Australia - Sydney - East Coast Walk

We began our walk in Williams Park, North Bondi, wandering about on a golf course by the sea looking for aboriginal rock carvings which we did eventually find & which were worth searching for but it was an indication of how the day would go - we'd read that the coastal walk would take about 2 1/2 hours but we managed to do it in 7................

The day was sunny but with a blustery wind and occasional threats of rain so maybe it wasn't the best time to get our 1st glimpse of Bondi Beach or maybe we would have been disappointed whatever the weather - it just wasn't at all as we had expected! It was a bay with rocky headlands to either side & much smaller than the vast expanse of sweeping golden sands that we had imagined, the buildings along the back of the bay weren't particularly glamorous, there was hardly anyone there (actually, we shouldn't complain, we understand that in the height of summer the Bondi walk is known to attract over 800 people per hour & being on the beach is the proverbial sardine tin experience!)................. nice enough, but a slight disappointment.

However, the walk as a whole, taking in Mackenzies Point, the small beach of Tamarama, Bronte Beach, the Waverley Cemetery with its graves of many famous Australians, Clovelly, Gordons Bay & finally Coogee Beach provided us with great ocean views not to mention a couple or three nice stops for food & refreshments. An added element of fun was the quirky exhibition of sculptures along the way which is set up every summer.

All in all, it was fair dinkum ace!

Australia - Sydney - Night Views

Australia - Manly Jeweller!

Australia - Manly

Australia - Sydney City Walk

Australia - The Sydney Tower

Australia - Blue Mountains

Australia - Another City, Another Hostel

Not much more glamorous than the one in Singapore,

but we had windows this time! We were in the Home Hostel on Elizabeth Street in the Surry Hills area. Reasonably central but not the heart of backpackerland so reasonably quiet too.

Australia - Sydney

We spent 6 days in Sydney & loved every minute.

We began by admiring the breathtaking views from 250 metres up at the top of the Sydney Tower.

We spent a day walking in the city along Elizabeth Street, through the Botanic Gardens, past the Opera House & then up onto the Harbour Bridge.

We made a trip out across the harbour on the ferry to Manly where we took a long walk along the shoreline.

We travelled by train up into the Blue Mountains where we took a long walk from the picturesque village of Leura along a cliff path (when we eventually found it!) to the spectacular Three Sisters rock formation and then on to end the day in Katoomba.

We visited an Orthodox synagogue - the Great Synagogue of Sydney where we took a guided tour & Howard attended a Mincha service - and a Reform Synagogue - Temple Emanuel in Woollahara, in the Easterns Suburbs of Sydney, the equivalent of East Renfrewshire in terms of the Jewish community but with the advantage of having Bondi Beach on the doorstep! The liturgy follows U.S. Reform to a large extent but within the congregation there is a smaller minyan that follows U.S. Conservative/Masorti liturgy which is the service that we chose to attend - & enjoy!

We trekked along the Eastern Beaches Coast Walk taking in Bondi Beach, Coogee, Clovelly, Gordons Bay & Tamarama on the way.

We even managed to get tickets to a Rachmaninov concert conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazi at the Opera house!

We ate well in fantastic restaurants.

We saw some of the rather different wildlife.

We heard our first "fair dinkum".

And then we picked up the Wicked camper van which was to be our home for the next 5 weeks and headed south....................................

Singapore - Temples - & A Lion!

Singapore - Garden, Beach, Sunset Views

Singapore - In 3 Days

We flew into Singapore on a Friday evening & after dumping our luggage at the Inn Crowd Hostel (hmm!!, we didn't feel the play on words was entirely convincing, but it was clean & cheap!!)), we got ourselves onto the MRT subway system to travel across town to join the United Hebrew Congregation for their Friday night service in the American Club. We were made very welcome which made for a very nice start to the weekend.

On Saturday, we toured Singapore by bus to see as many of the highlights as we could in the short time available - through the Colonial District, the Arab Quarter, Little India, China Town, the Business District & beyond - getting on and off as our fancy took us. We had lunch by the riverside and the highlight of the day was a walk around the beautiful botanic gardens, with its national orchid collection.

On Sunday, we got the bus to Pasir Ris Park on the north-eastern coast where we rented bicycles for a leisurely ride along the beach, followed by a stroll along a boardwalk into a mangrove swamp. In the late afternoon we took the scenic route across to the island of Sentosa in time for a spectacular sunset & dinner on the beach.

On Monday, we took tea at Raffles before getting ourselves back to the airport for the flight to Sydney, Australia. Howard was thrilled to be flying on the new double-decker Airbus A380 Superjumbo. Fiona was just happy that it took off, flew & landed safely!

Singapore - Not So Gracious Living!

Singapore - Gracious Living at the Raffles Hotel

We couldn't go to Singapore and not visit this wonderful historic hotel. As the advertisement says, it's "More Legend Than Hotel". It was actually declared a national monument in 1987!

Sadly - well, healthily for our bank balance - we only spent a few hours in in the splendour that is the Raffles Hotel, but we savoured our afternoon tea & basked in the colonial grandeur - a bit of a contrast to our windowless hostel room in Little India ...........