I was a little surprised by this; the helicopter was heading north, and I'm looking west. It's almost 3pm in winter so I would have expected the sun to be over into this half of the sky by now. Consulting the charts, however, I found that at this time of day the sun would have been on a bearing of about 317 degrees at an elevation of 20 degrees. That would put it just to the right of the door frame to my right. That sounds about right if you look at the incandescent glare of the water of the harbour, not to mention the way the sky blows out and loses saturation as you head to the right. This is ALMOST worse than shooting straight into the sun because it hazes the living heck out of the image (needless to say I've had to do some brightness and contrast adjustments) and converts the contrast of the rest of the image into a steaming pile of "yuck".

So what are we looking at here? Obviously the central feature is the Sydney Harbour Bridge, built 1932 and still going strong. There's also the Opera House, but it's essentially glared out of visibility. But let's look a little closer to our side. The road, I suspect to be Old South Head Road, but I can't for the life of me find buildings that match with those from satellite views. The main reason that I suspect it (aside from not many roads being that wide in that area) is the relative position to the Sydney Golf Club.

Where?

Look at the bay nearest to us; the one in front of the headland. That bay, incidentally, is Rose Bay, which was Australia's first international airport. "You what?", I hear you say. Way back in the 30s to 50s it was a base for flying boats which would fly the route from Australia to England. The flying boats were built by the Short Brothers aviation company. Initially the planes were Short Empire aircraft, 4 engine monoplanes which looked somewhat similar to their descendants the Short Sunderland (a famous World War II coastal patrol bomber) and Sandringham. The early Empire flying boat had 2 pilots,3 stewards and only 15 passengers, so it's not surprising that a flight to Blighty cost more than an average person's annual salary. Worse than the cost, the route didn't even stop in Italia. But then, neither does Qantas QF1. Much smaller flying boats and/or seaplanes still operate out of the bay for local tours.

Now look just in front of the bay, more than 2/3 of the way across the photo, about half way along the coast of the bay. The brownish building with at least three gables. THAT is the Royal Sydney Golf Club. The application fee to join was $30K a few years ago, possibly more now. The annual fee I have no idea about, but "not cheap" is probably the order of the day. You have that much money? Hoooold on there, Pilgrim, you can't just mosey in there with your cheque book. You see, one must keep the riff-raff at bay, even moneyed riff-raff. You can get in by invitation only, which involves a nominee, someone to second you, and three referees. Oh, and anyone who actively solicits a nomination is excluded from consideration.

I don't have an intrinsic problem with exclusive clubs, including single sex clubs; sometimes people just like to be surrounded by people who are similar to themselves. But... one article that I read about this place mentions how it is a networking opportunity for the rich and powerful, and that narks me a little bit, just like the unofficial "club" of public company directors does. You don't get the best and brightest (or most deserving) rising to the top that way; "the top" is shuttered off from the likes of you, peasant. At least as far as I can tell the club is on private land. All that greenery off to the left is of course the course itself.

(The only road that seems to cut across on an angle like that relative to the clubhouse is Old South Head Road, which is why the road at the right is LIKELY to be it.)

Beyond the headland (Point Piper) is the area known by some as Double Bay, others as Double Pay. If you believe the Sydney.com website, "Double Bay oozes glitz, glamour, and sophistication in this harbourside enclave". I was thinking "tackiness, crassness and a far greater respect for price than value", but that's one of those irregular verbs.

Glare bad, clarity good. The need to shoot through the windows of the helicopter didn't help, but it wasn't the sole cause of the light problems here.