The Antipodes

Even though I've spent quite a bit of time in Sydney before, this time wasn't quite the same as before. For one, it was decidedly chilly! Not cold per se but not warm enough to do more than walk the promenade at the beach (Manly as always).

The view from my mother's apartment is still stunning.

The tile floor on her balcony makes a nice backdrop for photographing beaded things.

When you visit family there's always hanging around and waiting time which I tried to use to finish the clasps on various kumihimo necklaces.

I wasn't as productive as I looked: in a little over a week I've braided three necklaces but finished a few more.

The biggest surprise was food, specifically vegetarian food or the difficulty if finding it to be precise. Not for me, for my son.

We had yum cha (dim sum in the US) a couple of times and each time the only dish (of very many let me assure you) that he could eat was Chinese broccoli or greens. The green beans had pork as did the tofu and the dumplings never even came close. There may have been vegetarian-friendly noodles the second time.

I got to spend some lovely time with my oldest friend in Sydney. It's amazing how our history transcends the time and space we've not been colocated and all I can say is that it's a precious and wonderful gift.

The most  fun thing was tooling around on my brother's boat. He and his family are spending the next year abroad, had just sold their house as we arrived in Sydney and were living on the boat,not a terrible hardship. It's bigger than studio apartments I've seen and the views!

Not to be sneezed at.

The last day the marina was full of jellyfish. Not poisonous like the box jellies up north.

These are about the size of the palm of my hand.

We also spent some time in the Chinese Garden near Darling Harbour.

Lots of us, one brother and his family and a representative from my other brothet's family too.

Our last day together was on the boat.

It makes all things beautiful being on the water.

And then we came to Queenstown New Zealand which is stunningly gorgeous.

We have a lovely view of the Frankton Arm from our little apartment.

We hiked Queenstown Hill last night (rated a seven out of ten in terms of difficulty and I think that's a little generous quite honestly) and it was still light by the time we had descended at around nine.

I loved the little piles of flat stones along the path.

We finished off our day with iconic Ferg (edited to correct the auto-correct which wanted to call them Ferguson. As if) Burgers.

And we're not done yet.