Before reaching the Sydney Harbour, I visited the Botanical Gardens. Now you could really spend a whole day here. Walking through the garden, you don’t even realize you are in the middle of a city. People picnic, sunbathe, and just contemplate in a beautiful, peaceful setting. The smells of flowers, herbs and other plant life waft in the air and you really don’t want to leave.
With the great weather yesterday, it was time to finally time to see the most iconic symbol of the city, the Sydney Opera House. As always, I prefer to walk because I love to discover places along the way. And this was a pretty healthy walk. In fact, I walked from the loft to Sydney Harbour to the Rocks, up and across the Sydney Harbour Bridge to the other side and all the way back again. Wish I had a pedometer to measure it. Along the way to the Harbour was St. Mary’s Cathedral, a beautiful cathedral in the center of the city. The doors were open so I walked in. Little did I know that a mass had just started–it was around 1PM. I had to figure out a much more graceful exit than was my entrance. Forget that. Head down, exit straight ahead. Here are some shots of the area:
The rains let up about midday yesterday, but was still windy with rain sprinking. So I decided to check out the Sydney Jewish Museum, which was really interesting in that it chronicled the history of Judaism, the Holocaust, and Jewish life in Australia. It seems to be a common theme here, but again the people in the museum are so nice. They just come up to you and start explaining exhibits, give further insight, and answer questions. Even as I was leaving, the security guard saw me looking at a map and started suggesting places to go in the area. One place he recommended was Oxford Street, a main shopping, cafe and bar area that stretches for blocks. Kinda Melrose Ave (LA)/South Street (Philly). By the afternoon, it had cleared up nicely so I hung out in the area for a few hours before heading back to the loft.
Yesterday as I was walking downtown WITHOUT my camera, I encountered the Sydney Zombie Walk. Apparently this is a thing in several cities around the world, especially Australia. What the purpose of the thing is, I’m not sure. But it was fun to see a bunch (and by bunch, I mean quite a lot of them) of walking dead, blood dripping, and definitely ugly zombies walking through the streets of Sydney.
Monday morning and it’s still rainy. It’s supposed to clear up by midday. Let’s hope.
It’s been raining nonstop this morning. So, guess it will be a good time to chill out after two weeks of nonstop on the move. And check out the game. Go Phillies!
No sooner did I write about how my first day in Sydney seemed like LA weather than that quickly changed yesterday and today. It started out fine, some clouds, some sun, as I had planned to go back to Darling Harbour and tour some of the ships, including the replica of The Endeavour, the ship that Captain James Cook sailed on when he claimed the eastern part of Australia for Great Britain. Some city shots along the way:
But just as I arrived at the Harbour it started pouring rain and didn’t let up. So I ducked into the Maritime Museum, which is free (donation requested).
The fireworks show was scheduled for 8:30PM so I walked around the area some more and got some dinner. Here are more pictures of the area around Darling Harbour:
And then the rains came down again but stopped in time for the fireworks!
No, water does not necessarily drain in the opposite direction in the Southern Hemisphere.
Yes, the stars in the night sky are different than in the Northern Hemisphere. Pretty cool to view stars I’ve never seen before.
The Sydney Aquarium is one of the largest aquariums in the world with over 650 species indigenous to the Australia region. While it is one of the top attractions, it wasn’t overly crowded which made for a pleasant visit not having to look past all the cameras to see anything (not to mention so that I could take shots!) Sharks are a big feature here with tanks that surround you full of different types as well as lots of information on the status of endangerment.
I’ve only been to a few aquariums and this was really good. Is it too pretentious to say the aquarium in the Oceanic Museum in Monaco is still my favorite?
There are lots of restaurants, shops, ships, entertainment and museums here at Darling Harbour (note this is not the harbour where the Sydney Opera House is). There’s a fireworks display tonight, so I plan to go back again today and check out some of the attractions that were closing by the time I got to them. But the Aquarium stays open late, so I got a ticket for that (see next post).
The Nomadic Writer 