Thursday 10 June 2010

'...Peas, pudding and saveloys!...'*

(*'Food Glorious Food' from 'Oliver' by Lionel Bart)

Ae and I decided to have a Seniors day and take a ferry trip up the Parramatta River but on arrival at Circular Quay we found the 11am service had been cancelled because of a low tide and the next scheduled service was not due until 12.50pm so we took the Cockatoo Island service instead and disembarked at Woolwich. We enjoyed walking the leafy and quiet streets of Hunters Hill which are a distinct difference from the high traffic Eastern Suburbs streets where we live.
We ended up at the Woolwich Pier Hotel where we enjoyed a leisurely lunch (Barramundi, fries and salad for me and Beef Bourguignon Pot Pie for Ae) surrounded by fellow seniors and mothers with young children. We didn't realise until we checked out the upstairs section after our meal that it contained an open fire which was perfect for a cold day but the skylight downstairs had provided us with sufficient warmth anyway.
After lunch we walked back down the hill to the Woolwich Wharf to await a return ferry.
A view of the wharf and down the Parramatta River towards the Central Business District in the distance (mid-left).
Our ferry for the return journey, 'Friendship', arriving at the wharf.

(Click all photos to enlarge.)

5 comments:

  1. Sounds like a wonderful day. One question: I thought that tides were predictable. Shouldn't the schedule have reflected that in advance? Or is there some other unforeseen phenomenon that exaggerated the tide on this particular day resulting in the cancellation of the otherwise scheduled ferry?

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  2. wcs - You are correct and the cancellation was foreseen by Sydney Ferries but we hadn't bothered to check the timetables.

    My mention of Seniors day is a reference to the Seniors Card that we oldies (over 60) get that enables us to travel anywhere around greater Sydney for $2.50 a day. So we often decide to travel somewhere, in reality anywhere as some sort of mystery trip, without checking details beforehand simply because we don't have to worry about destination specific tickets or bookings.

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  3. What a beautiful clear sky after so much rain.

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  4. Andrew - strong overnight winds helped.

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