The Oyster Shucker

This guy was sitting in his glass booth shucking oysters at the Sydney Fish Markets as people looked on. Hell of a job, he didn't seem to fazed by it. I'm not normally that keen on oysters, however I had a Oyster Kilpatrick and a Oyster mornay thing as part of a small seafood platter which was delicious.

The markets were busy, busy, busy for a Friday lunchtime, it's as busy as it used to be on a Saturday about ten years ago. There were a real melting pot of cultures, Vietnamese, Japanese, Germans, an Aussie or two....even some Pacific Islanders speaking French (I'm guessing Vana'atu) all enjoying fresh fish and the Sydney spring sun.

Here's a few more pics from around the markets. I enjoyed a lovely fresh plate of various delicacies accompanied by a good Belgian beer. Lovely!

Doing the deal. A punter parts with some hard earned moolah. Most of the stock sold at the markets is fresh off the boats from the morning's catch. Prices are chepaer than in the suburbs as transportation isn't included in the deal.



Choosing carefully......... bloody lobsters (crayfish) were $59.90 a kilo!



A large trout gets weighed up for tonight's dinner.



A layer of Scnapper ready for the barbeque. These would be considered undersized where I grew up. Our local postman used to sell 6 and 7 pound Schnapper he used to catch in the bay.

[Yorkshire accent] They were gurt big 'UGE things when I was a lad, these are bluudy sardines. [/Yorkshire accent]

Sidenote, where ever there are schnapper there are Noahs ( sharks.....Rhyming slang Noahs ark.....get it?). Schnapper used to also be plentiful around Sydney Harbour near the sugar mills in Balmain. Rumour has it there are a few dead horses at the bottom of the bay in the area, these horses were dragged in the bay by overloaded sugar carts. Sad........



Sometimes you can be lucky if you're quick with the camera. A forklift driver, working in the business end of the fish markets out the back, enjoying a fresh fish lunch in solitude with some hopeful seagulls looking on.



Lovely bit of signwriting. "If the fish was any fresher, it would still be swimming."