Northern exposure

I could walk over the Sydney Harbour Bridge but I fancy cruising under it so I catch a ferry to the north shore to visit Luna Park, a Coney Island style fairground.











































































It's closed but I tag along with a group of little old ladies and gents who are having a private tour. I say to one old lady: "I'm pretending I'm with your group so that I can get through security." "Not a problem," she replies, "but you'll have to walk very slowly." 

It's a riot of colour and cartoon. I love these before and after photos of the transformation a spell in Luna Park is supposed to effect.

Just around the bay, Lavender Bay, is Wendy Whiteley's secret garden, a community endeavour that was the brainchild of the widow of Brett Whiteley, one of Australia's most (in)famous artists, who died of a drug overdose aged just 53. Whiteley took over a derelict, unused tract of land between her North Sydney home and the railway line and set to work creating pathways, lookouts, little nooks with tables, chairs and sculptures dotted among the lush greenery.There's no signposting to this oasis of calm, the paths just open up and spill down the bank from parkland at the top of the slope. Whiteley's house is the white one on the left, below, from where I suppose she keeps a casual eye on things. On one of the tables in the garden there's a visitors' book together with a portfolio of press cuttings covering her battles with the rail landowners – the survival of this inner city gem appears to be under constant threat.

I walk back across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It's quite a long way but now, along with Tower and Brooklyn, I can say I've crossed three of the most iconic bridges in the world.