We had booked tea at the Gunners Barracks Tea House months ago when we were in Melbourne. Somewhere we saw a list of the best places for tea this was listed in the top ten. It was a bit out of the way and so we ended up taking an Uber rather than a public transport with multiple transfers. The tea room is built on top of old fortifications and it overlooks the harbor. We were early, as we tend to be, and they seated us harbor side. There was a plastic partition that kept the wind blocked but allowed for an unobstructed panoramic view. The tea was delightful and soon the teahouse was completely filled with patrons. We had sweets and savory goodies as well as our teas. Leslie got Yin Long white tea and I got a Premium Gyokuro, we really love our tea. We took a stroll around the barracks area after tea. The fortifications were pretty small with only a half dozen circular areas dug out for the cannons. But what was not visible was a system that controlled submerged mines. An array of mines were laid out on the bottom of the harbor and when an enemy ship entered the area the "submarine miner" would flip a switch for the appropriate mine and it would be released and explode. It was tricky business and in 1891 there was an accident that killed a few of the miners. We saw seven different kinds of birds, three new to us. The kookaburra was very inquisitive and I was able to get close to him for a few good pictures. After a difficult time with the Uber App we finally got a ride to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. We went into the new building that has been open for only a few days. The first floor was dedicated to Aboriginal Art both new and old. The museum was simply immense and we got to see most of the pieces. The lower floors offered many different pieces made from a huge variety of materials. From cardboard to ceramics to video, this was another delightful experience. As we were leaving Leslie saw a cute dog. His name was Bruno and it was his birthday! His birthday gift was a petting from Leslie. We saw many more dogs on our way through Hyde Park. We got to say hello to three of them.
Downtown Mosman was pretty small
But the buildings were still pretty quaint
A good place to be able to see any threats
A path to the fortifications
Tea time!
The building matches the stone of the fortifications
A fine marble sculpture to set a tome of elegance
A sample of the tea service
Relativity empty now...
Our view from the table
So much nicer in the outside sitting area
Our tea service waiting for some tea
The tea man arrives!
The warm savories, scones, spinach in a puff pastry and a duck wonton
The sweets! Carrot Cake, rose macaroons, and a chocolate mousse
Roast beef, egg salad and chicken salad sandwiches
Straining hard to get the last of the tea
The sweetest thing at the table
More tea M'Lady?
Sydney in the background
The stonework
Not too windy but enough to mess up my hair
Sydney is in the background
It was hard to get a good photo but there are two new "life" birds for my list in this undergrowth. I took many more pictures but this was the clearest of the shots!
It is always busy on Sydney Harbor
The fortifications allowed defenders to fire upon incoming ships long before they could get to Sydney
Grates protect the hapless birdwatcher from falling in
200 degrees of harbor view
A red wattle bird with a spash of yellow on its belly
This single sailboat was up on the foils
Laughing Kookaburra
The Brush Turkey thought we might be providing some lunch
A bunny!
Mossman has some history to the center of town
We visited a town named Lacock in England in 2019
The tunnel seemed to be the choice of our drivers
I really liked the looks of this building
Striking red art
Bark bark bark
Growl and bark bark
A more contemporary piece
Fruit bats hanging with fancy blankets
the shadow shows how many bats were hanging
Three dudes hanging out
Lots of glass hanging from the ceiling, it hung so low I would have run into it if I tried to walk there
The shadows of the hanging glass
Traditional woven backets woven in non-traditional patterns
Back in the day the art was made with material available in the bush
The new art is made on materials that were available in the bush, in this case an old sign and the other one two pictures above on corrugated tin roofing material
Everything is just Ducky
The space is big
Really big!
All weather flower garden
Big and bright
Still in our fancys
An important constellation in the Torres straights
Rolling balls of clay
lots of balls
An out of place Chinese artifact from the 13th century
A huge piece of woven art connected with cables and containing speakers and circuit boards
Dichroic reflections
Siebterjulizweitausendundnull is the name of this piece of art. It was created on 7 July 2000
hanging from the ceiling and made of cardboard
Four different spaces with items on the top and bottom of each space and then mirrors placed above and below allowing for multiple reflections
It is all done with mirrors
Bugging out
It is Bruno's birthday
So cute
Marigolds
NYE is in Sydney's name... almost
It has been 207 days since we began our Migration
