Vaucluse & Rose Bay
After my 9am philosophy final, Melvin and I caught a bus to Vaucluse, the up-scale area, and walked around the Vaucluse House, admiring the well-kept lawn and gardens, fountain, cute porch, and wine cellar that we could see through the cellar windows without actually paying to get into the house. Nice.
From there, we began our walk along the harbour all the way back to the city. We walked through Nielsen Park to Shark Bay, where we caught a fabulous glimpse of the harbour and the pretty beach. The weather was just gorgeous, and understandably the harbour was filled with sailboats. We followed a pathway across the beach and around the bay, then through several ritzy neighborhoods with amazing modern houses (you know, elaborate fencing, balconies, in-ground pools overlooking the harbour, fountains…), before reaching Kincoppal-Rose Bay junior school, possibly my most favorite vantage point on the whole harbour. I was there about a month ago but the weather was cruddy; this time, it was perfect, maybe even *too* sunny. Still, you can’t beat the panoramic shot of Rose Bay – city skyline – Opera House – Harbour Bridge. I would love to catch a sunset there, especially since it’s facing the west where the sun sets.
We continued our walk along the harbour, past more stunning houses of course, and heaps of sailboats. We were so parched at this point, so every time we passed through a park we’d search for a water fountain. And if there wasn’t one, or if it was one where the water only rose about a millimeter from the tap, we’d drink from the bathroom sinks. Hahaha. We walked around Piper Point attempting to find more great views, but nothing compared to what we saw around Rose Bay. We passed through Double Bay and the Rushcutters Bay, which was absolutely filled with moored sailboats and powerboats. Millions of dollars, just hanging out in the bay!
Ultimately, we found our way back to the city, via Potts Point and Woolloomooloo. We split a chicken pie from the famous Harry’s Cafe de Wheels, which I’d read had the most amazing pies in Sydney. They weren’t lying — this pie was incredible. Australia has a thing for pies, much like the chicken pot pie I sometimes have back home, but they’re tiny and delicious! And they fill them with all sorts of things, not just chicken. Admittedly, ours had chicken, but also mushroom and cheese. Soooo good.
From there, we hiked up through the Botanic Gardens, and made a circuit of the Opera House, since it was “my last week”, and really one of the last chances for me to soak up this part of Sydney. It’s lucky we did, because we witnessed an amazing cloud formation just over one of the pieces of the roof, reflecting off the glass, with the sun flair *just* at the edge of it. Amaaaazing. We also walked by some random foreigner getting interviewed outside the Opera House, microphone, videocamera, and all, yet no crowd surrounding him. We think he was Turkish.
We grabbed foccaccias at a cafe in The Rocks and sat down on a patch of grass just next to the Harbour Bridge, by the Hyatt hotel. Amazing sandwiches, with an equally amazing view of the bridge and Opera House. It was really windy though, but nice. We went up by the Observatory to catch the sunset, except it wasn’t much of a sunset at all. Ah well. After that, we wandered through Miller’s Point, an industrial area by the wharf, and then made it to King Street Wharf, an area by Darling Harbour with restaurants and bars. Really nice spot. Of course we made our way around Darling Harbour and finally relished some cassata gelato from Gelatissimo, aka the most amazing orgasmic ice cream known to man. The clouds last night were awesome, and the sky was purpleish, so I had some more fun with my camera at night. It was all so pretty!
We rounded up the day by doing a complete circuit of Darling Harbour, across the Pyrmont Bridge, and back up through CBD to the Town Hall.
