Mosman, Balmoral Beach, and Dinner at Jamie's

Only a few more weekends left in Sydney so time to make the most of things!  Today I woke up earlier to explore one of the northern suburbs of Mosman.  I'd been wanting to do this for awhile but it was never nice enough on the days I'd planned.  Beautiful day today so I was set!

Took the train to Circular Quay and saw this guy, the token Disco-Abbo-Digeredoo man!  Everyone who comes to Sydney sees this guy (or one of his buddies).  

I caught the ferry out to the Tarronga Zoo.  As it was a Saturday so did every tourist and their stroller.  It was a zoo getting to the zoo, ha!  When I got across I caught a bus going out to Balmoral Beach so I didn't have to deal with them too long.  I got the pictures of the city that I wanted (one of the best views from the zoo). 

I got off the bus at Balmoral and was impressed with the beach right away.  It's in a little cove so there are just small, gentle waves.  The water is blue and the sand is white.  It's a bit of a hidden beach, one that mostly locals only know of, so wasn't very busy.  This neighborhood would have been built up and popular to live in the 1920s and 30s.  There is an old bathers pavilion dating from that time and a neat little island you can walk out to via a bridge.  This is for sure one of my top beaches in Sydney.  I sat here for almost an hour just enjoying the sun and the water.  It was so peaceful and relaxing.

Yes, I did put my feet in the water here!!!

When I felt I'd had enough sun I went for a walk through Mosman to check out the houses.  I could take my time since Joel wasn't with me!  Beautiful Victorian era homes here, most with names.  Reminded me of Old Glenora or Ada Boulevard back home.  I spent an hour walking around winding through the homes.  If we were to stay in Sydney this is definitely the area I'd want to live in.

One of the little bays with ferry access to the city.

Typical style Sydney home

Turns out the ferry station I planned on departing from only has one ferry to the city an hour and it was just pulling away as I got close to the terminal!  So I had to walk back to the madhouse of the zoo and ended up getting a little lost.  Was getting grumpy and hungry by the time I arrived back at Circular Key.  I had some souvenir shopping to do so popped over to the Rocks Market and my favorite Aussie souvenir store.  This actually calmed me down.  For some odd reason I love going into the tourist stores!  If anybody wants something from Oz now is your chance to tell me!

Joel was home and rested from golf when I got home.  Tonight was date night (thanks to some xmas money from our parents!) and we decided to try out Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant.  We got there early, 6:30, but there was still an hour and a half wait.  We got some drinks and chilled upstairs in the bar.  When we finally got a table (more like two hours later) service was very quick and efficient.  The food was awesome and the prices were pretty reasonable, considering Jamie Oliver is a celebrity chef.  I had the Truffled Tagliatelle and Joel the Truffled Turkey.  Amazing!  We went all out and got dessert too, panna cotta for me, brownie for Joel.