When The Rain Is A Pain That Can Drive You Insane

As I mentioned in my last blog 'A State Of Origin Story'  about the troubles I had when trying to photograph around the North Sydney area during a torrential downpour, well that didn't stop me from at least attempting to capture some of the essence of Australia's number one city.


My walk started around the North Sydney area and would you believe there is a James Barnett designed North Sydney Post Office, completed in 1888 at a cost of  £4,500 (that was the cost for the Post Office only, today that would be around $4million!) sitting on the corner of the Pacific Highway and Mount Street , it is now swamped by the larger office towers. Now what is also interesting is that the clock tower wasn't added until 1895, when Walter Liberty Vernon was the NSW Government Architect and so if you look closely at the clock tower you'll notice that it is not of the same design of the main building, showing a more 'baroque' architectural style, than Barnett's original 'Italianate' design. The cost of adding that clock tower was £965 (around $800,000). Also prior to 28th August 1890, North Sydney was known as St Leonards (now a suburb located further up the Pacific Highway) and so it will, or should be, celebrating 120 years of service to the good citizens of the area this year. 


The Post Office wasn't the reason for my photographic adventure, although it did it did prove to be an interesting diversion. My walk continued down to Lavender Bay, which has wonderful views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge from the west and then around to the iconic Luna Park. It was here that rain was pelting down so hard that I didn't even bother to photograph that wonderful Sydney landmark, I just ran for the relative cover of the Sydney Harbour Bridge approaches at Milsons Point.



Now if you are looking for one of the best vantage points for trying to photograph the Sydney CBD skyline or the Opera House, I would suggest there is no other better spot than just at the park located under the pylons of the bridge at Milsons Point, even during a torrential downpour, the shots are spectacular.


Unfortunately as the weather became worse, with the wind starting to blow the rain horizontal and making it even harder to do any photography without damaging my Sanyo S1275 camera, I reluctantly gave up. Also, by this stage I was utterly soaked through, especially the shoes and socks, so with discretion being the better part of valour, I headed towards drier destinations.


I will definitely be heading back to that area of Sydney, to not only to photograph some of Australia's most iconic structures, but also to check out some of the history of the area, such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

I just love it.