The drive into Sydney is INCREDIBLE. The highway flows through the Ku-ring-Gai national park, constantly teasing you with jaw dropping views of crystal blue water, thick forest and stunning cliffs before bringing you over the next valley and slamming you with another postcard scene, and another, and another… aaaaallll the way to the city. Geographically, Sydney and the south coast are just amazing. If ever I could consider living in a city I think Sydney might be the one. The sandstone cliffs standing sentry to the sea, there’s a big magic force just pulsing from them.
We spent 3 days in the city, staying in my friends family home with her beautiful parents, Deb and Ha’im, who were so incredibly welcoming and became like surrogate grandparents to Yilla. Their insider knowledge was definately priceless and saved me so much hassle in getting around. We also got to sleep in an actual bed and buy dairy products and have a shower, luxury!!! Once we parked up I didn’t dare use the car again. Driving throughout the city is hair-raising to say the least, but that’s one of the big perks of being in the city right? Fantastic public transport!
I was overwhelmed pretty much constantly while in Sydney, there’s just so much of everything, so many people, so many cars, so much to do, so much to see, so many possibilities. We were staying only a short bike ride from Bondi so that was our first stop, and it was so fun to bike through the city streets and along the beachfront. And yep the famous Bondi Beach is real. And yes there is absolutely THOUSANDS of people on it. And I’m not really sure why… like… it’s nice but it’s just a normal beach like all the other beaches right around the corner, which have hardly anyone on them. But perhaps it’s the very act of being at THE Bondi Beach, which was why we were there too after all!
For us though, who are so spoiled by good beaches at home, the attraction was the icebergs pool at the far side of the beach which is pumped full of ocean water and built out into the sea from the cliffs, so that the ocean waves break against the walls and splash over into the pool! Being naive tourists, what we didn’t realise until we were told later was that it’s the most super hip, bourgeois place to go. So unsuspecting Cerise is sitting on the side of the icebergs pool in a baggy op shop swimsuit, armpit hair waving in the wind, breastfeeding Yilla (are you even allowed to do that here?) watching in amazement as dozens of women done up to the 9’s in full make-up and perfectly styled hair descend to the pool to take photos of each other doing sexy poses in designer swimsuits. I think we may have been the only people there who were simply swimming and playing! It felt a little unnatural, like, are we allowed to swim in this pool or is it just for photo shoots?! Needless to say it made for some GREAT people watching.
I found it almost impossible to buy groceries in Sydney. I had lined up a few different farmers markets along the way but we were just too busy and overwhelmed. On the way back from Bondi we stopped at UMU whole foods store with the intention to buy some groceries but I was just so overwhelmed by everything from the city that I walked in and my mind went blank. There was plenty of good organic food but we walked out with a handful of cookies. Woops, don’t know what happened there! But they were really really delicious Chocolate chip cookies.
The next day we tried to get into the central city using public transport. The plan was to take the bus to Bondi junction and quickly get some photos developed for our scrapbook and then catch the train into the CBD. I didn’t take our pram because I thought I could do it just using My ergo and a backpack. I tried to keep the backpack as light as possible but once we reached Bondi Junction there were all these little Asian market stalls on the street selling organic produce and I went abit overboard and stuffed my backpack full of strawberries, lychees, grapes and vege. The other thing I hadn’t anticipated was that the place where you get photos developed was at the very top of a 7 storey high massive shopping mall. Holy shit, talk about culture shock, you should have seen Yillas face when we walked in the door, and her jaw just hit the floor once she saw the escalators! As luck would have it we had an hour to wait for the photos to develop so I did a quick google for organic stores in the area and gingerly we made our way to Flannerys Wholefoods. What a safe haven! You walk through the door and just breathe a massive exhale of relief. It has EVERYTHING! It even has tempeh from my hometown!
Needless to say by the time we left Flannerys and went to collect the photos my backpack was chockers and furthermore my munchkin had fallen asleep on my chest. In total I was probably carrying more than half my body weight in food and Yilla. Definately time to scurry back to the safe haven of Deb’s house for a rethink.
Once we got back to the house and had feasted out on some fruit we got ready to try for round two of “Mission: Get to the frigging Opera House.” WITH the pram this time. No more packhorsing it today. We were just about to walk out the door to the busstop again when Ha’im saved us with “Why don’t you take the ferry? I’ll drive you!”. Wow what a gamechanger, I am so grateful Ha’im! The ferry ride to circular Quay was FANTASTIC and Yilla was just delighted by the experience. So was her Mama. Being on the sparkling water, salty air in your face, zooming past yachts and catamarans of all shapes and sizes with the silhouette of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge growing closer and closer. Wow. I think that was my favorite part of our time in Sydney.
Once we disembarked at Circular Quay we made our way through the throngs of people to the Opera House which was actually more or less deserted, apart from a young Japanese couple staging a wedding. I’m not sure if for real or for a photo shoot, the bride in a full length Victorian wedding dress. Ahh Sydney… but with the lack of people meant a perfect opportunity for a game of tag infront of the Opera House!
After taking the obligatory tourist snaps infront of these iconic landmarks, we headed to the relative peace and tranquility of the Sydney Botanic Gardens, and who do we find there but Pan!! The pagan horned God of all things sexy, cheeky, abundant and earthy (and from whom the Christian church derived their image for Satan). Pan is MY MAN and it was such a delight to pick the flowers of the gardens and construct a bouquet for him with Yilla. How often do you see statues and images of Christ or Mary (both great people sure!) but so rarely do the Old Gods get a look in!
Deb made us a really delicious sweet potato omelette for dinner that night and I was so grateful because I was so exhausted from the overstimulation of such a completely alien environment that I couldn’t even comprehend cooking. We slept like a log that night!
There was one place in Sydney that I really wanted to see before we left and that was McIvers ladies baths. It’s a natural pool that was carved out of the rock face on the ocean and it’s filled up by the ocean waves. Its just like a totally natural rock pool so there’s heaps of crabs and sealife clinging to the side. The really special thing about this place is that it’s a women’s only bath, sheltered from onlookers by the cliffs that surround it. It’s heritage listed, and near 150 years old. They started building in 1876 and it took 10 years to cut the pool out of the rock face! The fact that it’s women’s only and always has been is really special in Sydney because it means that women can go topless and nude and express themselves freely away from prying eyes. It’s popular with women from the Muslim and Jewish communities because they can swim without having to cover up. It’s just a Safehaven where no man can see you or judge you or sexualise you and you can just swim without feeling watched. Such a sanctuary. And all the women there just looked so happy and peaceful, which was a massive contrast to say, the women at Bondi Icebergs!
And so with that ticked off the list it was time to say goodbye to our new friends Deb and Ha’im, and hit the road again! They were incredibly generous and caring and Deb piled us high with gifts: Shabbat candles that were a family heirloom, a doll handknitted by her mother, a bubble wand, a big jar of her homemade muesli and a new cooking pot because I had run over my last one (don’t ask!). We were running seriously low on supplies so my plan was to stop in at Flannerys again and grab some things to see us through but Yilla fell asleep before we even got out of the driveway. To wake her up again could be disastrous. “Screw it.” I thought, and took the exit out of the city. So we left Sydney with a jar of rice, a jar of lentils, spices, oil and 3 bendy carrots, and absolutely no idea we would get our next restock of food. But the universe provides and you just gotta trust in the process, plus there’s always plenty of edible weeds if worse comes to worse.
Our destination was Berry, straight down the highway, but I couldn’t resist detouring through the Royal National Park and spending the afternoon at Wattamolla Beach. It’s an hour south of the city and obviously very popular, it costs $12 just to park your car! Well, worth it though, a gorgeous beachside lagoon fed by a lukewarm river, with a massive cliff that all the teenagers loved to jump off. I have never in my life seen a waterhole so crowded, and with everyone of every age, race, creed and religion. My favorite Wattamolla moment was watching a pair of elderly Muslim women in full length swimming burkas riding pink inflatable unicorns! What a scene! The water here was deliciously warm and the scenery stunning and the people watching hilarious!
Time really got away from us and by the time we got back to the car it was almost 6, woops! And still an hour away from Berry, with nothing to make for dinner. We motored down the highway and pulled in at The beautiful town of Kiama just as evening was setting in, to grab a Woodfired Mediterranean pizza and have dinner by the waters edge. It was the first time Yilla’s ever had pizza and she LOVED it. I’ve never seen her like that! A flock of seagulls started to gather around us and she clutched onto the pizza box for dear life screaming “No! No!” At them… well okay then, don’t get between a girl and her pizza!
20 More minutes down the highway and we finally pulled up into Berry Showground at 9pm, quickly threw everything off the bed and out the door of the van and fell into an exhausted sun-sand-pizza coma, completely oblivious as to what the Gods had in store for us the next day… but that’s to be continued in our next post: The Battle from Berry to Batemans Bay. Watch this space!
Food Oasis 