They're just looking at the view...

....from Circular Quay station while waiting for the train; watching ferries come and go and the people walking along the Quay.

In fact it's the view on the masthead photo on this blog.

Swimming Under The Bridge

I think this pool says a lot about the place of swimming in the Australian psyche. Here is it, right under Sydney Harbour Bridge, next door neighbour to Luna Park. I can't think of another place in the world where a swimming pool occupies such a prime piece of real estate. Maybe Monaco, which I will see shortly, thanks to Jilly! And not only is there no question of its continued survival, in 2001 a redevelopment was completed, feturing a new indoor 25m pool , splash pool, child care facilities, a renovated cafe and restaurant, gymnasium, picnic areas, solar heating and hot water heat pumps.

The pool was originally built in 1936 on a site where much of the construction work for the Sydney Harbour Bridge had been carried out. The Bridge opened in 1932. 86 world records have been set at the pool by such swimming greats as Dawn Fraser, Jon and Ilsa Konrads, Murray Rose, Lorraine Crapp, Frank O'Neill, Judy Joy Davies, John Devitt, Shane Gould and Michelle Ford.

I also keep a Swimming Blog, because I love swimming. I was delighted to see another swimmer share his love in this weekend's This Life contributor column in The Weekend Australian newspaper. Rick Kane, I don't know who you are, but you captured my thoughts beautifully. The only differences are that I usually DO score a lane to myself, as I use a gym, and the bulk of people are into the sweaty, running shoes stuff; I swim 60 laps about 4 times a week (80 if I'm on holidays); and my magic number is 23 - the lap when, having let the mind go blank other than the repetitive mantra of lap-counting, most of the world's problems and complex work-related issues are solved. Swimming to me is meditation, transcendence, sensuality (the water feels like a silk scarf running over my body).

Here's Rick Kane's piece entitled This (Lapping) Life from the The Weekend Australian May 17-18 2008:
"Swimming laps is all about numbers. For starters, I’m 44 and I go swimming at 6am (ouch). The first time I ventured to the pool (I mean leisure centre) at that early hour, I thought I would be bothering the guy who had drawn the short straw to open up.
I imagined a pot-bellied, sleepy-eyed grump wheezing on a fag, clutching a coffee, mumbling something like, “Mate, give us a sec, I’ll crank up the generators and then she’ll be right.” I was wrong.
At 6am your local leisure centre is going off. People turn up in droves. There’s a queue t. In June, with temperatures hovering at 5C, there may be 40 or more people of all ages (well, over 35), queuing to get in there and get on a walking machine, or spin cycle or bench press, or whatever it is you do for exercise. In my case, it’s to go swimming.
I love swimming. You’ve got to love an activity that has a stroke called butterfly that involves the most ungainly actions. There are five lanes allocated for laps. Every swimmer hopes for a lane to themselves and every swimmer is disappointed. I swim 2km, three times a week. As I swim in a 25m pool, I swim 80 laps ach session, but who’s counting? I am.
My convoluted counting process involves calling ach lap a quarter (as in time: 1:15, 1:30, 1:45, lap 2, and so on). And, yes, I’ve even counted the amount of strokes it takes for each lap (about 40), swimming laps is taxing, invigorating and fun. It is also as boring as watching someone who is boring.
The repetition may suggest a mundane activity, but for me swimming is pretty close to transcendence. Gliding through cool water can free the body and has the potential to free the mind. While swimming laps, I try not so much to solve everyday problems but move through them. Counting laps maintains a rhythm (as does the stroke), but water is the melody, allowing you to free-form freestyle. Everything else is of little moment.
The light at that time of day, just as the sun is rising, is striking. It produces hazy shades ad textures across the pool. Underwater, where a swimmer is mainly looking, these shades reflect patterns and beats across the tiles that move and distort as the swimmer pushes through the water.
And away the mind goes, maybe to a daughter’s smile, having been told her class project is excellent, or the scent of a bakery from a half-forgotten holiday, or to the woman swimming laps in the next lane. Swimming gives you space to open up the value of a reflection. It is the languorous dance of the solitary. Swimming is sensual and water a sweeping beauty.
I push myself. But I have terrible rhythm and I swear it is the reason I can’t push myself harder. There is, well, um, another reason for not pushing myself harder. Hey, I put in a lot of effort swimming 2km, or, wait for it, 3200 freestyle arm strokes. I swim non-stop. When I finish, I’m huffing and puffing. But then I go to wipe sweat from my brow and all I’m wiping is excess chlorinated water.
For all the effort Thorpie and I exert, there is no freakin’ sweat to show the world that we work damn hard. That just doesn’t add up. Still, I keep at it, with the numinous thoughts and the numbers swimming around in my head. "



Below: the 2001 indoor pool, sitting up the hill above the existing outdoor 50m pool.

Reflection

The Harbour Bridge reflected in a balcony door, Victoria St, Potts Point

Balcony view

From the balcony of a friend's house in Victoria St, Potts Point.

Looking across the landscaped roof of the Defence Forces parking, the finger wharf Woolloomooloo (shown yesterday), Opera House and Bridge.

We sat on his balcony, drank gin and tonic, and watched sunset over the bridge.

Misty rainy day, The Rocks

Looking over the historical Rocks area and Museum of Contemporary Art

When people think of Sydney . . . Take 2

Yesterday's photo featured the Harbour Bridge and a ferry, in response to the theme "when people think of my city..." It prompted quite some discussion about the place of the Opera House. (I recommend you scroll down and have a look at that post)

My theory runs like this: the OH is more important in overseas thinking, because Sydney "came of age" internationally with the Opera House. Prior to the 1973 when it opened, Sydney was hardly on international radar. It helps that it was designed by a European, an architect with a major international reputation.

However, the bridge has long been lodged in the Australian psyche - since it was built in the 1930s. It featured in many works of art at the time it was being built, and was integral in Sydney's inexorable development towards the city it is today. When I was a child in Melbourne in the 1960s, Sydney WAS "The Coathanger".

And this: we've always been a bit ambivalent towards the OH. The building of it was mired in political controversy, and it took a LONG time for Sydney-siders to fully embrace it and stop whingeing about it being a "waste of money". Though you'd be hard pressed now to find someone who doesn't like it, or take pride in it. But everyone acknowledges it is far more spectacular on the outside than inside. And many many Sydney-siders would never have gone in.

In short, the OH, as far as many (?) some(?) Australians are concerned is a flawed wonder. The bridge is beyond reproach!

Now look at the picture. The buildings on the right, on the promenade toward the OH are also controversial. Built in the 1990s, and dubbed "The Toaster", they hide the OH from view from this vantage point of Circular Quay. These are a testament to developers - they are multi million dollar apartments. Instead of opening up the OH to view, we hid it from the very place most visitors arrive at the harbour! Sure, the colonnade below The Toaster is reasonably pleasant - expensive restaurants and cafes and art shops, mostly geared at tourists - but not celebrating the landmark most linked with Sydney by many!

(And I haven't even got wound up about the shabby tin rooftops of the wharves...they deserve so much more. I'll spare you that rant for now).

When people think of my city....

Keen to avoid all the usual clichés I undertook in-depth research by asking people on the Lonely Planet travel discussion boards what they think of when they think of Sydney. Here are the results:
From Sydney-siders: Southerly busters on a sweltering hot day, the harbour (3), home, bloody traffic (2), mixture of people, art, restaurants, shops, fun, eastern suburbs beaches, jacarandas, thunderstorms, ferries, whales, Moreton Bay figs, cockatoos, ugly suburban sprawl, cockroaches, surfing all year round
Other Australians: The harbour (2), harbour ferries, Harbour Bridge, unaffordable waterfront dreams, excitement, The Big Smoke, smelly, Olympics, frangipanis, jacarandas, how much better Melbourne is
Non-Australians: The Harbour (2), Opera House (2), Harbour Bridge, sunshine (2), Melbourne is better, unfriendly people, friendly people, heroin, Kings Cross, Glenn Murcutt, ferries, The Rocks, Beaches, Darling Harbour, San Francisco (but less interesting), Florida, great big bats, Circular Quay

The most popular from a disparate range: The harbour - 5; Ferries -3

So, here you have it,the usual clichés: Sydney Harbour, ferries, and the bridge for good measure.

To see what other bloggers think people are thinking about their cities, visit the cities listed below. Remember, different times, diferent places.
Portland (OR), USA - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Memphis (Tennessee), USA - Manila, Philippines - San Diego (CA), USA - Anderson (SC), USA - New York City (NY), USA - San Diego (CA), USA - Mexico City, Mexico - San Francisco (CA), USA - Mumbai (Maharashtra), India - Mainz, Germany - Weston (FL), USA - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Turin, Italy - Las Vegas (NV), USA - Hobart (Tasmania), Australia - Bicheno, Australia - Durban, South Africa - Joplin (MO), USA - Nashville (TN), USA - Stockholm, Sweden - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Brussels, Belgium - Chicago (IL), USA - Montpellier, France - Seattle (WA), USA - Mazatlan, Mexico - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Sharon (CT), USA - Sesimbra, Portugal - Toulouse, France - Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina - Susanville (CA), USA - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Saint Louis (MO), USA - Prague, Czech Republic - Helsinki, Finland - Pilisvörösvár, Hungary - Lisbon, Portugal - Mexico (DF), Mexico - Trujillo, Peru - Dunedin (FL), USA - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - London, UK - Baziège, France - Jefferson City (MO), USA - Greenville (SC), USA - Selma (AL), USA - Mumbai, India - Naples (FL), USA - Norwich (Norfolk), UK - Silver Spring (MD), USA - Setúbal, Portugal - Stayton (OR), USA - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Sofia, Bulgaria - Arradon, France - Montego Bay, Jamaica - Athens, Greece - Austin (TX), USA - Singapore, Singapore - West Sacramento (CA), USA - Jackson (MS), USA - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Budapest, Hungary - Rotterdam, Netherlands - St Malo, France - Chandler (AZ), USA - Melbourne, Australia - Port Vila, Vanuatu - Cleveland (OH), USA - Nottingham, UK - Kansas City (MO), USA - The Hague, Netherlands - Crystal Lake (IL), USA - Wrocław, Poland - Chateaubriant, France - Cheltenham, UK - Moscow, Russia - Monrovia (CA), USA - Saigon, Vietnam - Toruń, Poland - Grenoble, France - Lisbon, Portugal - New Orleans (LA), USA - Sydney, Australia - Boston (MA), USA - American Fork (UT), USA - Boston (MA), USA - Montréal (QC), Canada - Wichita (KS), USA - Radonvilliers, France - Buenos Aires, Argentina - Christchurch, New Zealand - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Wailea (HI), USA - Aliso Viejo (CA), USA - St Francis, South Africa - Port Elizabeth, South Africa - Seattle (WA), USA - Pasadena (CA), USA - Vienna, Austria - Orlando (FL), USA - Torun, Poland - Delta (CO), USA - Santa Fe (NM), USA - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Haninge, Sweden - Paris, France - Stavanger, Norway - Niamey, Niger - Le Guilvinec, France - Bogor, Indonesia - Saarbrücken, Germany - Auckland, New Zealand - Wellington, New Zealand - Budapest, Hungary - Juneau (AK), USA - Bucaramanga (Santander), Colombia - Glasgow, Scotland - Chicago (IL), USA - Jakarta, Indonesia - Adelaide (SA), Australia - Sydney, Australia - Riga, Latvia - Subang Jaya (Selangor), Malaysia

Evening sun, Cremorne

The view from the houses I showed yesterday.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Festive greetings

of the season from Sydney.

Whatever the festival or season means for you, I wish joy and peace to all, and especially all the other obsessive daily bloggers. May the power of blogging bring an outbreak of joie de vivre and everlasting peace to all!

Evening cocktails

Flying Fish restaurant, Jones Bay wharf, 7:15pm

Pottinger Street, Millers Point (Walsh Bay)

WOW, bridges....where do you start in Sydney, a city with stacks of bridges. I've posted lots before, Tom Ugly's and Captain Cook over The Georges River; the soaring Anzac Bridge; Gladesville over the Parramatta River; Sydney oldest bridge the convict built one at Lansvale; and even have a page on Sydney Daily Photo Extra dedicated exclusively to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I've done railway bridges and footbridges, and even the little bridge we call 'Pooh" Sticks Bridge' at my home away from Sydney. (If you don't know what Pooh sticks are and what it has to do with bridges, well, AA Milne can help...or Wikipedia.)
So, I agonised over what to go and photograph, as I like to go out and do something specific for each theme day. Then I got sick (see yesterday's blog), and had to dive into the reserve stack for inspiration....and I guess it's back to the bridge with a zillion images, and I thought - here it is without any water, just like any old suburban bridge really.... (though rents round this gentrified part of inner Sydney can be $2000+ a week!)

Here's links to bridge pics in 128 different places:

Boston (MA), USA - San Diego (CA), USA - Stayton (OR), USA - New York City (NY), USA - Portland (OR), USA - Montego Bay, Jamaica - Inverness (IL), USA - Singapore, Singapore - Stockholm, Sweden - Setúbal, Portugal - Brussels, Belgium - Phoenix (AZ), USA - Seattle (WA), USA - Hyde, UK - Manila, Philippines - Fort Lauderdale (FL), USA - London, England - Austin (TX), USA - Toulouse, France - Weston (FL), USA - Sesimbra, Portugal - Selma (AL), USA - Silver Spring (MD), USA - Saarbrücken, Germany - Cleveland (OH), USA - Crystal Lake (IL), USA - American Fork (UT), USA - Seoul, South Korea - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Norwich (Norfolk), UK - North Bay (ON), Canada - Arradon, France - Paderborn, Germany - Durban, South Africa - Philadelphia (PA), USA - Cypress (TX), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Prague, Czech Republic - Portland (OR), USA - Greenville (SC), USA - Boston (MA), USA - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Wichita (Ks), USA - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Petaling Jaya (Selangor), Malaysia - Grenoble, France - New York City (NY), USA - Nottingham, UK - Hobart (Tasmania), Australia - Arlington (VA), USA - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Miami (FL), USA - Cheltenham, UK - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Saratoga Spgs. (NY), USA - Las Vegas (NV), USA - Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina - Nashville (TN), USA - Toruń, Poland - New Orleans (LA), USA - Port Elizabeth, South Africa - Melbourne, Australia - Moscow, Russia - Trujillo, Peru - Château-Gontier, France - Quincy (MA), USA - Melbourne, Australia - Port Vila, Vanuatu - Joplin (MO), USA - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Brookville (OH), USA - Chateaubriant, France - Chandler (AZ), USA - Stavanger, Norway - Baziège, France - Auckland, New Zealand - Wellington, New Zealand - Ocean Township (NJ), USA - Subang Jaya (Selangor), Malaysia - Detroit (MI), USA - Riga, Latvia - Nelson, New Zealand - Budapest, Hungary - Cape Town, South Africa - Sydney, Australia - Dunedin (FL), USA - Sofia, Bulgaria - Radonvilliers, France - Turin, Italy - Montpellier, France - Kansas City (MO), USA - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Haninge, Sweden - Wailea (HI), USA - Lubbock (TX), USA - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Terrell (TX), USA - Mexico City, Mexico - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Budapest, Hungary - Montréal (QC), Canada - Sharon (CT), USA - Le Guilvinec, France - Jefferson City (MO), USA - Saigon, Vietnam - London, UK - Crepy-en-Valois, France - Orlando (FL), USA - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Paris, France - Mainz, Germany - Newcastle (NSW), Australia - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Darmstadt, Germany - Naples (FL), USA - Torino, Italy - Saint Louis (MO), USA - Bogor, Indonesia - The Hague, Netherlands - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Anderson (SC), USA - Melbourne (VIC), Australia - West Sacramento (CA), USA - Christchurch, New Zealand

Driving over the Sydney Harbour Bridge

2.53pm today

Through the columns, State Library

Today was a bit of a dull, grey old day - perect for peeking at the world from porticos and verandahs.

Circular Quay from the railway station (Transport VI)

The view in the opposite direction from yesterday...

I got off the train here with some tourists, who gasped in awe - their first sight of Sydney Harbour, the bridge, the Opera House. I showed them the best vantage point for their first photo of Sydney. Right here. It was quite amazing being with people whose breath was taken away. I can understand it. Sometimes you can become very blase about your own city, however I never, ever, ever get tired of this view, and always drink it in whenever I get off the train at Circular Quay station.

Sydney City

Conaust Terminal, Glebe Island (Rozelle)

New motor vehicle imports are docked in Johnstons Bay at the Conaust Car Terminal. Australia has a very small domestic car industry. Most cars are imported, and most of those come from Japan. European cars are definitely in the minority, often very expensive, and many are regarded as being in the "luxury" class.

At this terminal, vehicles await processing before delivery to dealers.

Three Bridges and Bicentennial Park, Glebe Point

Sunday morning on the edge of Rozelle Bay (which is part of Sydney Harbour) at Glebe Point. This is a couple of hundred metres from the tram stop shown yesterday.

The bridges are the Anzac Bridge in the foreground; the old Glebe island Bridge in the middle. Well I remember waiting to cross here as it lifted to allow ships to pass through. It was replaced by the much higher Anzac bridge, so is no longer in operation; Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background.

You may see them better in the cropped picture(despite loss of quality of pic):