Sydney has managed to hang on to plenty of nice art deco buildings, be they pubs or hotels or cinemas. The latter have lasted much longer and better than their counter parts in Ireland, where if they haven't been torn down, they're now bingo halls or warehouses. I got a chance to go to one of them on the north side called the Orpheum; pretty classy joint with statues holding torches, interiors looking like 1950's cadillac's and actual curtains in front of the screens.

I've never gone to a drive-in movie, or watched a film outside for that matter, so it was pretty cool to sit out under the stars (and the awakening bats) and watch Sherlock Holmes in a cricket ground in North Sydney. Back in December I tried to book tickets for this but they sold out within an hour of going on sale. Just as with the New Years fireworks, we arrived completely unprepared, whereas the locals were packing fancy picnic baskets and expensive fold-away chairs. There was plenty of BBQ food sizzling away and on sale anyway so it didn't really matter that we didn't bring anything. And though the backdrop was perhaps not as spectacular without Opera House and the Harbour bridge, but it was pretty cool nonetheless.