Miranda Fair



I have been addicted to paper and stationary supplies basically my entire life.  Well, that and fossils.  My supply of colored gel pens and onion skin style writing paper, sketch pads.. and erasers, paints, self inking stamps, drawing pencils....probably if I had my way would have been decorated with an Ammonite used as a paper weight. 

Course then in messing around with fossils, I was introduced to forensics, which is a different story....

...So, back in Cronulla the next day, we visited Miranda Fair Shopping Centre, which is in a word, large.  This is where I discovered Smiggle.

What can I say. 

What I had not realized is that the paper related goods at the Australia Post store in Sydney the girls were somewhat taken with, and that I thought were kinda cool the day before, were also Smiggle.  Really its a neat place.



Stationary related stuff everywhere.

And the word Scribble, posted in big letters above one section.  What could be better?  Floppy silicon paint dribble book marks, huge colored paper clips, giant calculators, pencils adorned with Unicorns and robots...

Then I found a Swedish paper store!

well, actually, it was a home organizational store, but it did have writing pads, recipe books, photo albums... lots of 70's style woodland pictures all over them...

Funky mushrooms...cute fawns... in 'interesting' flat colors. 

yeah, that stuff... I think it was quite popular back then.

Incidently, the woodland theme has been all over paper arts related items in the last couple of years. I haven't seen it for awhile now in new product in the craft industry, possibly over it now? 

...and bags for laptops etc... all the colors revolved around the earthy, bit of a contrast from Smiggle.

So after that, I found something to really round it all out. Something that would appeal to most of my interests in a book store...

...along with several other books that might appeal to certain  people, though I myself am not into knitting or crochet..

Criminal crafts written by someone know as Miss Demeanor, might be one of those break the ice books of interest sitting on my coffee table... not sure yet.

Yesterday we visited one of our most memorable stops before leaving to go back to the US.  I'd visited there a couple of times, though not for years, I had to take the girls to visit.  Though that post will be up in a few days, posted from our new home in South Carolina.

Chow for now!

Helen

The Rocks...

The Rocks, right near the ferry area and Circular Quay, full of designer stores like Gucci Australia! Cute bags, had to take a photo.  Course Erin is all over the fashion icons, Caitlyn on the other  hand looked and yeah, whatever, Gucci.

Our walk through the little park area took us directly to the main street.  The Rocks has changed quite a lot since I last visited which was some time ago.  Its been cleaned up, no dingy stores here and there with  signs hanging out of them they had when I was a visiting teen.  I wasn't impressed last time I visited to be honest, but now its so incredibly different, I couldn't even figure out where exactly I had first visited those few years ago.  So if you haven't been there for awhile, you might get a nice surprise.  Don't get me wrong, The Rocks was always ok, visiting was good, but now, its just better.

 A little tiny bit of construction/restoration happening on the street, but to be expected...

 you can get a great view of the Harbour Bridge from here. Loved the old style street lamps and post box!

The area is quite historic, established back in the late 1700's, its name derived from a gang hanging around the area in the 18oo's called the Rocks Push.

It was considered a slum area almost since the beginning of establishment until the 1920's or so, and has survived the bubonic plague, and a couple of attempts at demolition of all the old buildings.  The oldest pub in Sydney is located here, called the Fortune of War, apparently since 1828...

hmm...I can imagine a few rough looking types hanging around there back in the day, what do you think... apparently, this pub is a favorite of visitors and locals alike, with an interesting history - the fact that beneath the floorboards, lay the remains of a tent hospital that was established by the first fleet during white settlement in Australia way back in the latter part of the 1700's.  You can read more about it (and Sydney's oldest Hotel) in this article I found Fortune of War/Lord Nelson history

Course, these days its more of a shopping, tourist and eatery area.  No need to worry about gangs wearing knickerbockers or pants held up with suspenders. 

Taking a walk behind the main shopping area, a quick jaunt through one of the little thru street malls and you end up in the 'back alley', a couple of nice little cafes back there also..

A little further up the road, is the contemporary art gallery.  There is some 'interesting work' in there.

This piece was quite large, sitting on the floor, on a good sized rug...

Um..

no idea what it is. 

Though I really did find it interesting.

...some Indiginous art was great to see.  I love the textures and patterns.  Having seen original rock paintings myself, I find it interesting how little it has changed, but thats a good thing.  In fact, only Aboriginal people in Australia are allowed to create traditional Indiginous art like this now.

So after our quick visit to The Rocks, we walked back down the road and ran into this newer outdoor art.  Wasn't there last time I visited either.   It was great..and Erin was happy...

...because if you look to the right edge of the photo about halfway up, you'll see green umbrellas..

take a guess...

Yep...

Starbucks...

Next up, our visit to Marina Fair Shopping Centre (Mall), back in Cronulla!

Catch ya later
W&W

Sydney! Part 2

 

Walking toward Circular Quay, I realized how much had changed around the area since I'd last been in Sydney, which was about 300 years ago I think.  After stopping at a pharmacy for a blister bandaid, we continued down the same street until we found ourselves at a small outdoor plaza down near the ferries. 

Among the multitude of seagulls, there was a florist stand and a busker, who apparently had a CD out.  He wasn't too bad of a singer either...

After sitting and listening to the music and enjoying the view, feeing the seagulls a little while having lunch, we headed down to the ferries on Circular Quay.  By this time it was in pretty full swing for entertainment in the area.  We had to do a double take at Charlie here...

Then stopped to listen to the didgeridoos playing to a background of modern music, while a man in traditional tribal costume posed for the multitude of tourists hoping for a photo with him...

Continuing on down past this area, following the harbour, we visited small stores. One of these had some American made UGG sand shoes.  Course, they couldn't have them in my size (pout).

That is an interesting story there, I found out the next day that UGG Australia in the US is not UGG the Australian company.  If you know anything about UGG - UGG boots etc, they were founded in Australia decades ago, and quickly became famous for thier sheep skin and wool boots that became known as UGGs.  UGGs were actually created as slippers, and were only worn outdoors after they hit the American market.  Since then of course, they have developted and marketed outdoor UGGs in Australia.

Continuing on through the touristy stores, checking out leather messenger bags and usual souveniers, we came to a large store amongst the surrounding outdoor cafes.  We entered the store, and exited through another door, when right in front of us we found this..

The Opera House in full frontal.  The girls stood there staring, thier eyes lit up and Erin immediately went into pose mode doing her best airhead impression.

Then of course we have a normal Erin pose...

Our next stop was an area known as The Rocks...

 

Will post that in the next couple of days with any luck.  Truth is, I've developed a horrible case of bronchitis and may have a fractured rib..ack, so its been taking a bit out of me lately.  Will be taking a trip to the Gold Coast tomorrow all the same, and will have future pics I hope of Surfers Paradise!

Catch ya soon!

Helen

Sydney!

Sydney, the capital of NSW. The Australian equivalent of Plymouth, MA, in the US

Sydney has so much to offer with a full history, world class Opera House, a world famous bridge that spans the harbour...

incidently for you movie buffs, Paul Hogan (Crocodile Dundee) worked on the bridge in his youth, apparently...

...amazing museums, the largest cathedral in Australia, the best the world has to offer on almost everything you can think of, all with a beautiful ocean side setting.

There are designer stores in the CBD, (seriously like going to New York or Rodeo Drive).  We walked past stores such as Gucci, Coach and Rolex. But there is one store that Erin, my 15 year old had to go to, one that she considered the most important retail establishment, bar none...

the store she had been itching to go to before we even left Queensland.  The excitement was overwhelming...

Its on Elizabeth St. 

Ask how we know its on Elizabeth St.?



We walked through the CBD, Erin, eyes directed downward to her Iphone, glancing ahead only to point out directions until we reached Elizabeth st. 

We had no idea in reality what significance the area of Sydney we were actually walking towards was, (hey, nothing like winging it in a city you really don't know at all)... but onward to Elizabeth St we went. 

And onward down Elizabeth St.

And a way further down Elizabeth St.  The street does not end.  At all.

Then we saw it, the familiar green and white sign.

Erin almost fell over dying. I rolled my eyes. Caitlyn sighed...

all of us beheld what was before us (in our own unique ways), on the corner, only to be immediately forced rather hurridly inside said establishment....

Yep.  Starbucks.

Ok, so what is the big attraction you may ask?  Well, here in the area of Queensland we are living, we do not have Starbucks.  The closest one is 5 hrs drive away.  It is one of those little familiar things that we loved back in the US.. a Starbucks stop.  We had only been to one Starbucks in nearly a year.

Erins nosh of the moment, chocoloate croisant and vanilla frappe

Right across from the Starbucks, was a church, well cathedral actually.  A very large one.  But because we really had no idea of the significance of the area we had found ourselves in, we didn't discover until later what this was all about.

St Mary's Cathedral.  This place is amazing! It is the largest church in Australia, located right near Hyde Park, the oldest park (equivalent to Central Park, NY) in Sydney.

Had no idea.  I was still in 'business trip' mode.

Currently kicking myself for not actually visiting it.  The architecture is incredible, not only on the outside, but the interior... beautiful. 

After a 20 minute walk back the other direction, we visited the MLC Centre, which is huge, and the purpose of our trip, home to the US Consulate. Once business was out of the way, which was all of about 30 minutes, we were free to spend the rest of the day on whatever.

And we did... spend it on whatever that is.

Next stop was Circular Quay (pronounced Circular Key), home of the Sydney Opera House. There are a couple of perfect photo spots when walking towards the Quay, at the top of this hill-

If you look at the guy on our right, and the street just to the right of him, once across the road, and down that street a little, you catch site of this...

The Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Our next stop, Circular Quay itself and the ferry area.  Will get that up in the next day or two!

Hooroo

W&W

Cronulla Day 2

Our first field trip was to the main street and shops - Cronulla St. just a little further on from the railway station...incidently, rail is a huge way to travel in Sydney, relatively inexpensive and very easy.

Cronulla St. is pretty in a quaint way, I loved it simply because it looked a little vintage, full of cute little boutique stores, and urban style cafes. Namely, INC. Cafe. I was first drawn in by thier company sign...

 ....then the fact that they had this great urban look to the interior, with a chandelier! How cool is that! (Please excuse the blur, just a bad photo...)

One of the first boutique stores I noticed was a little shop that appeared full of lovely antique type linens.  Course this will catch my eye every time...

If you're a pinterest fan, you'll see the "Keep Calm and..."  everywhere with different end expressions, so I thought I was over the whole thing, till I saw these.  I discovered that I was not over the original expression.  More than that though, I love the vintage and natural  look, and comfortable items.
Did a double take at the pillow on the cane chair, then saw the wooden sign in the background, that was it, totally had to check out the interior...

The floor pattern really set the scene, 50's style, combined with the pretty neutrals and natural colors, products reminiscent of Britain and Paris.  Big clocks, beach cottage items.  One item I wish I had taken a photo of was a little VW van model complete with surf boards on the roof, a definate 50's look to it.

Among other things such as garden items, more wooden wall signs, linens and little stationary items here and there were tea cups and teapots, spoons (silver no less), patterned paper napkins/serviettes... I can't say I go for the dainty Victorian style so much, but it was nice to see...

So I bought tea towels.

Yep, just a nice set of tea towels... cotton and linen.  Understand the ambience of this place was very conducent to buying tea towels.  So was the thought of airport customs with almost everything else.

Wooden signs were out, all I could think of was lugging those back from Sydney on a plane (remembering extra luggage costs ala Virgin airlines) then trying to take them from Brisbane to Dallas to South Carolina! Ack. Though these did give me a lot of creative ideas, and may just have a few sooner or later on W&W creative.

Futher on down, we saw this baby clothes store! Loved the clothes hanging on the line. Some really cute clothes that I could have easily bought for a little cousin I have!

Sydney was our next stop....

Stay tuned for tomorrow!

Cheers

W&W

Cronulla

How this started..

I had to go to the US Consulate.

In Sydney. 

Keep in mind here, that Sydney is a LONG way from where we are currently located. We looked at transportation, basically the options were by coach (such as Greyhound) or plane. After a quick check on a couple of sites, a few grimaced looks at the cost, we decided flying would be a better option, and cheaper, believe it or not.

Course airlines don't mess about really either. Luggage is extra on Virgin, and there are no cute bags of peanuts on offer either... unless you paid, but still worked out a better price than another couple of lines. I did learn also that flying out of the Gold Coast worked out quite a bit cheaper than flying from Brisbane.

So, I loosely detailed our plan of action. First stop on our whirlwind tour of two capital cities was Brisbane... well actually the Gold Coast, which in fact isn't really a capital...

except maybe for surfing dudes (the capital of the Gold Coast in this case would have to be Surfers Paradise). 

We didn't go anywhere near Surfers this trip.

We'll get to Brisbane later.

We arrived in Sydney - Capital of New South Wales (NSW).  The first state of Australia, first site of documented landing of Europeans... way back in 1770 (however, first actual discovery appears to be further back in 1606).  

We were staying with friends in Cronulla, which has its own interesting history.

As it turns out, Matthew Flinders and George Bass were having a bit of a tour around the area back in 1796 and mapped the coastline, discovering Port Hacking in the process.  This stone marks the passing of the ship Tom Thumb on its way to discovering the port. 

Unfortunately it was kind of wet in Sydney when we arrived, so we didn't get to walk along  the beach, although driving past it looked rugged but had a beauty of its own.  Rocks in the background, guarded by a golden sandy beach.

Next port of call....

SHOPPING!  or at least looking around... Fearless in the rain, the next day... will post that, tomorrow!!