Sydney is located on the east coast of Australia, experiencing temperate Winters and warm humid Summers, it is unsurprising that Sydney-siders are fond of being outdoors.
One of the popular destinations for visitors and locals is Bondi Beach.
The above were taken around 4:00 pm on a Tuesday in Spring, I will leave it for you to imagine how busy it gets at the weekend.
While growing up in ’60 s and ’70’s Summer in England was this esoteric amorphous entity, I cannot pin point when it started. Perhaps it relied on nature’s direction; March winds and April showers brought forth May flowers.
Antipodean Summers are different they start on 1 December. Over the time we have lived here some years on the dot of 1/12 the temperature has soared to a point that when you subject yourself to the elements, your body is enveloped in a cocoon of moist warmth.
Not so in 2013 with a top of 23oC it is too cool to go for a dip in the pool.
Stan is happy, his shaggy coat grows by the second. 
I hope that you enjoy the pictures I took during his walk around Lewisham and Marrickville.
Stan
I believe that a lighthouse’s credibility is threatened without rocks, here they are…….
Related
Lighthouse at South Head
Camp Cove to the South Head
It is a steady climb from Camp Cove, a section of cobblestones are a reminder of how hard it would have been to manhandle equipment and supplies past Lady Beach to the Hornby Lighthouse. Standing next to this gun looking towards Camp Cove reminded me of Rachel Wards’s World War I TV movie, An Accidental Soldier.
Based on the novel, Silent Parts, by John Charalambous, An Accidental Soldier is about an Australian soldier who flees the carnage of the Western Front and finds refuge with a French woman in a remote farmhouse. Harry Lambert is a shy, thirty five year old Australian soldier, working as a baker behind the lines. He is a gentle man, a reluctant soldier, but a man like many who has been shamed by his local community into joining up. But when he is called into the front line Harry decides to run, finding refuge in a farmhouse owned by Colombe Jacotot, a Frenchwoman in her forties whose husband has abandoned her and whose son has recently been killed. Forced to work in an ammunitions factory, Colombe too is trenchant about the war. Through her Harry will learn true courage. Through him Colombe will learn beauty. Together they will discover a love so strong that each is willing to give their life for it. An accidental soldier is a tender, at times gripping love story between two people who find passion, in all its joy and hurt, at an age when they thought love has passed them by. It is a story of unexpected bravery of countless men and women who would not give up their lives for abstracts like glory, or country. Those who wanted to live for love and life.
– Written by Goalpost Pictures Australia, An Accidental Soldier, IMDb, 2013, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2366614/, viewed 27 November 2013
Related posts:
Camp Cove
Lighthouse at South Head
Camp Cove looking west towards the City of Sydney.
The following is credited to Robin Derricourt, ‘Camp Cove’, Dictionary of Sydney, 2008, http://www.dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/entry/camp_cove, viewed 26 November 2013
Camp Cove is important to the history of European settlement in Australia as the probable site of the first landfall in Sydney harbour. On 21 January 1788 Captain Phillip sailed from Botany Bay to explore the potential of Port Jackson. The exploration was described by Jacob Nagle in his journal. After the expedition had sailed around the north side of Port Jackson he noted:
It coming on dark, we landed on a beach on the south side and there pitched our tents for the night. This was called Camp Cove. The marines were put on their posts. The sailors were variously employed, some kindling fires and some shooting the seine for fish, others getting out utensils for cooking. By the time we got our suppers, was late in the night, and by four in the morning we had everything in the boats again.
The story of the camp, giving its origin to the name Camp Cove, sounds realistic and is taken to imply the first landfall by Europeans within Port Jackson. With arrival in the dark and departure before dawn, there would have been no opportunity to explore the hinterland. As Camp Cove had a freshwater spring behind the beach, it proved a suitable place for a night’s camp. The next day, Nagle fished while Phillip and his party went ashore at what was to be named Sydney Cove.
Reference:
Dictionary of Sydney
A seagull enjoys the morning sun next to the Sydney Opera House.
The Hornby Lighthouse at South Head was built by public demand after the tragic shipwrecks of the Dunbar and the Catherine Adamson.
Read more at the following:
www.lighthouses.org.au
Catalina Restaurant, Rose Bay, Australia provides exceptional food, wine and service, a fantastic backdrop from which to view modern day seaplanes coming in and out of the harbour. It is the perfect spot to imagine the splendour of first class travel by flying boat from Sydney to Singapore in the late 1930’s. The Catalina was an American and Canadian flying boat built in the 1930’s and 40’s.
Further information can be found at:
Sydney Seaplanes
Catalina Flying Boats
Catalina Restaurant
I find inspiration when and where I least expect it, here are three examples:
In going for a spur of the moment meal last Tuesday at Atom Thai Restaurant, Newtown, we were able to chat to Atom. He showed us photos of himself and his partner becoming Buddhist monks for a day in Thailand. He explained that this was a traditional part of the funeral for his mother. After chatting to a Buddhist monk, Atom has realised that becoming a monk could be a path he might want to take in life. Atom exuded calm, peace and serenity.
Since writing a blog I do not use Facebook as frequently. On one of my recent visits a friend had liked Emmanuel Dagher. After checking out his website I signed up for his email newsletter. I received a link to Unconditional Love Meditation. In the middle of our breakfast cereal yesterday, my partner and I took part in a 10 minute guided meditation. The experience was blissful.
I just saw the most exquisite photograph of a swallow tail butterfly posted by Ajaytao 2010
The reason I’m telling you this is after a week of self doubt and endless chatter in my head, I have experienced moments of clarity. I have unconsciously achieved a sense of peace and calm. I am ready for whatever this week has in store for me.
I took the picture of the yellow flowers on Friday in our local park with my mobile.
Robert
theINFP 