Sydney

 Let me just say that Sydney is by far the worst city to drive in of all the major cities in Australia. There are some freeways that are not free, but if you approach from the north or west, it's usually a winding hilly narrow street with two lanes in each direction. Of course, there are semi-trailers and buses to contend with as well. Red lights abound as well as speed cameras and 40 kph zones outside schools. Pedestrians have the absolute right of way on zebra crossings.  

It's always busy and particularly horrible at rush hour. If you are staying in an inner suburb or near a train station, parking is impossible. So the answer is not to bring your car to Sydney. Since we had to, we found an Airbnb that offered free off-street parking and except for driving for a couple of miles to restaurants for dinner, we did not use our car.

Here is a link to the listing. Since it is run by the Salvation Army, they don't allow booze but we simply had wine at the restaurants where we dined.

The local station, Stanmore, was just 200 meters away. Train service in Sydney is very frequent and the carriages are comfortable.

Just to prove we were in Sydney.

We took a ferry to Watson's Bay and here is the view back to the sky-scrapers.

A seaplane at Rose Bay. Believe it or not, this was Australia's first International Airport when Qantas started Sydney to London flights that used seaplanes in 1938. More history here.

A toilet block at Watson's Bay. It's quite common for toilet blocks to be painted with murals.

The Gap, just a short distance from the ferry terminal. Unfortuntely, it's a popular place to commit suicide and there are numerous signs prompting severely depressed people to call and seek help.

View of the Harbour.

View of the Harbour spoiled by two interlopers.

Taking the ferry back to Circular Quay.

Those pesky interlopers are back.

A seaplane taxiing out to take off.

Almost airbourne.

Up in the air.

As we walked from the station back to Stanmore House, we passed Montague Gardens.

It's a very shady area with very old trees and it would be a pleasant place in Summer.

There are numerous swings for children and looks like a restful place. The suburb of Stanmore appears to be a quiet and peaceful inner suburb, except when planes form nearby Sydney Airport fly over.

We enjoyed staying at Stanmore House and I suspect we will contine to stay there when we visit Robin in future.