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We left Melbourne on the train, arriving late in the evening in Sydney and glad to get to our hotel and relax. We had many plans and were keen to  start. After breakfast the next morning we set off across the park to the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Our first plan was to see the Archibald Art Prize portraits. This annual exhibition, begun in 1921, is judged by the Trustees of the gallery. The first part is the Young  Archie Prize featuring paintings by children of a relative. They were so expressive and well done! Many of the entries in the Archibald Prize seemed painted to startle or shock, not intrigue and please, unlike the junior artists.

Then to the main event. The Archibald Prize was won by Tony Costa for his portrait of artist Lindy Lee but the real attraction was the Packing Room Prize. Chosen annually by the staff who receive, unpack and hang the works, Perth artist Tessa MacKay’s portrait of David Wenham  was so popular it was difficult to see. It shows him looking out of a cafe window with the buildings opposite reflected in the cafe windows.

Apart from the fabulous art I was amazed by the picture window overlooking Woolloomooloo Bay and the Garden Island Naval Dockyard. Such a view; we sat and admired it, along with many other visitors. Also did a lap of the Gallery Shop and bought a scarf.

After the rain and cold weather in Melbourne I found Sydney warm and sunny so went next door to an arcade for a pedicure. Then I could wear sandals! Also realised I often have a photo of my feet when we are traveling, so it’s pretty obvious I only have pedicures when we’re away!

That night we had the pleasure of being joined for dinner by a cousin and spent a really enjoyable evening.

To Circular Quay the next morning. My husband’s company was in Goldfields House for years, but now it’s just a hole in the ground! Waited for our ferry then set off for the Maritime Museum and some sight seeing. Caught the light rail back to Martin Place then walked to our hotel.

Headed down Elizabeth Street to David Jones Department Store to see the floral installations and window displays. This event has been running for 34 years and attracts a crowd every year. Each featured different coloured blooms and they were all gorgeous!

Ate dinner locally and wished we hadn’t as I woke in the early morning really ill and my husband followed soon after.  We spent the next three days recovering and that really curtailed our holiday in Sydney.

The last afternoon in Sydney I was well enough to walk around parts of the Royal Botanical Gardens.

The honey from these beehives is sold in the garden shop to help fund future projects in the garden.

The garden is close to the thriving business area of Sydney but is calm and quiet and full of birds and insects. Such a lovely garden.

Still not feeling really well we decided to fly to Brisbane rather than face the rigours of long train travel. Sad about all the things we’d planned to do in Sydney and didn’t do due to illness, but we will return one day to compete our planned day trips.

If your birthday is on the 26th of September, Happy Birthday for yesterday. You were born on the most common day of the year for a birthday in the UK, NZ, USA and Australia. Count back nine months and you might understand why this happens! My Mother, who has a birth date close to the 26th, will party for the next two weeks as so many people she knows share similar birth dates, too.

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We live in Western Australia and we’re closer to Bali or Singapore than most eastern states capitals. We decided it was time to fly to east, starting at Melbourne and then do train trips to get to know more about the state. Later, we went to Sydney and Brisbane, too.

Jumped on a tram to do a loop of the city blocks to familiarise ourselves with the area. Off at the Queen Victoria Market and bought strawberries, goats cheese, some brie, a Portuguese tart a vanilla slice and nougat. This was our bed picnic for the night.

We visited the National Gallery of Victoria and enjoyed 16th-18th century British and European paintings, their International Collection of 19th and 20th century works,Australian Impressionists, fabulous glassware and also Japanese ceramics. Great exhibitions.  We took trains and trams almost everywhere; not something you can easily do in Perth. The tram system is very efficient at moving masses of people and it is very cheap. In fact, the central city area is free.

Wandered around the Alexandria Garden after a long lunch.

Set off for Bendigo on the train.  A booming gold town from 1850-1900, it became for a while the world’s richest city thanks to gold. The architecture remaining from this era is wonderful to see. The Chinese also arrived with the gold rush and there’s gardens and buildings remaining in the Chinese precinct. There’s lovely old buildings along the main streets and well established parkland but we were there mainly to visit the Bendigo Art Gallery.

We went for the Balenciaga Exhibition, curated by the V and A. Cristobal Balenciaga, a Spaniard, was an influential and innovative 20th century designer. His designs were sculptural and focused on the silhouette and fitting shapes to the fabric. His exquisite craftsmanship is apparent in all the clothes on display. He wanted women to be bold, striking and interesting.

The exhibition included sketches, photographs, fabric samples and catwalk footage, plus modern technological demonstrations of pattern making. All fabulous.

This Balenciaga piece could be worn as a skirt or a cape.  I am wearing it as a cape, the most luxurious piece of clothing I have ever worn! It was intended to be worn over a very straight, fitted dress, not my traveling top and trousers with boots made for walking, not glamorous nights at the opera! This exhibition showed how Balenciaga often designed his clothes  after he’d chosen the fabric.

To the Old Treasury Building in Melbourne to see the Wayward Woman exhibition, Fascinating history of women in the early settlement of Victoria. Also interesting was the history of the building and the development of this area of Melbourne.

Melbourne is all about food. This restaurant, di Stasio, advertises in the Weekend Australian magazine so we booked before the trip and were delighted with our lunch. Old fashioned service and decor, fresh, carefully prepared food. Worth waiting years to eat here.

The next day we ate at their new restaurant, Citta, and really enjoyed it, too. Different decor but the same carefully selected and presented food. Finished off with a long walk in the Fitzroy Gardens.

Melbourne is all about food. There’s amazing food everywhere and it is generally well priced. Almost every laneway bulged with interesting cafes and bars spilling out from the buildings.

The Royal Botanic Gardens are accessible and beautiful. We had only allowed two hours including the tour we’d rung and confirmed the previous day.  When we arrived we were told the tours were off for the rest of the day, no reason, bad luck. The couple behind us, also tourists, had pre-paid, so not at all pleased. It was such a shame as there’s so much to see but we didn’t have enough time.

The next day we took the train from Melbourne to Sydney. We’d decided to do this to see the countryside, but it was exhausting. The train was late, stopped frequently waiting for clearances, the food limited and way too hot. Relieved to arrive in Sydney. although quite sad to leave Melbourne. There’s so much to see and do and I’m sure we will be returning one day.

Today is CONCUSSION AWARENESS DAY. Now recognised as having serious long term consequences we need to ask the person who is possibly concussed these questions. Do they have a headache, did they lose consciousness, decide if they appear confused or are they slow processing information? If you see any of these symptoms, seek professional advice.

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