Sydney

The big display on the harbour was an amazing sight. Watched from a distance at the top of Rose Bay Hill could not have been more perfect. For a city that had a million extra visitors just for this day everything seem to work like a finely tuned machine. Except of course if your from the opposition party and spent the whole following day moaning on the news channels. No matter what country the opposition whines like babies. There was an enormous thunderstorm around 8pm that lasted until 11:30pm. Luckily I watched this from the comfort of my hosts living room so was able to time it right to leave when it stopped and walk the 200 yards to the hill for the show. 3 different parts of the world connected in delightful conversation whilst sitting back from the beach in a shaded garden the morning after the night before. I took a packed lunch out mid morning to do some people watching, read my book and chill out. I found a perfect spot 10 yards back from the beach, sat and relaxed. For 20 minutes I looked and listened to other people passing by talking about their view of the display from the previous night. With it being such a hot morning the location I had chosen could have been classified as prime real estate with it’s hanging palm tree casting a cooling shadow. The people kept walking by as though they were doing a ceremonial firewalk. Quick stepping on tip toes and making the ooo aaa ooo sound that comes with a walk on baked sand. A lady sat on the bench with me to cool down and struck up a conversation, describing her reasons for being in Sydney and her route here. She was from Berlin but lived in Beijing and had taken a cruise to New Zealand and Sydney before heading home via Brisbane. The liner was one of the massive boats currently sat in Sydney harbour and she had one full day left. She had already been on an open top bus around the city and had decided to use the hop on hop off system and spend a relaxing day in the quieter Rose Bay than the huddle of Bondi Beach. We were soon joined by an Australian lady originally from South Korea who emigrated 30 years earlier. She had joined us while her dog was laying down in the sea cooling off. I heard about a their lives, they heard about mine. We will probably never meet again. No contact or social media details were exchanged. Good conversation, interesting stories, a perfect hour on a bench in Rose Bay and the memories remain.