Well it's official. Yesterday's temperature here in Sydney peaked at 42degrees centigrade – a little bit on the hot side I'm sure you will agree. Headlines in this morning's paper led with 'The Day Sydney Melted'. Today's weather has been one of contrasts; when we finally emerged from the hotel just after 10 am it promised to be another scorcher, but by 2.30 a strong wind had built up and shock,horror there has even been a few spots of rain within the wind! The weather here in Oz certainly is a little crazy at the moment; cyclones/flooding in Queensland, heavy rains in Victoria, possible heavy rain (as a consequence of Cyclone Yasi) in Alice Springs and maybe even in Uluru and bush fires in the Perth area.
We took the bus to Bondi Beach, about a 40 minutes journey and by the time we got there the beach was full of people. Our first stop was to a local kosher deli where we had a coffee and a bun and then we found a bench overlooking the beach, made ourselves comfortable and Stephan thoroughly enjoyed the view!!!! For me I'm afraid the view was a little disappointing – the 'beautiful people' were obviously somewhere else. We went to Katzy's for lunch, thoroughly enjoying beef pie and chips. One thing we did notice on our way to the restaurant was that there were a number of cafes with mezuzot, but as to whether the food was supervised or simply 'kosher-style' I don't know. One kosher restaurant that had been open when we last visited Oz had definitely disappeared but the mezuzah was still visible.
Because of the change in weather we decided to return a little early to the hotel and have a rest before venturing out again. Despite the strong wind we enjoyed a walk round Cockle Bay Wharf and Darling Harbour, commenting on how quiet it was. Only on our way back to the hotel did we realise why – we had arrived in ChinaTown, Sydney in time to help them celebrate the New Year with the Parade we couldn't see in Hong Kong and everyone was there! This time we were able to get a good view and it was very enjoyable, apart from the incessant tuneless drumming which seemed to accompany every float.
As part of the holiday package we were booked on a half-day city tour tomorrow (Monday) morning but we have been informed that it is a 7.30 am start which would mean having to get up at least an hour earlier so we can have breakfast,etc. After a discussion we have decided to cancel the trip as it is only going to places we have been before and as we are on holiday neither of us relish an early start if it is not justified. We feel we have made the right decision and will spend our last full day doing exactly what we want – not that we have decided what that is to be as yet!!!
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