Sweet Wayfaring

"Young man you can call it a pedapod but we know that it's a rickshaw" I wonder how many people got bikes for Christmas. I heard on the radio that the market for them is booming. Outside the Queen Victoria Building. That's it for this series. There's a sneak peek on what's coming up next tomorrow.

May your Christmas be filled with wonder and delight. Merry Christmas everyone. David Jones windows

Hey Mr Mice can I join your party ... I'm all dressed up and ready to go? For fantistic shots at the windows go visit Julie's blog . David Jones windows

Naughty, there are still two sleeps to go. Outside Queen Victoria Building.

According to the QVB website the tree took 30 decorators, eight riggers and two electricians more than a fortnight to install and decorate. Standing 24 metres tall and extending through three floors the QVB Christmas tree features 1700 branches, 15,000 Swarovski crystals and is adorned with 40,000 lights, 8,000 baubles and 400 bows. Swarovski Crystal design each Swarovski crystal decoration to reflect light and create the festive 'wow' factor. And they stare at the stairwell! Queen Victoria Building

If you are interested in learning about the history of the QVB and seeing some great shots of it's interior go see it through Julie's Sydney Eye . Queen Victoria Building

No snow around here. Sydney Square ... next to Town Hall.

We are on a Sunday jaunt around the centre of Sydney to pick up the city Christmas vibe. There didn't seem to be much bunting about. It can only get better from here. Town Hall Sydney I'm taking a break from blogging until the New Year, in the meanwhile I hope you enjoy this short Christmas series.

I was camping down in the city for a week and even had a weekend in Queensland and would you believe I didn't take a single photo ... too busy and too wet. It was perfect weather for the ducks that frequent the camping ground. We are hoping to get away at Easter time so I won't be posting here for a couple of weeks. In the meanwhile I have started posting again on my Blue Mountains Journal. I have decided to post in either one or the other of these blogs -- not both at the same time.

This is my last post from my farewell walk in Sydney and it's not really about Sydney because all eyes in Australia today were not on Sydney, but to our other great city Melbourne. The Melbourne Cup, a horse race, stops the nation. And for anyone who can escape work for a party, the chance to dress up. This shop window in George Street displayed the perfect shoes for the big day. Musing: From A Dream of the Melbourne Cup by Banjo Paterson "Now for the start, and here they come, And the hoof-strokes roar like a mighty drum Beat by a hand unsteady; They come like a rushing, roaring flood, Hurrah for the speed of the Chester blood; For Acme is making the pace so good They are some of 'em done already. But round the track she begins to tire, And a mighty shout goes up "Crossfire!" The magpie jacket's leading; And Crossfire challenges fierce and bold, And the lead she'll have and the lead she'll hold, But at length gives way to the black and gold, Which ri...

Martin Place is flanked by old buildings at the heart of corporate Australia. Around the corner on George Street I was surprised to find these window boxes -- a modern, homely touch, quite unlike our normal cityscape. Musing : Morning at the Window by TS Eliot "They are rattling breakfast plates in basement kitchens, And along the trampled edges of the street I am aware of the damp souls of housemaids Sprouting despondently at area gates. The brown waves of fog toss up to me Twisted faces from the bottom of the street, And tear from a passer-by with muddy skirts An aimless smile that hovers in the air And vanishes along the level of the roofs."

We took a short diversion to Martin Place on our way back. Our guest wanted to see the Channel 7 studio where the Sunrise breakfast show is broadcast. I instead focused on the more traditional monuments in Martin Place. Musing: From Beach Burial by Kenneth Slessor ""Unknown seaman" - the ghostly pencil Wavers and fades, the purple drips, The breath of wet season has washed their inscriptions As blue as drowned men's lips, Dead seamen, gone in search of the same landfall, Whether as ememies they fought, Or fought with us, or neither; the sand joins them together, Enlisted on the other front."

It was time to walk back home. On the way we passed the Town Hall and Queen Victoria Building. Sandstone is characteristic of Sydney's grand old buildings. Musing: From Wikipedia : The main public buildings in Sydney, completed from the 1850s until the 1900s were built in sandstone from Pyrmont where some 50 quarries operated. The best stone was 'Paradise', a soft rock that is easy to carve, and when weathered colours to a warm, golden straw colour. It is pale grey when quarried but contains the mineral siderite, an iron oxide, that virtually rusts and gives the stone the yellow colour.

I was intriged by the theatric way the crowd in Chinatown dressed, including their shoes. Musing: From These boots are made for walking a pop song written Lee Hazelwood and first sung by Nancy Sinatra "You keep saying you got something for me Something you call love but confess You've been a'messin' where you shouldn't 've been a'messin' And now someone else is getting all your best Well, these boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you You keep lyin' when you oughta be truthin' You keep losing when you oughta not bet You keep samin' when you oughta be a'changin' What's right is right but you ain't been right yet These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you"

After church we continued our walk to Chinatown where we enjoyed a pleasant lunch with our guest.

After breakfast we went on our own walk into the city to attend the morning church service at St Andrew's cathedral. A great place to worship with excellent teaching, beautiful music and a very friendly welcome. Musing: The organist was playing Prelude & Fugue in F by Vincent Lubeck.

During our leisurely breakfast on Sunday morning, looking down from our room with a view to the street below, we saw yet another crowd of people purposely walking. A quick web search revealed these were on the 25km Seven Bridges Walk . Musing: From View of Sydney Australia from Gladesville Road Bridge by Les Murray "There's that other great arch eastward, with its hanging highways; the headlands and horizons of packed suburb, white among bisque-fired, odd smokes rising; there's Warrang, the flooded valley, that is now the ship-chained Harbour, recurrent everywhere, with its azure and its grains; ramped parks, bricked containers, verandahs successive around walls, and there's the central highrise, multi-storey, the twenty-year countdown, the new city standing on its haze above the city."

We are moving out of the room with a view this week so spent a final weekend here in Sydney with our latest guest. Eating a meal at King Street Wharf on Saturday night we were surprised to see thousands (yes thousands) of people dressed in a fantasy of pink walking past. It was the Dove Pink Star Walk in aid of breast cancer. Musing: From Tears Idle Tears by Alfred Lord Tennyson "Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean, Tears from the depth of some divine despair Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes, In looking on the happy Autumn-fields, And thinking of the days that are no more."

I've learnt how to take night shots successfully at last. So here is the office that glistens from my balcony each night -- only one tenant seems to be green-aware. I must confess that even though I am fond of the shifting display from the room with a view I would really prefer to be back in the leafy green of my mountain home. Musing: From Clancy of the Overflow by Banjo Paterson "I am sitting in my dingy little office, where a stingy Ray of sunlight struggles feebly down between the houses tall, And the foetid air and gritty of the dusty, dirty city Through the open window floating, spreads its foulness over all. And in place of lowing cattle, I can hear the fiendish rattle Of the tramways and the buses making hurry down the street, And the language uninviting of the gutter children fighting, Comes fitfully and faintly through the ceaseless tramp of feet. And the hurrying people daunt me, and their pallid faces haunt me As they shoulder one another in their rush and nervous...

The latest excitement outside the window is the arrival of Doulos an old steam ship built in 1914 -- apparently the oldest working ship on the sea today. Today it's a floating Christian bookshop that visits ports all around the world. Doulos is a greek work meaning "Servant" Musing: From The Servant Song by Richard Gillard "Brother let me be your servant. Let me be as Christ to you. Pray that I may have the grace To let you be my servant to. We are pilgrims on a journey We are brothers on the road. We are here to help each other Walk the mile and share the load. I will hold the Christ light for you. In the nighttime of your fear. I will hold my hand out to you, Speak the peace you long to hear. I will weep when you are weeping. When you laugh, I’ll laugh with you. I will share your joy and sorrow ‘Til we’ve seen this journey through. When we sing to God in heaven We will find such harmony Born of all we’ve known together Of Christ’s love and agony.