This weekend Dani wanted to stay close to home. So, we went kind of local. To the  neighbouring suburb of Double Bay.

Hidden Gems?

Double Bay is quite a salubrious suburb. Not as wealthy and expensive as nearby Rose Bay or Watsons Bay – or so I thought. Not that any of that bothers me in the slightest. All I need to know is that I could not afford to buy any of the houses that take my fancy around here (or any of those other two areas). And I am more than fine with that. Still, it is nice to look around eh?

We saw many Porsches, Maserratis and Bentleys. If expensive cars is any indicator of a wealthy area then Double Bay is definitely home to a lot of rich people. There are plenty of fantastic properties and buildings here too. A great shopping area, more like a small town centre than a village. But with that village feel.

It was like Beverly Hills at times. Only better. Because right now in Beverly Hills the rioters are terrorising the area and all the shops on Rodeo Drive are either very well boarded up or have been looted. This place seems a million miles away from all that rubbish. In fact it is just under 7500 miles away (that’s just over 12000km in new/daft money).

We had been there before but only briefly. This time we saw some great little streets almost hidden away. Even the War Memorial in the park did not need any police protection.

Pubs Open

Great to see the two main bars/pubs both open. The Royal Oak – where we stopped for a quick lunch – and beer! And the Golden Sheaf, a fantastic place with lots of different areas to eat, drink, gamble and watch sports. They even have a great rooftop bar.

Two police officers came in while we were there. Not sure whether it was to check the number of customers. Over the whole place – I would say there were definitely in excess of the 50 the government has deemed “safe”.

Australia – Open for Business (sort of)

I think everything is now open. The place was buzzing. Like it should be on a Saturday. Great. The only things that are not now open are the libraries, cinemas and gyms. No idea why not either. We shall see what this next week brings.

Another thing not yet back to normal is inter-state travel. I hope they sort that one out soon. Dani has two more weeks of school and we would like to go to Queensland during his school holidays.