The market and Palmie

One more blog posting that from a couple of weeks ago. We rented a car for the weekend, and while we could have used it to venture much farther out, we decided just to make closer, more convenient trips, since there was plenty still to see more proximally. So Saturday included a day trip to Palm Beach. Like other Palm Beaches, this is also known for the nicer homes. It is a weekend getaway for the more affluent but includes a very nice publicly accessible beach. One of the current popular television shows is base here, at least in storyline.

The first photo is just snapped climbing out of the car. Not much doctoring required here. Just a lovely sunny beach away from town. Objects may be closer than they appear. There were more people than this photo lets on. What it also doesn't show is the strength of riptide. The incoming waves were pretty tough, but the undertow was like standing in an intermittent, fast-flowing, river.

The second photo is of the same coast line, a little further south as we took side roads and turnouts on the way back to the city. One of the beauties of Australian culture is utilitarianism. Take Ana's hat, for example. During the week, an ordinary flower pot holder.


This third photo is of the weekend market at the Rocks, a district just north of downtown. In fact, it is just a very short walk from one to the other, the difference being that the buildings become shorter, a good bit older, and a little more historically significant as you near the harbour (spelling as when in Rome). By the time you are at the north end of the market, as we were here in this photo, you are in the shadow of the Harbour Bridge. All the goodies that you would hope

to find in a market are here. Nothing that you need, a lot that you might want.


Finally we decided on something that we might want, a caricature of the kids. More for marking history than historically accurate, the drawing was whipped out in just a few minutes as one of the last efforts of the day. Ana likes it, and I hope others do as well. It includes a squiggle representing the Sydney Opera House, and a bridge in the background-- both great landmarks just a stones throw from this point. But Ryan looks to be about fourteen in the photo, and Trey, who just is on the verge of mastering running, holds a skateboard. But it was fun to get it, and I was surprised how well both of them held still for the artist.