I love gum nut flowers, I feel the white one are rare. The red ones seem most prevalent but my favourite is the brilliant orange ones. What’s your favourite?

This Sydney Terrace is on Bourke Street at Telopea Street. What caught my eye was the play of dawn light, street lights and the shadows they create. Urban scenes are very mnemonic for me as they take me back to my late teens when I moved from a dull suburb to the city.

It’s not the Sydney Harbour Bridge that caught my eye, nor the Opera House, not even glorious the summer dawn, but it was the curve of the wake behind the harbour ferry as it heads east.

Federation Way is a pedestrian and cycle path that links Anzac Parade to Centennial Park. Often busy, and Sydneysiders are early risers, but this morning, I got there first.

The ANZAC Bridge on the south west corner of Sydney Harbour marks the entry to both Rozelle and Blackwattle Bays. Even on a drab early morning it sets my heart aflutter.

I challenged the weather prophets when I stated that the forecast for rain were hollow over the last few days. Last night and this morning the rains did fall, and with great gusto, so this little peddler stay in bed. This is a previously unpublished shot from March 10 years ago.

Sydney's Newtown got its name from the growth of a "new town" or village in the early 1800s, likely popularized by the "New Town Stores" opened by John and Margaret Webster around 1832. Here we see the side of a grand terrace, and the 20thC phenomenon, a row of garage roller doors.

The old pylons off Pirrama Park make perfect reflections on White Bay while a blanket of pre dawn cloud cloaks Sydney.

The word is that Sydney will have showers and possibly a thunderstorm later, but dawn on Botany Bay witnessed a lovely array of cloud forms that appeared benign to this wanderer.

Lavender Bay was the place to be at dawn this morning as it lived up to its name. I mean no offence to any other city or town domestically or internationally, but Sydney Harbour is a gem.

Fires in Victoria, endless war in Ukraine and the unfathomable machinations of the US. To make sense of it all, I went abstract on the Sydney skyline. That’s the Harbour Bridge on the right.

These couple of lappers are enjoying the ocean pool at Bronte Beach. Not too crowded on a pleasant and cloudy Sydney early morning.

After a hot clear Sydney summer day yesterday, a grey cooler one is happily accepted. The lone surfer at Bronte Beach at dawn in the sloppy waves tries to find a ride.

Sydneysiders be careful today, 27C at sunrise, 43C this afternoon.

Sydney’s plane trees are known as both a shading delight and a breathing blight, but at this time of year, the rock hard seed balls are the toys of Corellas. They nip them off and drop them on car bonnets and passing innocents. They dent cars and hurt locals.

A great day for a game of cricket! Hot in Sydney, so I’m out while it’s still cool. Stalking a bus stop and playing field in Annandale.

What looks like some form of detention centre is the Inner Sydney High School. For the younger locals here, not long before your school uniform needs to be donned.

Just south of Bondi Beach is Squid Bay, easily accessible on the Bondi to Coogee walk. This morning was beautiful, not too warm, delightful clouds and the other Sydneysiders still in bed meant it was all for me.

While Little Riley Street is one of my favourites in Sydney, there is a sad story. Edward Riley (who the street is named after) bought tracts of Surry Hills from 1814, he suicided in 1825, but his estate was tied up in legal issues and couldn’t be subdivided until 1844.

Selwyn Street in Sydney’s Paddington was the scene of a naming battle. What was COFA is now UNSW Arts & Design. The students saw it as an important difference, in this political debate, I’m under resourced.

Clouds and moon over terrace roofs in Sydney’s Darlinghurst. Romantic for this traveller, protection for the occupants, and too old for some folk.

Before first light, a floating crane sits quietly on Sydney Harbour.

I was a kid during the Cold War, I didn’t think we’d make it this far, but 2026 is here as are we. Speaking of wee, as first light makes its grey way into the Sydney sky on New Year’s Day, I celebrate a public utility in Moore Park.

The back alleys of Sydney’s Darlinghurst are quiet before dawn on New Year’s Eve, but there are expected to be 1M revellers later today gathered around the harbour for a few minutes of flammable delights.

After a few early mornings in dark alleys, I opted for an icon this morning. Not a bad spot for a meal, Bennelong Restaurant is part of the build of this famous building. Note the security guard taking in the sunrise.

The sparkly lights on the right are from the Sydney Fish Market. It opened in Woolloomooloo in 1872, relocated here in 1914, and closes next month. The new digs are out of site to the right, so staying in Blackwattle Bay. Opening Jan 19 (the 51st b/day of Double Jay).

The nooks and crannies of older parts of Sydney draw me like a fly to Christmas lunch leftovers on a kitchen bench. This cranny is Fanny Place in Surry Hills.

I have had a long term affection for Sophia Street. It runs towards Central Station on the western border of Sydney’s Surry Hills, and conjures for me distant and not so distant histories. The rag trade that still has a footing and the dangerous days of the Razor Gangs.

Santa’s sleigh pulled some polar air into Sydney bring the heat down to a comfortable 17C. I went looking for him at Newtown’s Railway Lane, no luck.

On Christmas Eve, dawn at Sydney’s Coogee Beach was the place to be, especially as it wasn’t living up to the meaning of its name in the local Indigenous language. Smelly place or stinking place is the translation. I’m beck for a swim this afternoon.

Ballast Point Park on Sydney Harbour is a gem. Great views, multi levels, and a nod to the history of the working harbour.

Authoritarian overreach or sensible guidance?

A week later, and another Sydney dawn at Bondi.

I needed a bit of Aussie inspiration and hope, so on an already hot morning, Woolloomooloo Bay called me. Sydney Garden Island Naval base had a few warships, but managed to get a sunrise with just the butt of one boat.

Sydney is almost always quiet early on in the day, but the usual festive buzz later in is understandably low this year. Rather warm day ahead, might go to Coogee for a dip this arvo.

I’m at the southern end of Sydney’s Bondi Beach for a dawn that offers a glimmer of hope.

The clouds over Sydney’s Bondi Beach at dawn look ominous, but little rain expected. Tears on the other hand will be plentiful.

In Australia, context can be very important. At a BBQ, a tinnie would refer to a can of beer, but near the waters edge, a tinnie would be an aluminium row boat. These tinnies are at Sydney’s Double Bay Park. Too early in the day to be on the harbour.

Have you noticed an invasion in Sydney? Not in the numbers to threaten the Ibis, but I’ve seen many Bush Turkeys in suburbs close to the CBD.

Intentional camera movement and the bicycle bridge at Sydney’s Moore Park.

The Sydney Harbour foreshore is crowded with buildings like any big city around the world. On a damp dawn I managed to get an angle of the Harbour Bridge that makes it appear lonely.

Seems like I won’t be visiting the USA this term.

Note the glow of first light to the east (right) of the North Sydney towers, maybe your eye is drawn to the long reflections, then the snap of the Balmain East ferry wharf. Thankfully cooler this morning, a hump day for some, a lovely day for others, maybe a shower or two later.

First light comes very early this time of year, so I’m out at stupid o’clock to get this Sydney postcard.

Initiated by the people of Pyrmont and Ultimo, this illuminated forest of trees appears to hold up the freeway. This is Aspire by Warren Langley, part of the City of Sydney’s public art commitment.

After yesterday’s “too hot”, the weather pixies served up a much cooler, greyer dawn. This was the only brief colour all morning. Sydney’s Centennial Park ponds are feed by rain water drains. This one is in the south east corner of the park.

Ahead of a mid 30s day, these Sydneysiders find early relief at the northern end of Coogee Beach. Close your windows and lower your blinds. I’ve watered my garden already.

While not a full tour of my tiny backyard in Sydney’s Surry Hills, this corner has begonia that I selected just for you.

I slept in a bit, so managed to get some actual sunshine on my subject. This brutal building is part of a cluster including the majestic Sydney Town Hall. It’s very different to this tower, it’s renowned for its high Victorian interiors and rich decoration.

Roasting on the west coast, snow in the south, and cool in Sydney. A whacky start to an Australian summer. These tourists had to don their hoodies to watch a sunrise with crepuscular action from the Man O’War Steps next to the Opera House.