Saturday in the park with mum

Mum and I went to Peter's of Kensington to buy Catherine's birthday present with the last of a gift voucher I was given. Boy, but you really see some caricatures of entitlement in that place, in particular the bridezillas with their clipboards swanning around making up bridal registry lists, their bored fiancés in tow. We had panini for lunch, then caught the bus into the city.

We got off the bus at Circular Quay just outside Customs House, so I took mum inside to show her how cool it is. Little kids were crawling on the glass over the model of Sydney set into the lobby floor, pointing out familiar landmarks and exclaiming. It was very cute.

We wandered down to the Opera House and, much like the Eiffel Tower, I wondered if it was possible to take a bad photo of this building.

Then a meander through the Botanic Gardens, which were crowded with people soaking up the glorious sunlight. We sat on a bench, then looked up at all the fruit bats, hanging like in podlike clusters from most of the trees.
Mum decided to go home then to let me write and potter around a bit. I went to the Art Gallery, and although I'm not especially interested in the Biennale which is on at the moment, I was amused by the chalk 'graffiti' covering the outside of the building and some of the windows inside.

I spent some time looking at Harold Cazneaux's photographs of Sydney, marvelling at the soft smudginess of them and how that contrasted so abruptly with the hard, glittery brashness of the city on a day like today. Then I had a delicious lemon tart and a black coffee in the cafe and wrote a bit.
When I left the gallery I looked up at one more bit of graffiti on the lintel. I think it totally sums me up:
I walked back through the Domain and through Martin Place.
I was seriously flagging by this point, but wandered through David Jones on the way to the bus stop and got a jumper for half price at the sales. Unfortunately, because I was so tired and my headache was starting up again, I got on a bus that I assumed would go past my place but didn't. I ended up having to walk a few blocks to get home. I was glad to have been out on such a beautiful winter's day, but I wish I was better at calibrating my energy levels so I had enough left to get home!