Now that we're committed to leaving Sydney and Australia, and it's beginning to sink in, thoughts start to come around to what I'll miss about living here. So in same vein as other blogs I'm going to compile a list of some of the things I'll miss and won't miss about living in Sydney. Some things will no doubt be common to living in such a warm climate, but seeing as I'm heading back to northern Europe the points still stand. So to start things off, the first thing I'm going to miss is Sydney Harbour and Circular Quay. Just recently I had the good fortune to enjoy a Sunday afternoon beer in near perfect Sunshine at the Opera Bar just metres from the Opera House. Backing on to the water and with the Sydney skyline and Harbour Bridge as a backdrop. It's been mentioned in plenty of guidebooks that Sydney has the best harbour in the world and while I'm not sure I'd go that far (how many harbours have I been too?), it certainly is something I'll miss. I've take countless photos from Circular Quay, sat out on plenty of warm summer evenings at harbourside cafes and not felt a chill at 10 o'clock at night. I won't be able to do that any more.

Third time around for the Vivid festival, when they light up the Opera House and other random night sculptures. This time they did something slightly more interesting by lighting up the Customs House with 3D projectors. Intel makes it very clear that they're the sponsor, but I wonder if it's done by the same people who lit up the famous clock in Prague. The 3D effect is quite cool on the building and its clock, especially when it crumbles.

Being Australia's most instantly recognisable landmark, you'd think that the Opera House would be regularly lit up, but alas no. It usually only gets a subdued regular light up in the evening. But this week, thanks to some festival thing and Brian Eno (I'm not sure of the details as we threw out the newspaper supplement) the Opera House looks rather splendid, in all its mind bending glory: