The leaving of Sydney

A moving on day - but we started with breakfast at La Buvette and then a wander through the Potts Point Saturday market (where this man was selling beeswax food wrappings) down to Elizabeth Bay Marina and up back through the tiny, but rather delightful MacEhlone Reservation (basically a miniature park). We'll miss Potts Point and its quirky urban habits such as Saturday markets and a bookshop (see extra). Back at the apartment we finished packing, called a taxi and headed off to wait for our Greyhound Bus at Central Station (see extra). Apparently, we should have got a Murray's bus, as these are more comfortable than the Greyhounds, but we weren't to know.

Anyway, the bus was quite empty, and pretty much on time. As we drove towards the south west out of Sydney and eventually up on to the plateau where Canberra is situated various things became clear. The land is parched. The grass has gone. And the hints of spring that were strong in the air in Sydney are not here. We arrived in Canberra to (much needed) rain and squalls and the rain continued during the night. They need months and months of rain to make up for the prolonged drought, especially in the east of the country, and to rebuild the water table which has practically disappeared as a result of the type of farming methods that the Australians seem fond of. They also need to regenerate the land by penning off areas which are allowed to recover (there's some discussion of this in the article I have linked to). There was quite a bit of chat about all of that at dinner last night, as I was quite shocked by the contrast with Queensland, which looks very green in comparison, even though the effects of deforestation there are hardly positive. Canberra is basically savanna grassland. Except the grass disappeared months ago, so it's now just dry dusty ground, and it's too cold now for the grass to grow.

Anyway, we were met at the bus station by SW and NE, and whisked off to our accommodation, SW having kindly procured the key yesterday. It's classic university housing - reasonably comfortable, whilst still a bit spartan. And absolutely freezing until we got the heater going (i.e. used the air conditioner in reverse as a warm air fan). The insulation is absolutely zero. It's definitely not something Australians should be proud of. The contrast with Finland could not be more complete.

The Sydney album on flickr is now complete.

Dinner was a tasting menu which was pretty good, although perhaps the cooking wasn't quite as good as they thought it was, and the wine pairing was a bit weak. Afterwards for a drink in what should probably described as an (over-)styled bar. A decent sleep in a bigger bed, as the room got progressively colder overnight!