Walking in the Governor's Domain - Saturday in Sydney

It was Governor Lachlan Macquarie who established a 'Governor's Domain' in the centre of Sydney in 1810 as an area which was free from development and able to be used for recreation by the citizens of the city. 

This development, emerging from a society in transition, growing from a penal colony into an independent settlement, enabled a collection of, now, historic buildings and open spaces to be created in prime land between Sydney Cove, where the First Fleet landed and the developing Woolloomooloo district.

Today, we spend much of the morning and early afternoon exploring this part of the City, but before we go into the details of that. Here's how our morning began.

Morning

I wake up at the somewhat late time of 5.30am, though to be fair it was Midnight before we got to bed last night. I edit and title the photos from last night's amazing meal and upload them to Flickr.

Drew wakes at 6.30am, I make an espresso for each of us and after our ablutions we go down to breakfast at 8am. As well as our regular salad for Drew and fruit for me, we today make use of the Omelette Station in the hotel.

Drew's Salad

Haydn's Fruit and Nuts

Drew opts for a cheese, onion and chilli Omelette, which is firm and well cooked.

Drew's Omelette

Haydn's fried meat

I opt for a cheese, ham, onion, spinach and chilli Omelette and it was very, very tasty. 

Haydn's Omelette

Breakfast concluded we had back up to room for 9am, so that as midnight passes in the UK I can wish my brother in law, Martin, a happy birthday. 

Into the Governor's Domain

At 9.15am we leave the hotel and follow the route outlined in the map below:

We walked from our hotel at Potts Point to the edge of the area of the Governor's Domain. We walk through Cook and Philip Park through to the Cathedral of St. Mary.

We arrive at 9.35am and leave at 10.20am - but manage to take a great number of photos in that time. As usual they are all on Flickr - but these are a sample of them in the video below.

Our next destination in the Governor's Domain is Hyde Park, famed as Australia's oldest park. There is so much to see here, including:

• Archibald Memorial Fountain – A fountain featuring water pouring down 4 tiers of shallow, pebbled surfaces, surrounded by ferns. The fountain is flanked on both sides by pedestrian walkways with stairs, and it is in a park in the city. 
• John Baptist Fountain – A large, circular, shallow, orange pool with 20 jets of water rising from it is in a circular lawn surrounded by amphitheatre-like steps, some of which are planted with flowers. At the top of the steps are walkways covered in pergolas supporting vines, and beyond that are tall trees.
• The Emden Gun - A large, granite and sandstone memorial drinking fountain stands on a street corner. It has decorative elements including Tuscan columns, a Greek key relief, carved drapery above an inscription, and a geometric domed roof. Behind it are several skyscrapers.
• Yininmadyemi – Four enormous bullets stand beside three enormous shells, which lie fallen, in Hyde Park. The ground around the sculpture is marked with a circular shape filled with a wavy pattern, and there are trees and buildings in the background – this is called in the native tongue Yininmadyemi meaning ‘Thou didst let fall’
• Anzac Memorial - A war memorial, museum and monument located in Hyde Park South near Liverpool Street in the CBD of Sydney, Australia. The Art Deco monument was designed by C. Bruce Dellit, with the exterior adorned with monumental figural reliefs and sculptures by Rayner Hoff, and built from 1932 to 1934 by Kell & Rigby.

All of which are depicted in the Video below:

Queen Victoria Building

From Hyde Park we walked past the Sydney Town Hall 

and on to the QVB, as the locals call it, the Queen Victoria Building. First a market, then a police court, it was restored to its grandeur in 1986. It is a mall, but a mall with a high ceiling and old furnishings. An excellent mix of the old and the new. With a statue of Queen Victoria, that the Irish Government was happy to give away to Sydney!

We enjoyed the walk around the QVB, but Drew noted that perhaps our sister-in-law didn't know us well enough as we are more likely to be seen buying clothes and shoes from Primark and Shoe Zone, not from boutique places. That being said, there was an ASICS store, which is Drew's preferred running show provider - so, Elaine clearly does know his taste.

We stopped at 11.45 on floor two for a delicious and decorus cup of tea, they were both served in china cups and had enough tea for two cups. It was Chai Indian Spice Black Tea for me

and Dragon Pearls White Tea for Drew

We left at 12.30pm with our next destination being away from the Governor's Domain across the Pyrmont Bridge to the part of the City known as Darling Harbour.

Darling Harbour

Darling Harbour and its environs are a very distinctive part of the City. It has a lively, some might say buzzing waterside, but still retains its small, intimate feel.

We hadn't realised when we got to the entrance to Darling Harbour, the Pyrmont Bridge, that it opened to let vessels into the upper harbour - called Cockle Bay. We soon found out, as we were half way across bells started ringing and hooters started blaring. As we stepped off the bridge the security guys closed the gates and the bridge began to move.

It was good fun to watch, it has been years since I have been on a bridge which opens for vassals.

Maritime Museum

Sydney's Maritime Museum is in this area and while we didn't visit it in detail, we were very impressed by the well maintained ship from the sailing era called the HMS John Louis.

And another which is a replica of a ship of an earlier era, the HMB Endeavour.

We leave Darling Harbour from the North, coming to an area called Paddy's Markets, where we buy our Sydney Postcards and catch the Light Railway (L) 1, this is a tram to you and me

to the outside of Central Station from there we caught the train to Kings Cross arriving at our hotel at 3pm after another busy but enjoyable day.

We were in Darling Harbour again that evening for another exception meal - but more about that on my next post.

Is it fish or is it meat - exciting eating at Josh Niland's St. Peter

Tonight's meal was in St. Peter at the Grand National Hotel, the recently opened venue for the St. Peter Restaurant which has been on the Sydney food scene since 2016.

The Chef Patron of this place is Josh Niland, a well known Australian chef and restaurateur. He is a pioneer of whole fish cookery, who has gained renown for the nose-to-tail approach to seafood he promotes. 

Photo from the National Geographic Magazine

Niland's career helped him develop fish-cutting skills and he focuses on cooking a variety of fish in very different ways. He has worked in world-renowned restaurants like Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck. 

He says of himself:

“My mission is to bring desirability to the whole fish. It is neglectful, ignorant and plain ridiculous that across the world, over half of fish is tossed in the bin.”

Josh Niland has been in the top 100 Chefs in the World for the last three years.

It was my sister who told me about Niland and encouraged me to try his restaurant - I'm so very glad she did. Given it was Friday, fish day, it was just the right place to be this evening. The food was exceptional and mind-bending, in a good way.

Fish or Meat

What is most exceptional about Niland's style of cooking is that he plays with what fish can be, to such an extent that your eyes and your mind seem at times to be at conflict. Sometimes they seem in agreement - and are both wrong - astounding.

We began with Coral Trout Noodle Soup. It was gentle, warm yet meaty in flavour, yet no meat had been used in its production!

Then came, what may be the pièce de résistance of the night, his Queensland Fish Butchery Charcuterie dish.

This was:

• Queensland Fish Butchery Charcuterie Murray Cod Chorizo
• Swordfish Toulouse Sausage
• Yellowfin Tuna Salami
• Rock Flathead Mortadella
• Yellowfin Tuna 'Nduja in an olive
• Smoked Bar Cod Roe Tart with nori gel
• John Dory Liver Pâte Tart with fig gel

with a pickle and chilli added

Yes, read that list again, and look at the photo below. Every one of those things that looks like something else, and tastes like something else is fish not meat.

The food is clearly designed to play with your mind!! Each one distinctive and delightful and you can play with my mind, sight and palette as much as you like if it is all going to be this exceptional. My sister asked me if it was as good as it looked - I replied: "No, better!". Astonding.

St. Peter's offers a non-alcoholic drinks pairing for which we opted. The first drink was a non-alcoholic Vermouth with wormwood and ginger, sadly my phone decided to crash immediately after I took that photo and it didn't save it! 

Here we have the second drink of the evening. A Pineapple, coconut cream with pineapple skin turned into a verjuice with a pineapple sage leaf - a delicious and sharp combination with the fish which follows.

This dish was Fish, bread and butter! What you ask? What indeed! 

It was a new South Wales Salt & Vinegar Line Caught Blue Mackerel, with Gordal Olives Oil and Olive Brine and a Fiore Bread with Cultured Butter. We were instructed by the waiter in the order of eating for the best flavour. It is dip bread in oil, add butter and fish then insert in mouth.

The tingling in the mouth and on the tongue, a gentle, light fish, but with a tangy flavour when eaten as instructed above.

This was followed by our third drink - Pumpkin Sake. It wasn't our favourite flavour. Made from pumpkin, pumpkin seeds, sweet non-alcoholic sake, blackened honey and wattleseeds, it tastes to us like watered down cough medicine!

But we didn't mind so much as being this close, a few feet, to the action in the kitchen we could be distracted as we prepared for the next course.

This was called: Southern Calamari Yellowfin Tuna 'Nduja and was again mind blowing.  

The calamari was barbequed then cut very fine and turned into what looked like spaghetti. With the tuna 'nduga the dish tastes and looks like Spaghetti Bolognese yet is Calamari and yellow tuna nduja!! It was so amazing to look at and delightful to eat that my photo of it was only of the used plate:

Thankfully someone else has had it before and a photo of an uneaten version can be seen on their instagram account via this link 

The next drink was sharp and tangy - Australian Lemongrass soda, lemon verjuice, tonic water and rosemary. No this is much more to my taste

It was served with charcoal Garfish with Nasturtium, Romanesco and Smoked Eel Butter. A lemony taste comes through from somewhere and gives a tanginess to a tasty piece of fish which carries the strong flavours of the eel reall well, or as Drew insists, it was 'Eeely, Eeely Good'.

Just to prove how much Drew was enjoying himself, here he is looking very happy with the next drink which on paper doesn't sound like it should work: Beetroot, eucalyptus and koji! Yet this interesting mix of flavours works wonderfully with the food that follows.

Contrary to what your eyes might suggest this is not a piece of lamb rather it is a Six Day, Dry Aged, Yellowfin Tuna with Spring Vegetables, Black Garlic and Macadamia nuts. THe spring vegetables are asparagus and garden peas which with the black garlic puree, potato and cashew ball provides a great foil for the tuna which is flavoured like a spring lamb with a crust of pepper and spices rolled outside it. Tuna isn't my favourite fish, but here the flavours of the purees, sauces and spices make it very palatable, amazing.

Our next drink is quince, lemon vinegar and carrottop leaf, yes, sharp, sharp and sharp again. It was wonderfully dry and crisp, perfect to offset the sorbets which were to be eaten with it.

The next dish was called Queensland Selection of Native Fruits and included no-fish! Rather it was a selection of sorbets from local fruits - the smallest one is Lemon Aspen, the next largest Desert Lime, the next Quandong Muntries and the largest Davidson Plum. They were served over dry ice, giving great theatre to the expereince. 

Here is a post-dry ice picture.

I've tasted three of these flavours four before in the other two restaurants - Quay in Sydney and Wildflower in Perth - but each has its own distinctive - and tart - flavour which got little groans of delight from each of us as we ate them. I'm not a dessert lover, but I could have eaten a few more of these.

Following the palette cleanser the main dessert was Lemon Meringue Tart with very Good Cream. The meringue element was barbequed with a coal at the table for effect. This was far to sweet for me - so Drew managed the whole tart and all the cream and was happily licking his lips at the end.

Our final drink of the evening was lemon juice, strawberry and non-alcoholic rice wine and rosso. It was designed as a lovely gentle taste, balancing the tartness of the tart. Though it was also very tasty on its own.

The Petite Fours are called on the menu: New South Wales Sweets of the Sea.

They are from right to left

• Kaluga Caviar Canelé 
• Jannygai Eye Crème Brulé 
• Smoked Chocolate, Bones and Fat 

Yes, you heard it, caviar in a canele - an inspired idea, so delicious. The second used the collagen naturally found in fish eyes to replace the chicken eggs which normally bind a custard of this kind. Finally the chocolate delight has a rich and tasty centre, the title tells you what it was made of, the taste didn't suggest either bones or fat! 

Each of them were little bombs of fishy goodness.

We finished dinner at nine and walked back to the hotel which is just off Kings Cross. Drew had brought his posh lens with him, so here is a shot of the centre of Kings Cross at night.

And here is the iconic Coke sign at the heart of this part of the City.

As we walked home we chatted about the experience of St. Peter's. It was such an exceptional place to eat, which the space in the dining room is not large, meaning we were closer to other people than we would be in most good restaurants, that really didn't matter as the quality and unexpectedness of both the food and the drink meant that your focus was on that not the people to right or left of us.

There are times when food is a comfort and solace, times when it is just to fill a gap in the stomach, times when it can challenge and make us reflect and times, like, tonight when it can stun you into thinking in all new ways about how we cook and use ingredients as common, yet as amazing as the fish of the sea. Josh Niland you are a genius, I'm so glad we have learnt the lesson.

Beaches and Cemeteries - An unusual day in Sydney

There are those who might say I am weird, and they might well be right! But today is a day which might convince [Co-pilot's note: I, dear readers, am amazed at his audacity in using the word 'might'. It should say WILL CONVINCE!] anyone that I am somewhat unusual. In one day we combine the fun of what is often described as the "Paradise found in the heart of Bondi Beach, a sun-soaked haven on the coast" with another type of hope for paradise found in the amazingly large (over a million 'residents') Rookwood Cemetery.

But before I get into the details of a day of two halves let's start with the morning.

Morning

Having got to bed at Midnight last night, I was awake later than usual this morning at 6.30am. I had the pleasure of editing and uploading the photos from last night's meal, meaning that for the first time on this holiday I have managed to keep Flickr right up to date. So, if the delayed blogging doesn't suit you head to Flickr for the latest adventures we are having. Note Flickr has two views - 'date uploaded' and 'date taken' - for these purposes it is always better to have the latter selected as photos often load in reverse order, and all the photos from the camera load before the ones from our mobile phones, so the 'uploaded' view can be confusing and out of time order, whereas the date taken view isn't.

To celebrate having all the photos uploaded, I took another photo of the amazing view we have from our room in the hotel.

Breakfast

I mentioned the blog being a bit behind, well here I am on Wednesday writing about last Friday (but still on catch-up mode). So, it was a Friday Breakfast that started this day. And, of course, the Catholic tradition is not to eat meat on Friday to honour the sacrifice Jesus made by dying on the cross for our salvation. 

The hotel made the non-meat eating very easy as there were two new dishes on the breakfast selection. Umpa, a cashew nut and semolina breakfast dish from India (at the top of the plate) and Poha, made from curry leaves, peas, peppers (at the bottom) along with sauteed vegetables, scrambled egg and a tomato. It turned out that the indian dishes were tastier than lots of meats, while still being meat free. 

Going to Bondi

After breakfast we left the hotel at 9.25am. Bondi Junction, the nearest station to Bondi is only two stops away from Kings Cross, a very short journey arriving at 9.35am. 

We walked to the beach and feel that sense of belonging which comes when you go somewhere which you feel you have known for many years. Bondi, because of its representation in so many films and TV series is one of these. Fans of Australian TV will remember Bondi Rescue and Made in Bondi among many others.  

Here are out shots of this well-known and much loved beach. Note it is early in the day, so there are only four or five surfers in the water, it gets busier as the day progress. 

From Bondi to Coogee

On my brother's or sister in law's (they have different recollections of who suggested it first) recommendation we aren't just coming to Bondi today, but going further. Joining the Bondi to Coogee Coastal Path for what appears to be a wonderful walk beside or just above the sea. 

The route is outlined here:

A very pretty walk, with lots of spaces to stop and take photos, here are 50 of ours, there are far more on Flickr!

At 11.30am we stop at Tamarama Beach for coffee

and a pee

And carry on to Coogee having an excellent walk which finishes at 1.18pm with us catching the B374 Bus from Arden St, Coogee to go 22 stops to Central Station, Sydney.

At 1.49pm we arrive and walk the 100 meters from the bus stop to Central Station. We have been through this station once before, but only from one platform to another, only when walking across from outside do you realise what a huge station this is. the 6 different train lines converge on 26 platforms along with the metro (underground), trams (light railway and bus network. A great example of integrated traffic.

We then catch the T1 on platform 18 to Lidcombe at 1.55pm and arrive at 2.15pm.

Visiting Rookwood Cemetery

Why are we here? 

This morning when I got up I saw a What's App from my sister. As she realised I was in Sydney she was refreshing herself about the family connection here. I don't think I've mentioned it on the blog to date, but my maternal Grandfather (i.e. My Mam's Dad) was born and died in New South Wales, managing to fit a few years, a wife and three children into his time in Old South Wales.

I don't know the exact dates of my Australian grandfather's time in Wales, but I know he was a merchant navy man who married my grandmother (Nanny as she was known to us, to distinguish her from our paternal grandmother whom we called Gramma) in Port Talbot, moved to Swansea and, either shortly before or shortly after my mother was born, wafted back to sea and to his homeland. With Nanny receiving his death certificate with a Christmas card from his sisters in the year he died, 1949.

What my sister had discovered was new information to all three of us siblings. This was that our grandfather, Horace Richmond Emmerton, was buried in Sydney. She had found a notice on google stating:

A side note, the mention of a mother's surname means that his parents weren't married at the time. Something which was true of his wife to be Anne Emmerton (nee Atkins). So, two of my four grandparents were bastards, at a time when that was a barrier to many aspects of life!  

As soon as I completed my photo uploading this morning, I reread the What's App and went to Google Maps to see where Rookwood Cemetery was and how easy it might be to get there. 

I then searched for my grandfather's grave on the Cemetery website. It was really easy to find:

So I had a section number - 5, a zone - D and a grave number 2279. So, it seemed to good an opportunity, being here in Sydney to go and track the grave down.

On arriving at Rookwood Cemetery, I was able to click a link on the cemetery website, that said directions. 

This used Google maps to plot a route through the cemetery to the grave with the details above. Naturally being gps it wasn't accurate to the foot, but it was easy to find the general location and search in more detail.

Rookwood is a large cemetery with sections for Jewish people, Catholics, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Anglicans, Independants and non-denominational people. On route to my grandfather's grave we took some photos of some of the most impressive memorials, as you can see below.

Once in the area where Google Maps indicated my grandfather was buried, the detailed search began. Luckily some of the graves have numbers on them, but by no means all, after about 15 minutes we had worked out the way the numbers ran and were able to identify my grandfather's grave - even though the gravestone was very worn.

It turns out that he was buried with his brother Cameron who died five years after him. I'd not heard anything about a brother, only knowing that he had two school teacher sisters, the last one who died having left a small legacy to my mother and her siblings back in the 1970s.

I stood for a few moments and prayed for my Grandfather, his, unknown brother Cameron, plus my Nanny and their three children, Frank, Maureen and my mam Jean - all now gone to the Lord.

Return to Potts Point

Having had the wonderful, and completely unexpected, experience of visiting my grandfather's grave, a grave I didn't know existed here until eight or nine hours ago, we walked up to the cemetery bus stop and a few minutes later the bus arrived for a 3.50pm departure. 

The driver of the bus spotted Drew taking a photo of it as it pulled in (see above) and got out of his seat and ushered Drew in to it, so we now have photos of Bus Driver Drew!

The Friendly Driver continued to chat to us until it was time to leave and we then travelled the four stops with him to Flemington, where we changed from the bus to the train,

Catching the 3.58pm T2 service back to Town Hall where we arrived at 4.28pm. From Town Hall at 4.31pm we were at Kings Cross at 4.38pm. Time to go up to the room by 4.40pm, ready to shower and change and head back out for dinner this evening, leaving the hotel at 5.10pm for our walk to the restaurant. But more about that visit with its fishy delights in the next post.