#14. Happy Memorial Day!

brings back fond memories of the start of the short New York summer. we had a lot of fun there this time of year. Speaking of memorials, here's the Bali Memorial at Coogee, which I ran past yesterday. water is still 22deg C here, though Real Feel air temp was 5 deg C in the wind this morning

x

#13. Fall colors? Not in Sydney!

Fall is too short or not cold enough or too close to sea level or the wrong kind of trees or something, but Sydney is not the place for fall colors. Even though it's been much cooler this week (daily range like 8-18C [still 22 in the water]), the trip to the Royal Botanical Garden today was disappointing. The odd plane tree and liquid amber but the rest were green.

But it was a lovely sunny but crisp day and we had a nice ride on the ferry from Rose Bay and there were some leaves on the ground to play in

I think you have to go to Bowral or Mt Tomah BG if you want fall colors (or Arimdale or Bright, Vic)

#12. "An educated move"

so our sea container finally arrived from NYC last week at Port Botany via Rahway NJ, China, and who knows where else. 3 months after leaving. Our stuff cleared customs and quarantine without any problems (did need to pay $72 duty, on a new mattress), and was delivered yesterday.

So the unpacking fun begins. lucky monica is not a procrastinator and it should be all out soon. As the University Van Lines boxes say, "an educated move". And Paul's new employer - a university - is picking up the relocation tab. How smart is that!

#11. We saw it - Mars to appear at its biggest, brightest tonight as planet moves into opposition

Mars will be at its biggest and brightest in over a decade tonight, as it comes into a particularly close opposition. Mars comes into opposition — the point when Mars and the Sun are on directly opposite sides of the Earth — once every two years. But tonight, as the Red Planet edges towards its closest point to Earth in 11 years, it will appear much bigger and brighter in the night sky than usual. Amateur astronomer Dr Ian Musgrave, from the University of Adelaide, said it would trump Venus as the brightest object in the sky, aside from the Sun and the Moon. "At the moment Mars is now the brightest object in the sky. It is brighter even than Jupiter," he said.But he said astronomy fans would need a telescope to fully appreciate the event. "From the point of view of someone standing around looking into the sky, it is just going to be a bright dot," he said. "But even if you have a small telescope, the disc of Mars will be big enough to see details and maybe even the polar cap." Dr Musgrave said Mars would remain bright in the night sky for about another month. But while the opposition is a calendar event for astronomers, fans are keenly awaiting the Mars Close Approach on May 30.

#10. Curlew Camp walk

The incredible weather continues - sunny & 24 degC (78F) today so we decided to catch a ferry and go hiking beside the harbor. We took a ferry from Circular Quay to Taronga Zoo, then headed west on foot for a mile back to Sirius Cove and the return ferry trip from Mosman Bay.

It was sparkling out on the water but a bit hazy, due to 'burning off'.

The bush walk is a.k.a. the "Curlew Camp" walk, named for the waterside hangout of Arthur Streeton and his artist pals in the 1890's

Sirius Cove hasn't changed much, as you can see. And seems like it was a pretty hazy day back then, too.

#9. Surfing in Sydney with Cynthia Rowley

(by Bob Morris, New York Times) Cynthia Rowley stood on Bondi Beach on Friday in one of her ready-to-wear wet suits, gray with a big red heart on it. She only had eyes for the ocean. “I’m stoked to get in the water,” she said. “I mean you can’t come to this city and not want to surf.”

Last year, when IMG, the company that runs over a dozen fashion weeks worldwide, asked the designer if she wanted to show with them in Australia, she immediately said yes. “Then they asked me if I was sure,” she explained backstage before her runway show on Thursday. “Why not show your clothes wherever you’re invited?” For her debut down under at Australia’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week (which is devoted entirely to resort wear and showed nearly 50 designers), Rowley hired a band of African drummers as well as four lifeguards (two from “Bondi Rescue,” a hit local T.V. show) to carry her bathing-suit-clad female models on surfboards of her own design as if they were California Cleopatras. “I can’t just have a simple runway show,” she laughed.

Due to jet lag and a dinner that went late, she got little sleep. But leave it to Rowley — an avid Montauk surfer, who has a store both there and in Honolulu — to throw in a morning of surfing the day after the show, just hours before heading to the airport. “You go into the water and you’re removed from everything but nature,” she said. “It de-stresses you and washes the workweek away.” In her wet suit, Rowley ran with a rented surfboard — a little short for her long-board taste — into waves she found “hollow” and a bit intimidating. But she stayed far out in the cerulean-blue water a long time, unworried about sharks — of either the oceanic or retail variety. She only caught one wave, but when she came back in she was beaming. “That was absolutely invigorating,” she said. “I could have stayed out there all day.” Never mind the choppy conditions in unfamiliar waters. “It was a little rough,” she said. “But nothing compared to working in fashion.”

#8. Open day at the local fire house

The kids loved visiting the Bondi township's firehouse today. they met the fire fighters and got to ride in the fire truck.

.

#7 Look who's 4!

Happy birthday Frankie.

#6 Forget the Highline - it's The Goods Line!

While at the ABC in Ultimo today, discovered The Goods Line behind it and UTS which follows tracks of an old rail corridor that was part of Sydney's busy freight rail system that first opened in 1855 and which ran from Dulwich Hill to Rozelle and Darling Harbor Yards (DHY), finishing at Sydney Yard (Central Station). The section from Balmain Road to Sydney Yard was closed when DHY was redeveloped into the modern Darling Harbor. Much of the line around there is still in use, as Sydney Light Rail.

The "Goods Line" is a nice idea and clearly inspired by the Highline. But when fully open, is only going to be 1500 feet (500m) long, and less stylish by a similar margin.

#5 Hi from Brisbane

Paul was up here to speak at a conference. Seems like "forever" since we were last here, and it looked greatly the river in the morning

They have a terrific network of pathways for cycling/running that stretches for miles along the river and beyond, very popular with early morning exercisers.

The Southbank Parklands precinct is excellent with its parklands including these free public swimming pools that were reminiscent of an exclusive hotel in South Beach or Fort Lauderdale

Finding something to eat was nostalgic. $9.50 for a slice and a 20 oz soda. Ended up at Jojos, although clearly less salubrious than its namesake on E.65th.

Finishing on a somber note, this contraption was in the entrance to the lecture theater. The world's first "iron lung". Invented in Queensland in the 1950's, during the polio epidemic...

#4. Yes, it does snow in Australia

We found New Yorkers were amazed to learn this fact. And, while we are still swimming here in Sydney, Hobart woke up to a chilly surprise this morning with a light covering of snow dusting Mt Wellington and Miena. The snowfall was caused by a pool of cold air that came in on the wake of a cold front that brought blustery winds and rain. Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Glen Perrin said the snow fell as low as 800 metres on the mountain, but that the general trend this winter was for warmer temperatures. "Tasmania can get snow at any time of the year, it looks reasonably spectacular but it's not particularly unusual at that height," he said. "[But] I think in general the climate outlook [this winter] is a bit warmer than average." People took to social media to showcase their images of the snowfall as the sun rose.

#3. Amazing weather

At the Bogey Hole yesterday. First week of May and it's still 21C in the water!

As Kent Brockman said, "If this is due to global warming, I'm keeping my '57 Pontiac!"