West Virginia Lions Club at the International Convention

The 93rd Annual Lions Clubs International Convention was getting ready to march. They were massing in Hyde Park before heading off down Macquarie St. This is part of the USA contigent - West Virgina!

Iceland Lions Club International Convention

Today was a beaut day for the 93rd Annual Lions Clubs International Convention. They were massing in Hyde Park before heading off down Macquarie St. This is part of the Scandanvian contingent -ICELAND!

Sunny Sunday

I know it is Tuesday but I wish it was Sunday. Last Sunday I was overlooking Avalon Beach with Bangalley Headland in the background. Bangalley Head used to be a natural arch, then a column and now a pile of rocks below the cliff. Nice swell for all the surfers too.

Sunday Afternoon on a cliff

A crisp sunny Sunday afternoon overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It is now peak humpback whale watching time as these great beasts travel north to the warmer tropical waters of Queensland.

Canoe in Farm Cove

While walking yesterday around Farm Cove I could heard someone calling out 'stroke'. It sounded like a Roman slave galley and looked like hard work, they were moving surprisingly fast. I think this is Sydney's best walk; up Art Gallery Road, around Mrs Macquarie's Chair, along Farm Cove, past the Sydney Opera House and then on to the The Rocks.

This post is supported by boating licence

Harry's Cafe de Wheels

Harry's has been here since the 1930s and is a Sydney institution. Right on the water you can get a great pie and sit on a bench next to the harbour. I had the original Tiger pie and the works. You can read all about Harry's here.javascript:void(0)

Lamp outside Sydney Opera House

A lamp from the walk around the Opera House.

Biennale sculpture

Outside the Museum of Contemporary Art is this unusual sculpture, for the life of me I can't find any information about the artist but it is quite dynamic, what do you think?

Zambuks

You don't hear the term Zambuks about these days but it is a Australian word which applies to another great volunteer group, the St John Ambulance first aid officers. Here they are demonstrating CPR on the dummy. I have done my first aid certificate a few times and always wonder how I would go in a real emergency, I hope I don't ever find out.

Bush Fire Brigade Truck

Volunteers train in their own time to man these sturdy trucks which are ready to spring into action in times of Bushfire. Australia has a terrible history of these fires, most recently in Victoria on what is now referred to as the Black Saturday bushfires on 7 February 2009 173 people died and 414 were injured.

Army Cadets

At a military tattoo in my local park there were plenty of military groups waiting around, here are the army cadets in their dress khakis wearing the typical Australian Army slouch hat. I particularly like the shorter cadet peering around to look ahead.

Australian Light horseman

This is a member of the Australian Light Horse Brigade, today there was a MIlitary Tattoo in my local park. The Australian Light Horse Brigade were a famous WW1 unit who fought in the Middle East against the Turks and Germans. The horses they took were 'Walers'.

Outside the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, known as 'The Con', on Macquarie Street there is this dramatic statue of KIng Edward VII it was erected in 1921. He was only KIng for 10 years 1901-1910 and had a very long wait for the title as his mum was Queen Victoria.

Hang Gliding

The other day I went Tandem Hang Gliding above Stanwell Park with a friend, we jumped off Bald Hill strapped together and soared out over the ocean, back into the cliffs before landing on the beach. We were in the air for about half an hour and my friend says he sometimes soars alongside sea eagles.

Australian Chinese Ex Services Monument

Down next to Chinatown is this sculpture, Australian Chinese Ex-services Monument, it remembers those Australians of Chinese heritage who have made a contribution to our nation. II am unsure if this is a war memorial or not, the 'ex-services' suggests to me it is but services to war is not mentioned.

Sydney Harbour Bridge by Night

Beautiful harbour lights by night, Luna Park on the far shore under the bridge, Jetcat coming in to the Quay.

Unicycle clown

Another one of the festivals performance artistes. I hope you do not have Coulrophobia. This clown did not have his face made up so maybe he does not come under this definition. He was friendly enough to talk to some Saturday night Sydneysiders.

Vivid Opera House 2

Another photo of the good ol' Opera House at the Vivid festival. I guess I am getting my money's worth out of these lights. It certainly drew the crowds on a cold winter night. Plenty of people out and about maybe before heading down to a World Cup site to watch Australia v Germany at 4.30am. Go the Socceroos!

Algernon and Snappers

There were quite a few photographers taking advantage of all the sights of the Vivid festival. Here is Algernon the subject of a post a few days ago talking to his many admirers. There was some serious camera gear on show.

Dancer Lights

At the Vivid festival again down along Circular Quay, one of the street performers was this black-suited dancer performing in the dark. It was quite effective with LED lights attached to her suit.

Sun returns

The sun has returned to Sydney at last and along with some icy blasts of morning wind. This is one of my favourite long way round walks to work, past the Archibald fountain, with the twin spires of St Mary's Cathedral in the background.

Algernon and Henrietta

These were two very entertaining street artistes down by the Quay last Saturday night - glad to pose for the legion of snappers.

Parliament House

Here is the NSW Parliament House lit up as part of Sydney's Vivid festival. There was a voice commentary paying tribute to the Snowy Mountain workers. After World War 2 Australia a large number of migrants and refugees came to Australia, on of the nation building schemes was the Hydro electric dams and tunnels in southern NSW in the beautiful Snowy Mountains.

Glass Box Heads

Down at Circular Quay as part of Sydney's Vivid festival this strange couple of performance artists had their heads enclosed in glass boxes. They were very generous to a young girl who danced off after she was given a present.

Vivid Opera House

In Sydney at the moment is Vivid a lighting display on many of the buildings and landmarks. Lots of photographers about with some serious gear. The weather cleared for the night and the crowds of sightseers turned out on a balmy Saturday night - atmosphere friendly nary a troublemaker in sight. The Opera House is a great backdrop for this.

Parramatta Road Traffic

Friday afternoon peak hour in the rain - traffic in Sydney can be bad.

Graduation time

Graduation time at Sydney University, this is of the main quad - poor graduates - it was bucketing down.

Brass Reflection

It is still oh so very rainy here in Sydney, no end in sight to the great wet. This reflection of a news stand caught my eye. As you can see he needs to keep his magazines and newspapers under wraps.

Barometer

While I was visiting an office overlooking Barrangaroo I was able to take a few quick snaps, as you can see the weather is bleak. The building with the horizontal red bars is the Westpac barometer, the bars rise and fall according to the barometric pressure, it took me a while to work out what it was doing.

No Parking

I didn't realise it was a sign theme day yesterday, and when I saw this on my way to work down near Sussex Street I thought it was worth a post. I couldn't work out what it meant .. for a while.

Right rain

Yep it is wet in Sydney as evidenced by the gutter flowing. As you can also see that you need to look to the right for the traffic before you step off the footpath. Sadly there are many visitors that look the wrong way.