Winter Wanderings Series: Elizabeth Bay

Edmund Dulac, 1911
nota bene: The Snow Queen has never visited Sydney in Winter

The Winter season has come and gone and the capriciousness of Spring is upon us. Our central heating was switched off several days ago, a little earlier than previous years, so the ups and downs of the temperatures may see us shivering for a couple of nights before things settle down. Fear not, Dear Reader, we aren't likely to be caught in a snowdrift around the Pipistrello roost. The winter doona is still on the bed, as is the wooly coat on the Oaken Armchair, and the temperatures we contemplate are positively laughable to anyone in, say, Canada. A Warm Temperature Climate makes for complete softies!

Gustaf Fjæstad, 1947
Neither would have GF find inspiration in our Winters

There was a time, seemingly long, long ago, when we may have decamped from the frozen steppes of Sydney for a week or two chasing something warmer, but this year was different, insofar as it being mostly mild, my not feeling the cold so much as I, ahem, age, and anyways it being the Year of the Plague.

Early Colonial allotment map of the
Three Bays flanking our 'Hood 

Today I thought to show you around my neighbourhood, where all of the winter wanderings of 2020 have taken place. So settle in for some armchair travelling of a distinctly local kind: Elizabeth Bay.

Elizabeth Bay House
Presently closed but the seats afford good views
 and some shade from the winter sun

View of Elizabeth Bay from the porch
Magnolias still putting on a show in this pic

Iris now in bloom around the pond

The closest park for taking some air, a book and a blanket is the last remnant of the original land surrounding the 1839 estate house for which our suburb is named, Elizabeth Bay House, built in the Colonial Regency style and now a museum. We call it the Fish Park, owing to the many healthy koi  carp in the pond, a.k.a. Arthur McElhone Reserve. No feeding allowed!*

A small and popular park
With park benches and lawn on which to loll

The magnolias are finished
And the frangipane leaves starting to bud ...

 

... But the azaleas, meanwhile,
Are going Nuts!

Stepping out of this park, we swing past the 1928 Spanish Mission des-res apartments, Del Rio:

The discreet back face of Del Rio,
Conceals lush gardens, swimming pool and harbour jetty

We walk a mere street's length (although there's naught mere about this veritable Millionaire's Row) to our next park, situated right on the water, replete with marina and café. Billyard Avenue is bookended by Del Rio and another 1926 Spanish Mission showcase, Boomerang**, on the harbour side, with red-bricked Art Deco apartment blocks facing the Millionaires on the other.

A tantalising glimpse of the Moorish design
Within the gentleman's residence Boomerang

A peek past the Italianate apartments Alabama,
To a corner of Boomerang

 

Just need to admire these poinsettias first

And we've arrived in Beare Park,
Giving us another view of Elizabeth Bay

The point between Elizabeth Bay and Rushcutters Bay
Where sits the 1961 Bauhaus apartment block, Oceana

The café at the Marina affords us a view
Of housework of a different kind.
The greenery in the distance is The Zoo

Victorian-era cast-iron Drinking Fountain detail
Exhorts us to Keep the Pavement Dry

Then back up the hill and we're home and hosed. We can do the loop around Elizabeth Bay passing the two parks at a brisk clip in well under half an hour, but there's never any reason to rush. There has been a hatching of puppies in the area and the parks are dog-friendly, and four-legged residents need admiring. There are roses to stop and smell and lots of interesting architecture along the way, grand and modest and everything in between. Art deco features strongly and we're mostly in tiny apartments and the majority of us don't get a view or our own outdoor space, so we count our blessing every day for living within skipping distance to our bay's parks in Sydney Harbour.

* Last year there was a late night robbery of many of the carp by some allegedly Chinese, shady underworld characters. I cannot say if the present residents were recovered from their ordeal or are replacements but there was a lot of tchh-ing about the Incident by the two-legged residents of the 'hood.

** A house that get's its own Wikipedia page!

Image credits: 1,2: Wikimedia Commons; 11: via Pinterest; all else: Flying With Hands