain was teeming down again, we took refuge in the mall to plan the rest of our day. 
 

Our decision to catch a bus to the art gallery was not without little snags, firstly you are expected to pay for your ticket in advance before you board the bus. The obvious first thought was, where does one buy the tickets? After enquiries from the concierge inside the mall it became clear that bus tickets are purchased from newsagents here in Australia. Having bought our tickets the next question was, which of the numerous bus stops do we need to locate to catch our bus? Enquiries were made from several sources, eventually we managed to locate the correct stop, board our bus, and we soon arrived at the art gallery.

 The New South Wales Art gallery is housed in an imposing building. The works of art are very well displayed on several floors, and there is a wonderful selection of works by many artists from all over the world, as well as from here in Australia.  
 There was absolutely no charge for entrance and we were able to check our bags and umbrella in as we entered.  We were allowed to take as many photographs of the works of art on display, as long as we turned the flash on the camera off. We were not permitted to photograph any of the aboriginal artworks on display or any works displayed in private exhibitions held in the gallery. 
 We slowly wandered around the floors for a couple of hours savouring the beauty on display. There was a magnificent collection of paintings including several works by very famous artists, reflecting life in the early days of the colonies of Australia and many depicting life in Victorian and rural England. These paintings were intermingled with some  very impressive sculptures in marble and there were many statues and urns, the whole cultural experience was wonderful. After passing through the gallery containing the Aboriginal paintings and cultural works of art we visited the Chinese and Oriental gallery which is magnificent. There were many Oriental pictures, statues and showcases containing some well preserved and valuable Chinese artifacts. We enjoyed a very welcome cup of tea in the gallery restaurant and continued browsing and photographing the exhibits on display. Sadly we did not have enough time to see everything, and we left the art museum and gallery, vowing to return in the future, when we are visiting Australia again.

We then entered, and began to stroll through the beautiful Sydney Botanic gardens, we were visiting at a different time of the year since our last visit here and we could enjoy a whole different range of plants in flower.
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There was a slight sprinkling of rain as we started out and the sky looked quite threatening. It was wonderful to observe the variety of plants in bloom and the wonderful diverse range of bird life, that are happily co-existing in these wonderful gardens. We continued on our way taking many photographs as the gardens run along the seashore to the Sydney Opera House. The views of Sydney Harbour and the many craft moored and sailing in the bay, from pleasure craft, sailing vessels, ferries and some quite large ships, were also spectacular, and it was really quite hard to make our minds up where to point the camera. Then the sky suddenly darkened and it began to rain heavily, Margaret and I sat down on a bench under some large palm leaves and put the umbrella up. It was so romantic just sitting close together and sheltering under an umbrella with heavy rain pouring down all around us.     Once again we continued on our way as the rain eased off, and I continued to take many photographs of the wonderful bird life which is so varied and beautiful. I got so carried away, I wandered off with the camera and Margaret lost track of me, when we caught up with each other Margaret said if we lose one another we should meet up on the steps of the Sydney Opera House.  I laughed at that romantic thought.

Then, tired and hungry we decide to find somewhere to have a meal before returning to our hotel for a good night's sleep. When we got off the bus on our return to Sydney, we got caught up in the crowds taking part in a Gay Pride march, and there was also a VIP function underway in the Civic centre. The crowds of people were rushing, pushing and jostling everywhere.  We searched for ages for a reasonable restaurant without much joy, everywhere we looked we seemed to find fast food takeaways or pizza houses. Eventually, like an oasis in the desert, we came across a small  “Coffee Club”  restaurant, we have eaten in a branch of this chain in Australia before, and we know they serve reasonable food. We had a very nice, well served and well prepared meal, then returned to our hotel and went to bed. 
 Another extraordinary experience in a truly wonderful land, generating memories that will stay with us both for many years. Thank you Australia~~~~.

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Day 6~~Rain all day~Washout

1/3/2013

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Friday 1st March 2013


Rain and more rain is the story of today. We started the day with a sumptuous breakfast in the hotel dining room, where we were able to watch the Sydney morning rush hour traffic on the freeways outside the windows, speeding by in the heavy rain. The rain continued without letup for the rest of the day, so we stayed inside our hotel and relaxed, reading and watching the world go by from the comfort of the hotel lounge.

In the evening Margaret did a search on her iphone and located a Nandos restaurant, quite close by. With the aid of an umbrella borrowed from the concierge, we ventured out in the pouring rain to enjoy an excellent meal, following this we went straight back to our hotel for the night.


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    John with Margaret living our Australian .visit all over again. Wonderful happy memories and interesting times~~

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