December 19, 2025 Sydney, Australia
Our third day in Sydney, Australia is the final day of the Australian school year. Students now have a six-week break.
This morning at Bondi Beach, the North Bondi Surf Club organized a sunrise memorial which drew over 2,000 swimmer/surfers to paddle a short distance from shore to hold a minute of silence, remembering the victims of Sunday’s terrorist attack of the Jewish community at the Chanukah by the Sea Festival at Bondi Beach. The police gave the authorization to reopen the beach today. Fifteen people were killed and dozens injured on the December 14th early evening incident.
Checking news back home, we saw that there was a blizzard on Thursday which closed many schools and the universities. The visibility was reduced to only a few hundred meters at times when winds gusted to 76 kph or more. There was 15 to 20 cm of snow that fell in drifts on roads and streets. There were power outages. Motorists, even transit buses, were stranded in snow. Air traffic was affected with delayed or cancelled flights. We are glad that we departed before the storm arrived.
We were no rush to start our day. Our first destination was to get stamps at the Post Shop near Fitzroy Gardens by Kings Cross. The entrance to park has the beautiful El Alamein Fountain. To send a postcard to Canada requires a $3 stamp ($2.72 CAD). To send a postcard from Canada to Australia would cost $3.65.
Then, it was time for breakfast. The temperature was already 28°C at 9 a.m. We found a little café, Café de la Fontaine on Darlinghurst, that sold mini quiches and we ordered cappuccinos to go with them. We checked our map and Google Maps for a route to find the University of Technology Sydney Business School’s unique building in the Ultimo neighbourhood. Along the way, we passed the ANZAC (Australian New Zealand Army Corp) War Memorial erected in 1932. We had stopped for photos on the opposite side on a 2017 bicycle tour. We cooled off by cutting through the Market City.
It was a 40 minute walk to see the Dr. Chau Chak Wing Building designed by Frank Gehry. Its curved brickwork and other features were a complex challenge to build. It opened in February 2015. Not far away, just a five minute walk, was another intriguing building - 1 Central Park apartments. The architects had to devise a plan to shine sunlight into the existing park because the building’s height would block the sun most of the day. Next we walked to the Chinese Garden of Friendship taking about 20 minutes in the heat. Later checking online the temperature was 40°C at Noon!
We had enjoyed our visit to the Chinese Garden of Friendship on our last visit. The Garden, opened in 1988, was modelled after 5th century Chinese private gardens. It was relaxing and we found a quiet area to sit, where an occasional breeze blew across the pond filled with water lilies and Koi. Even though we stayed on the shady side of the streets, it was hot. We drained our water bottles, then continued the stroll through the garden. Points of interest were the views across the pond from each side, especially from the Clear View Pavilion and the Mountain Gate. It reminded us of the temples we visited in Japan.
We walked just five minutes to the Hay Street Market and indulged in large fruit smoothies for lunch. Our step count was 12,412.
We decided it was too hot to make the 35 minute walk to the Sydney Observatory. It was a 40 minute walk back to the hotel. On the route back we noticed a statue of Captain James Cook in Hyde Park that was erected just after Canada became a nation. We returned to the hotel about 3 p.m. It was great to walk into our 22°C hotel room. We had logged 11.53 km in less than five hours. The step count was 17,216.
Checking online a weather website stated: “Westerly winds and clear skies have allowed an extremely hot air mass to be driven across the Sydney Basin today, Friday December 19, 2025.”
The high temperature at 2 p.m. was 42°C, but some rain at the airport at 3 p.m. had cooled the temperature to 40°C.
This afternoon on news.com.au it was reported -“Australia is melting today in a heatwave that has the mercury hitting over 40°C for some — leading to a dark warning from the NRMA (National Roads and Motorists' Association).
The extreme heatwave is gripping much of southern Australia, which began on Thursday and is expected to last through to Sunday”, December 21, when we begin our six-week cruise from Sydney.
Since the sky looked like rain, we had a nice dinner in the quiet hotel dining room. There was a light rain as we ate our dinners.
We wrote some postcards and read.
It is cold today here. I went out and streets icy in spots and intersections too. Lindenwood W not plowed so humpy & lumpy! It has started to snow now so heavy snow forecasted and blowing snow advisory for this evening. I am sure you are thrilled to hear this. Hopefully it gets it all settled before Christmas week. Tara hasn’t been in, of course. Ralph got home on Tuesday, but not good news there. A good day to stay warm and finish Christmas emails. Enjoy the warm temperatures.❄️🎄
ReplyDelete