G'day to all you Bruces and Sheilas back home and greetings from down under. I was so excited to be landing in the Southern Hemisphere for the first time that I did the water-going-down-the-plug-hole test yesterday in Singapore and today on arrival and it is true, it spirals down the opposite way! Our poor bodies are a little sleep deprived and thoroughly flown off course, not to mention a water retention issue, but they're only minor hiccups soon to be resolved. Look at this...
We arrived early morning by train from the airport in to Sydney which was a little eerie on a Sunday to have so few people around, but also very calming. A ten minute downhill walk with our cases and we reached our hotel, which is really well located just a minute or two's walk from Woolloomooloo Bay and wharf. The lady hotel owner is so nice, warm, welcoming and friendly as were the immigration staff at the airport, fellow travellers on the train, and people we asked for directions to our hotel. Our room wasn't ready - understandably at 8am with a full hotel - so we ventured out to wake ourselves up with a beautiful stroll around the botanic gardens, bays and coves and round to the iconic Opera House. All these years I thought it looked white from pictures I had seen but close up it is brown and cream, how strange. It was also smaller than we had anticipated.
Inside in the reception area was a little disappointing with concrete floors and bare, grey concrete ceiling, a bit like a multi-storey car park, but the whole bay area is lively and surrounded by lovely parks and gardens full of morning walkers and joggers and a whole host of large and colourful bird life. There were lots of large ibis birds in the park and some were tagged and numbered which looked a bit odd.
They used to live in marshland but have gradually descended on the city parks for richer pickings and are seen as a nuisance by some as appararently they smell, but we didn't get close enough to notice. By midday the whole place was teeming with locals and tourists and street entertainers so time for us to crash out and catch up on our sleep.
We took a day trip ferry ride over to Manly, which showed us much of Sydney harbour and the many headlands and inlets along the half hour journey. It was a beautiful sunny day and the beach looked inviting but we had a trek planned to the North Head to get us out of town and away from the crowds and to try and meet some wildlife along the way.
We saw a spiny Australian anteater, called an echidna (we thought it was a porcupine) digging with its snout in the sand looking for food, which was a nice surprise at the side of the footpath,
some enormous ants, a large rat (who wanted to join in our picnic) and a couple of different kinds of 'dragon'. This one is an eastern water dragon who appeared to have no fear of us passing, staring and taking photographs. They are a kind of large lizard, about 60 cm in length, who eat all kinds of food from crustaceans and small fish to berries and picnic leftovers.
The walk was terrific and scenic, with few other walkers around, and at one point we got sprayed by sea water shooting up through a blowhole in the cliffs. The area is a national park surrounding an old military barracks site and had a really nicely designed memorial area for the various wars, plus it was signposted well (always a bonus for us).
We dined out aussie style this evening with a delicious steak dinner, eaten outdoors at a restaurant on the quayside at Darling Harbour. The whole area has been regenerated and although it looked great lit up at night it is on our list of places to investigate further by daylight. And so we did today. As we took the bus across the city after breakfast it was pouring down with rain but by the time we got off 20 minutes later the clouds dissipated, the sun arrived and we were in for another gorgeous day. We began with a stroll across the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge, opened in 1932 and an impressive structure to say the least; the views along this vast harbour were tremendous.
We meandered around Millers Point and The Rocks, areas which were once a bit old and delapidated, but now after successful renovations are popular with tourists. This is the original site of Sydney with many period buildings, such as the first pub and old hotels. Finally we arrived back at Darling Harbour, looking splendid in the sunshine and fortunately for Steve was also full of interesting nautical vessels.
A huge pedestrian bridge spans the harbour and there is such a relaxed feeling with everyone strolling, lunching or enjoying the varied facilities and entertainment on offer here.
Speaking of facilities Sydney has to be the best city I have visited for quality and quantity of public conveniences. We continued to visit parks, a large ANZAC war memorial, Chinatown, and finally the beautiful Catholic Cathedral, only completed in the year 2000.
We had such a great day and feel that after 3 days of exploring the city we have covered pretty well most of the main tourist sites but a couple more days would have been nice as we love it here. Such a shame we didn't get to Bondi Beach for a swim and watch the surfers though...
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