Saturday 9 October 2010

Lizzie in Sydney

During our last two weeks in Sydney we had a visit from Meg's sister Lizzie, which gave us an opportunity to do all the sightseeing things we'd been meaning to do but hadn't got around to doing yet. It also required another trip to the CBH to introduce Lizzie to the delights of Coogee's biggest beer garden.


We spent a morning at the Victoria Barracks touring the beautiful colonial architecture and enjoying a performance by the Army marching band. As we waited for the band to appear we realised we weren't familiar with the Australian national anthem, but mused that it must surely be either 'Waltzing Matilda' or, as mentioned in an earlier post, 'Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport'. Sure enough, the band marched out to Waltzing Matilda (which is actually not the anthem, it seems) and in an impressive display of coordination its members managed not to crash into each other while executing some complicated manoevures on the parade ground.


Mark's birthday celebrations also got underway a bit early with a lovely dinner at an Italian restaurant with Mike, although he had to settle for a celebratory cheeseboard rather than the big purple cake with lots of candles which was being enjoyed by another birthday celebrant.


Lizzie's tour of Sydney included a walk around the botanic gardens and the opera house, where we were treated to another, slightly more bizarre, display of coordination. As we walked up to the steps of the opera house, a rehearsal for a performance of a 'duet for man and excavator' was in progress, which involved a man alternately hanging from the bucket and being whizzed around in circles, then rolling on the floor before being scooped up again. Who knew builders were into performance art?


The final stop on the tour was Watson's Bay for a delicious lunch at Doyle's, followed by a walk to South Head and return trip via Bondi Beach at dusk. As Lizzie headed back to the UK we got ourselves ready for the next round of adventures...

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