Sydney Weekend

Thursday, 16 March 2023

It seems like ages since we've been to Sydney but I think it was actually as recent as 2021 when we passed through on our way to orienteering at Orange. Last weekend we went for orienteering again and Sydney visits always come with the bonus of being able to catch up to our good buddies in Lane Cove which is really nice.  

Sprint orienteering weekends generally involve a whole lot of visits to school and university campuses - this one was no different as we started on Saturday at the University of Sydney in the morning and then went to UNSW in Kensington in the afternoon.  In between we ate lunch in Victoria Park where we found ourselves witnessing two opposing protests with a heavy padding of police in between - we were on the side of the anti-transphobic group.   

In the evening we went out to eat at Lane Cove and then caught up with Andy and Alexa while the kids went to an Abba revival show in one of the lovely outdoor spaces that Lane Cove now has.

The next day we went way out west to Campbell Town and ran around a St Gregory's College before having lunch at Mt Annan botanical gardens:

In the afternoon we went to our 3rd uni - the University of Western Sydney and did our own runs as well as watching the finals of the knockout sprints which are always great fun.  All the universities had different feels but all seemed like they would be nice places to attend.  

That evening Tracy made fantastic green curry for us while Tiia drove the kids to Balmoral beach for a swim and fish and chips.

On Monday we went out for one last event, a more casual race at Middle Head. It was super fun as it made a point of sending us to all the lovely bits of headland and interesting fortresses. I was in no rush so took my phone with me so I could grab some photos along the way:

Tracy and Stix had helped us devise a plan to make the most of our last day, so after the event I dropped Jon and the kids at Mosman wharf where they caught the ferry across the harbout.  

While they did that Paul and I drove around to park at Mrs Macquarie's Chair, arriving at the NSW Art Gallery just as the ferry goers arrived after wandering through the Botanical Gardens.  Then we all visited the new art gallery building which is filled fantastic modern art. This ephemeral piece is called metal and flesh.

We also all participated in another artwork called 'Archive of Mind' which invited us to clear our minds by making spheres of clay - it was very calming

After the gallery we repacked our too-small electeic car one last time then squished ourselves in for the final drive back out to the airport.  It was nice to not have to get fuel along the way but we had experienced some range anxiety the day before on the long return journey to Lane Cove - I think we made it home with 8km left on car charge.   I hope our next car will be electric but it certainly won't be the mazda mx30 model we rented - it had 1/2 size back doors that couldn't be opened unless the front ones were opened, and the range was only 200k. Ideally we'll get somethng that can get us to St Helens in one go.