I am back!!

Due to popular request (well, some family members asked) I am back at the blogging dashboard. I haven't written for so long that there is much too much to fit into one post and anyway I think I should ease my way back. So I am not going to write about the school year and my parent's visit and all the touristy things that we did together, instead I am just going to write about the weather.

Apparently it is Spring. I don't think the planet knows but everyone walks around saying, "It will warm up now, it is Spring, you know". Sadly although it has in fact been getting steadily warmer, it has also been raining and raining and raining. Australia is a desert country by and large so I am sure the farmers are happy, but when my plans for the week included walking across the Sydney harbour bridge and going to see the sculpture by the sea exhibition on the Bondi to Bronte walk, you can be sure that I haven't been very happy to see the dark grey rain clouds every morning.

Nevertheless on Monday morning after dropping the boys off at school, I packed the car with my rain togs and drove to Milson's Point so that I could walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. You may recall that I have done half this walk with Rafi before and it was very nice but we only walked halfway because I was worried that it would be too far for him to do the whole thing. Anyway, with no kids in tow, I undertook to do the walk by myself. The first thing that occurred to me as I started walking, was that it actually is not as big a bridge as it looks. It took about 45 minutes to walk to the end and back again at a steady, albeit leisurely, pace across the bridge. I think it feels long when you drive across because you are always crossing lanes and fighting traffic. If you end up in the wrong lane you can detour for miles before you get to where you were going so everyone drives on the bridge with an equal resolve to get to the correct lane which is inevitably the furthest possible lane from where you enter the freeway. The second thing that struck me was obviously the view. It really is pretty impressive. I like the Opera House and all the Circular Quay views but I really love to look out a bit further towards the sea at the beauty of the Heads and the greenness of the suburbs along the harbour mouth.

That night the heavens opened and it rained with such vigour that the kids kept asking who was knocking on their windows. Anyway by yesterday morning it had subsided a bit so I decided to brave the weather and try to get to Bondi to check out the sculpture by the sea exhibition. Once again with my umbrella and rain jacket in tow I headed off to Bondi. We are lucky that we live near enough to be able to walk because parking there is a nightmare. Anyway I headed off to see the sculptures. They are so clever. Some look as if they are built into the cliff face and some are created out of natural materials - grasses, rocks, water features etc. I loved the one that looked like one of those olden day changing room tents with red and white stripes which was hidden in the background behind some shrubbery. The beauty of the exhibition is in the setting and the artists have really had the environment in mind when creating the works. I took some pics with my phone and if my clever husband can show me how to upload them, I will post them for you to check out.

Here they are: