16 November 2016

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#SnapSydney

 

Sydney has some great traditions.  Vivid Sydney, the spectacular festival of imaginative lighting, is one.  Another one is SnapSydney, an initiative that challenges Sydneysiders to capture their city in a day: what makes it special to them, personal favourites, suburban beauty spots, original characters and whatever else takes the photographer's fancy.  I am still a relatively new Sydneysider, but as I happened to be free today, I thought I'd embrace the challenge and join in.  I dedicated the whole morning to exploring some of my favourites.

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I started at 4:40 am in Cremorne.  The town centre was still sleepy, the shops closed and Military Road (a rare occurrence!) completely free of traffic.  I chose the Park Regis Hotel as one of my themes, as it will always hold a special place in my heart:  my first accommodation in Sydney and the place where my Australian adventure began.

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The 4:58 bus took me to the Wynyard and I made my way to the Harbour Bridge to watch the sun rise from an elevated position.  (If you want to see my pictures of the Sydney Opera sunrise as viewed from the Rocks, please read my blog on the Sydney Opera House).  At this early hour the Harbour Bridge, too, was still fairly deserted, the road as well as the pedestrian walkway.  Only a few joggers whizzed past me, and the security guards stoically manned the bridge as always.  Lovely to watch a cruise ship arrive at the Circular Quay in the sunrise.

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At Milson's Point I turned round and walked back to enjoy morning coffee at the Circular Quay.  I strolled along the Quay and captured a few moments:  school children chatting, young commuters on their idyllic way to work, street musicians.  A lovely intercultural moment between an indigenous musician and a young girl who was invited to drum with him.

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I enjoyed a beautiful ferry ride to Darling Harbour via Milson's Point and its Luna Park with Ferris Wheel.  A group of school children joined the return ride to the Quay, clearly on a trip to Taronga Zoo, and it amused me to capture the moment when they all blatantly ignored the "Keep out" sign on the ferry!

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Another ferry trip on beautiful sparkling water took me to Manly, with the Heads on my right and Balmoral Beach on my left.  As always, the shades of blue that Sydney has to offer fascinated me. I have visited the Heads and Balmoral many times - the North Head Sanctuary and Balmoral Beach are two of my favourite spots in Sydney.  If you wish to see more pictures of these two stunning sites, please read my blogs The Sydney Heads and Beautiful Balmoral. 

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I then rounded the morning off with my homewards ferry trip to Cremorne Wharf, with a little loop via Mosman Bay to wave at my favourite Cremorne Reserve walk from the water for a change.  Pictures of that fine walk, undoubtedly one of Sydney's most scenic harbour walks and the first bushwalk I did during my initial visit to Sydney in October 2014, can be found in my blog The Art of Relaxation.  In peaceful Mosman Bay people were getting their boats ready for the weekend or even ventured out for a little mid-week boat trip to enjoy the wonderful weather.

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I returned back home at lunchtime, took a picture of the jacaranda that always greets me in the morning when I open my blinds, and enjoyed a light lunch of smoked salmon and goat's cheese on my balcony.  I even found a little piccolo bottle of bubbles in my fridge to round off my photographic excursion.

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I hope that my readers will enjoy the photos below and this subjective SnapSydney perspective from a relative newcomer to the city.  Thank you for the inspiration,  #SnapSydney!

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