Sunny Sydney!

28th - 31st May 2013 

Spent an enjoyable few days in this interesting city. Weather's been perfect for sight seeing. Early 20's and sunny. 

Sydney, in common with most of the state capitals here in Australia, has the  benefit of a large natural harbour and it certainly makes the most of it. We've been staying in an apartment within walking distance of Darling Harbour and have made good use of the fantastic ferry service to get around, as well as the buses and trains. For a small price you can use the ferries to navigate around the City and to get great views of the many memorable buildings in this part of town. We've been to Sydney before but the first view of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House are still breath taking. 

The unmistakeable Opera House

So sunny, it was difficult to take pictures but the Harbour Bridge is there somewhere

And the Opera House too!

There it is, in side view

A City full of tall buildings

We walked from the Opera House up around the headland to Mrs Macquarie's Chair, in the Botanic Gardens.  This is an exposed sandstone rock cut into the shape of a bench. Mrs M was the wife of the Governor of New South Wales in the early 19th Century and was quite a formidable character. As well as the Chair in which she supposedly used to sit and watch for English ships, she managed to getting a three mile stretch of road built to the port that was then named after her! 

Intrepid travelers brave the Chair!

Our visit coincided with the "Vivid" light show in Darling Harbour and Circular Quay. Each evening for a couple of weeks buildings are lit up, dramatic light shows put on and there's a great light, water and music show in Darling Harbour. Lots of interesting effects! We spent several "happy hours" (always keen to minimise the spend!) having a drink by the water and watching the lights. 

Lights projected onto the Opera House

Harbour lights without Vivid

Harbour lights with Vivid

Rather spooky looking light displays!

Sydney has some fantastic public spaces and those around the Harbours' include lots of unusual water features. This one appealed to Mike's engineering brain!

 

We stayed near Chinatown and really enjoyed wondering through the maze of eateries. Pretty much all Asian cuisines were available including Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian and Vietnamese. No need to go hungry! Another delight was the fruit and veg. and fish markets which were just a few minutes walk from our apartment. All sorts of fruit and veg including some of the exotic ones we'd tasted in Daintree and the fish selection was superb! Definitely the place to shop if you live in Sydney.

Shopping in Sydney is also never a problem! As well as the usual collection of International stores there was an an eclectic mix of independent shops. Some  beautiful older buildings too. One of our favourites is the Queen Victoria Building (QVB), once a market and now an up market shopping mall. It has an amazing array of clocks including the one below which has a ship that whizzes around the clock!

Fab clock in QVB

 S

Stained glass windows in QVB

We ventured beyond the shiny and new bit of central Sydney and went to Newtown, one of the suburbs. This was a bit run down and a bit "alternative" with lots of interesting shops, cinemas and so on. But it felt more real somehow than the bits you often get to see as a tourist. But as ever, Sydney is a City full of contrasts. We went on the ferry trip up the river and from that viewed some very opulent river side properties which looked somewhat more desirable than the shabby homes and buildings which back onto the railway heading out of town.

Lots we didn't see and do but walked our socks off. Thoroughly enjoyable few days! 

Sunset over the river