Out to the wild west.

I headed out west today, not wanting to go anywhere in particular other than just west from Sydnew centre as I hadn't been west on my bike.

I went passed the Sydney fish market which is just past the the very touristy Darling Harbour and Pyrmont bridge. To be honest I expected the Sydney fish market to be a lot bigger than it really was. Its more a load of small restaurants and fish stalls rather than a traditional fish market. Still the price of fish is quite cheep there and there were plenty of Chinese people there buying up all the fish stocks on a Sunday lunch time.

The picture above is the eastern on ramp to the Anzac bridge which is Sydney's newest bridge. It was quite good fun to cycle up and even more fun to cycle down it at speed on my way back.

This is the Anzac bridge. It's only a small bridge but makes quite an impression when you're cycling across it. There were the ususal great views of the other side of Sydney Harbour and the Harbour bridge.

As usual with the rest of the city, there is a well built cycle and pedestrian lane along the bridge to seperate yourself from the cars. I've noticed that in most areas of Sydney where they have put extra effort in to add cycle paths around the harbour and greener areas. There are even some special cycle path signs to guide cyclists around special routes around the city.

From the Anzac bridge I headed further west to Rozelle where there was this great bay where you could cycle around. The Sydney college of art was right next to the bay so there were plenty of students and rowing clubs about the place. I lost count of the number of rowing clubs after the fourth one that I saw there. I'd be quite jealous of any student studying in Sydneey that's for sure!

On my way back I passed though Balmain where Deirdre and Allen have their rented house. I really didn't realise how close their place was to the bay as I had only visited them by taking the bus. I can well understand why they chose Balmain to live in when coming here for the second time.

I went though the Pyrmont Bay on my way back home. There were plenty of modern apartments there which have excellent views of the harbour. It is the Sydney equivalent of Canary Wharf in London I guess. The very expensive apartments are just to the right of this photo and you can just make out the Harbour bridge on the left.

Incidentally my apartment is located just next to the tallest building you can see on the right of the photo.

Hailing in Sydney!

I couldn't believe it, but it was hailing in Sydney today!

What makes it even more amazing was that over lunch we ate in Hyde Park as it was quite warm and sunny. Then come the afternoon it suddenly got quite dark and we could hear thunder in the distance.

It then started to rain and then hail quite heavily. Its probably the closest that Sydney will ever come to it snowing here!

These two photos were taken on my camera phone just outside of the Sydney Water offices.

North Head.

I'm afraid just more cycling adventures around Sydney for now. More exciting things to come later on at the beginning of next month when I have a plan to go away for a long weekend.

My plan was to head out towards Manly Beach today to go for another swim and spend some time on the sand. However I wanted to visit North Head which is next to Manly before hitting the beach.

When I got to North Head I was very distracted by the magnificent views so decided to stay there for my packed lunch and spend the afternoon there and save Manly for another weekend.

The cycle to North Head takes about an hour or so from my place. It took me about two hours thanks to getting lost quite a bit and also detours to here and there.

The first photo here is of North Head looking south towards the Central Business District of Sydney. You can just about see the entire Sydney Harbor from here and it's an amazing view.

To the left of the photo is the opening of the harbor and essentially the Pacific ocean. To the right of the photo are the north Sydney suburbs.

I got someone else to take the next photo for that tourist shot and also just to prove that I really am here and seeing these amazing views. Just to the right of my head is the very north end of Watsons Bay which I went to a few weeks ago.

There were plenty of sailing boats in the harbor and also this great traditional sailing boat. Unfortunately its sails were all folded up, I wonder where it had been to.

With views like this I can well understand why people would want to live out here on a permanent basis. There have been very few dull days since I've been here. Like any big city in the world Sydney has its fair share of dodgy and rundown areas but it also has many places with magnificent views like this.

There were very few people around North Head which I really liked, unlike Manly which was quite busy when I cycled through it to get here.

This next shot is of an old lookout post that was still standing here. It was used during the second world war to look out for enemy Japanese ships and submarines that might have been tempted to try to invade Sydney.

I could just imagine people in this lookout post with equipment to watch for the enemy during war time. I suspect they would have been bored with the scenery in no time though unlike me!

Apparently here was an incident of a Japanese midget submarine that managed to get into the harbor and the people manning this observation post totally missed it as it crept into the harbor. I'm not sure of the facts here so don't quote me. I'll have to look them up later and find out about it.

The final shot here is of the eastern coastline looking north towards Blue Fish Pt. There were some great rock colours on the cliff edge. Even out here looking east towards nothing but the Pacific Ocean it wasn't that windy at all. It must have been a very calm day today.

After finishing my tour of North Head I cycled back down to Manly and then decided to catch the ferry back to Circular Quay which is only a five minute bike ride to my home. I just didn't have the heart to cycle all the way back again. It was quite hilly on the way here and I did cycle down quite a few hills as well.

I like the fact that it doesn't cost any more money to take a bike onto the ferry and it was very pleasant to be able to take a ferry back after such a great day out and about.