As most of us are aware, Sydney is often referred to as ‘The Emerald City’. But on a warm autumn day, like the day we arrived, it has to be ‘The Sapphire City’ – for the light and the sapphire blue water positively sparkled. To co-opt the title of a favourite BBC show of yesteryear, it felt like ‘Last of the Summer Wine’, because, as everyone in Sydney knows, we were pushing our luck to have warm sunshine in mid-May, with a decidedly cooler and wetter forecast to move in for the onset of Winter (June 1). It all started so well but got decidedly more wintry as the week progressed… ending in a drenching. Oh well, it was great while it lasted. 

We were back in town for a week, taking advantage of ridiculously cheap airfares from Cairns – the airlines (all of ‘em) gouged out customers over the Easter break and school holidays, making trips along the eastern seaboard out of reach for many – though of course, once kids are back in school, the fares come tumbling down. Our fares were A$105 each way! 

The sun, as mentioned, shone brightly for the first few days, so where better to be than on the harbour, heading for Manly. I never get tired of a ferry ride out of bustling Circular Quay – the greedy seagulls hovering in the wind, the slight salty tang of the air, the clean breeze off the water… it’s magical. As is pulling out into the harbour and heading towards the Heads, picking up the swell from the open ocean with the city skyline receding into the white foam.

In the 1920’s the Port Jackson & Manly Steamship Company in promoting Manly as a tourist destination coined the phrase, ‘Seven Miles from Sydney and a Thousand Miles from Care’. It couldn’t be more apt as it’s a world away from busy downtown Sydney and really quiet on the late midweek morning we were there. A walk through the palm tree lined Corso connects the harbour with the ocean and, right at the end, is the Hotel Steyne, first built on the beachfront of Manly in 1859 – with this iteration of the pub (after a couple of devastating fires) built in 1923. Today it’s been completely rejuvenated into an uber contemporary ‘gastro pub’ with the roof top ‘Miami Rice (get it?) & Beach Club’ overlooking the ocean and the Norfolk Island Pines (my favourite trees). It serves fresh Asian inspired bites. A real find! Predictably though, moody storm clouds loomed on the horizon on our return ferry ride to the city and rain began to set in…Last of the Summer Wine indeed. Winter is coming…

We initially stayed in Surry Hills with our great chums C&M, in their lovely self-contained ‘gîte’, our bolt hole for a couple of nights. So good to be back in the hood – our home of 15 years was just around the corner across South Dowling Street in Paddington. Surry Hills is as cool and hip as ever, packed with funky cafes and restaurants and now with the tram running along Devonshire Street, it’s a convenient hop to downtown and Circular Quay. 

The other great revelation since last in Sydney is the opening up of Barangaroo, the harbourside walkway and skyscraper development that first began in 2003 with a vision to transform the old disused container terminal into a vibrant urban waterfront district of the CBD, taking in parts of The Rocks, The Hungry Mile (where workers would walk from wharf to wharf in search of a job) and Darling Harbour, all the way along to China Town. Today, the walkway encompasses some 2.7 kilometres, with more to come, of gleaming modern towers, a greatly extended ferry terminal, a gorgeous hillside park with views of the Harbour and the Bridge and with a long strip of bars and restaurants – all packed in the mid-morning sunshine.

Dare I say it. What with the shiny Metro system opened and connecting far and wide, the trams running down George Street and beyond, Barangaroo tantalisingly close to being complete and the city scape almost clear of cranes… Sydney is looking rather fabulous.