Sydney weekend 30th May

With a farewell dinner at a Thai Restaurant on Friday night our duties were complete at Coffs Harbour and we prepared to return home. Our hosts were very anxious about their appraisal and also found the visit helpful in improving their course. We assured them that all had gone well but can't give them the final verdict because the recommendation has to go to the board of ALIA( Australian Library and Information Association) for sign off.

I managed to get up early enough for a walk around the resort complex and to the beach before breakfast. It was a treat with birds squawking in the lush gardens and soft waves rolling up the beach. Not quite warm enough for a swim  for me but nonetheless a delightful find. A few eager golfers were on the course but I headed back to breakfast so I would be ready for Bob to drive me to the airport. I had managed to check in  but didn't print a boarding pass. It turned out that my bag was too heavy at 9 kilos for the cabin so I checked it in. 

Flying from Coffs was so interesting because it is a smaller plane and I got to see the coastline all the way down as well as the hinterland and over the Pittwater into Sydney.  This time I had chewing gum in case I got the horrible ear blockage like the last flight but there was no need. I picked up the baggage quickly and rang Miicky my sister-in-law to let her know I had landed. She directed me to the pick-up area for Terminal 2. Sydney airport has three distinct terminals which is very confusing and I missed any signs directing me to T2, if they have them.  I asked ground staff for directions and then overshot the turn off but eventually found the appointed place. I really don't like Sydney airport. It always seems so congested and confusing once you get outside a terminal. Micky arrived quite quickly and we went to Coogie by the beach for Brunch. We met up with the rest of the family, Martin and Vivienne, my nephew and niece and Gary, Micky's husband. 

It was a bustling, trendy place with good pizzas and lovely fish and chips. I have had so many chips over the last few days. It is like Spain! chips with everything. We moved on to their home in Clovelly (which I had seen from the plane) had more tea and talk and were joined by my other Brother-in-law Roger who has moved to Sydney for a new job at the Powerhouse Gallery. He had been out looking at apartments to buy. It is very expensive to buy a house so he is looking at apartments but they are dear too. It is a tough market to get into and he is staying with Micky and Gary in the meantime. Micky was remarking that the two brothers were like twins- not in looks but in habits and attitudes, very fussy!

I rang Lyn with whom I was going to stay the night and Sunday. She and I walked the Camino Frances in 2012 and I haven't seen her for over a year. We have been friends since we were 8. It is a very special friendship. She and her husband live OTB, Sydney slang for over the bridge or north shore. 

Lyn and I can TALK. We are quite different in personality. As kids we often had a falling out on the way home from school and Lyn would swear she wasn't going to talk to me anymore. I would get up in the morning and have forgotten all about the tiff and just talk to her as usual and it would all be as if nothing had been said.. I just wore her down.

We come from very different families. She has four sisters and I had two brothers. They are close like my family but her Mum is rather set in her ways. Very independent but also doesn't like change. My Mum is independent too but a forward looking person with great optimism and very social.  I am taking my Mum on a cruise at 91 whereas Lyn's Mum would find the change of environment too challenging. Everyone is different but Lyn worries about her because she is still living in the same family home with high stairs at the back and finding the size of the home a lot to manage now. She refuses to consider moving to a retirement village. We will probably be just as stubborn when we are old.  Ageing is not for the faint hearted!

It was a rather cold night and I was happy to stay in and have a home cooked meal. Lyn had Spanish wine and had thought to cook a Spanish stew but instead we had delicious mushroom risotto. She and Bruce go to bed early (a lot of my friends are early to bed, early to rise types) and I was happy to do so to at 10:00 pm after the intense days at Coffs and my developing throat/chest infection. Lyn was up early to walk the dog and visit a friend who turned 80 that day. I amazingly slept in till 8:30 pm, bliss.

 

 We decided to do the Seven Bridges walk around Sydney harbour. The whole walk is 27 kms but we would only have time for half of it because my flight back to Melbourne left at 6:30 pm.

In the end we completed three bridges, the Harbour  Bridge, the Anzac Bridge and the Pyrmont  before lunching at the Drumoyne Sailing Club and getting a taxi back to the car from Birchenhead. 17 kms all told.  It was a fabulous walk and highlighted parts of Sydney waterfront I would not have otherwise seen.  Anzac bridge below.

  Lunch at Drumoyne

 Birchenhead looking down the harbour.

Lots of charming houses and parks. The young Taxi driver was very impressed with us. I was impressed with me too because it is the longest walk I have done since I had the plantar fasciitis issue. I am nearly 100 % again.

The 31 st of May was my darling husband's birthday. He would have been 66. Jonathan sent a little video of he and Ziggy singing happy birthday by his graveside. We all miss him so much still. Seeing Jonathan acknowledging his Dad and making him a person in Ziggy's life brings home to me the power of love.  There is an Irish saying: Death leaves a heartache no one  can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal. I feel sad that Peter isn't seeing Ziggy and sad that I am not sharing this part of my life with him. Sometimes I still cry but it isn't from the pain of loss rather for a lost love and our future together.