Sightseeing in Sydney

Our next day and a half were taken up sightseeing in the Sydney metro area.

We took a bit of a more relaxed morning, getting breakfast in the lounge before packing up the backpack for a bit of a walk around.

We even straighten our bed before heading out, but I must say the housekeeping was excellent at the Marriott 

Our suite was well stocked with water and they even brought us a plate of candies and a bowl of fruit. It was a good place to rest

We headed out of our hotel and across Hyde Park. 

St Mary’s Cathedral was across the park from our place.

As we wandered our way over to the botanical gardens, we had some great views of the skyline

We entered the garden from the gate near the art museum 

Dale felt sorry for the poor statue as it was bathing with no privacy. Cool fountain though😉

To give a reference for how big the ferns are here, Dale had me stand under one of the fern trees

We wander through their extensive grounds until we came to the bay

There we took a couple of minutes to admire the view

We had  all the guys with us on this walk about even though it was overcast and rainy off and on at the start.

This tree is called a barrel tree and was quite different looking

As we walked around the bay towards the opera house the guys just had to pose for another shot.

On our approach towards the opera house from this side was quite spectacular 

I peeked into a couple of the building, but we opted not to take the full tour

This is impressive because of the amount of wood on display 

Just so I could prove I had been there 

Same for the guys, since we walked all around the outside and we had a break in the rain

We got a photo of the bridge

And another of the opera house. They barely had time to jump back into the backpack before another rain shower!

We then walked through the part of town known as the Rocks. We wondered about these places. Either they were once one establishment or one of them is false advertising 

After walking through a few shops, we were feeling a bit peckish and spied this cafe.

This is Biggles’ statue

We all decide it was time for some morning tea

Dale was very hungry and really wanted to get started

Just a few steps away from our cafe was this monument. It had three side. This one dedicated to the soldiers 

This one to the settlers 

This one to the prisoners 

Next we made our way up onto the Sydney Bridge. We decided not to do the bridge climb for two reasons. First it was $600 for two people, second I was realistic enough to know I was in no shape to do it. 

So instead we walked across to the other side, where this lovely church is just off the steps to get off the bridge.

I have know idea what this building is, but I liked it’s look from the bridge. So what did we do next? Why we turned around and walked back! Our hotel was back across it so we need to make a round trip out of the walk.

It was just under two mile there and back

Opera house from the bridge

The wharf area to the the bayside of the bridge

As we were walking back by the base of the bridge after descending the stairs on the Sydney side, I like the look of this stump

After a walk back through the Rocks to do a bit of shopping, a crocodile belt got Dale and a leather jacket for me, we headed back through the gardens to travel a few of those less travel paths

I had thought about doing a whale watching tour, but decided against it due to the off and on rain. The gardens provided me with a whale sighting anyway.

They had a huge herb garden we found as we walk through a different way than did did on the the last stroll through 

The trees and root systems made me think of magical beings.

Returning to our hotel we grabbed a late lunch I decided after our 8 1/2 mile hike before lunch, I was done, so I let Dale explore the CBD on his own and I settled in to do my emails and such.

The next day our flight wasn’t scheduled until 7:30 pm and our hotel check out was not till 4pm, so we decide to take a couple of bus tours.

We walked to the central station and did these two tours back to back 

We took the one to Bondi Beach first

Our sightseeing bus was on a double decker bus. 

We went by many impressive building and museum 

Also some interesting sculptures 

We passed many areas that looked like they were movie sets for 1900 films

Near Bondi Beach the clubs for tennis, rugby, and soccer abounded

Boardwalk near one of the beaches we passed.

This was one of the famous entrances to the main Bondi Beach

Here is the most famous of Sydney’s many beaches. Bondi Beach

I do not know the name of this cemetery, but the array of headstones told me it was old and  huge. If I had had time a stroll through might have been interesting 

This is the view from Rose bay back towards Sydney city center

These house reminded me of New Orleans with the side by side and wrought iron work 

Here we are back heading for the pier area of Sydney. 

During most of the tour, these are the type of house we saw. Most are what in the US we would call town homes. We did drive through one of the most expensive areas where they were detached single family. They look about 2,000 -4000 square feet single story. I am sure there were some bigger ones, but my take was if you want to live within half an hour drive time of the CBD (central business district), land is very expensive and houses are close together and smaller. This is just my opinion from what was said about how expensive living there was and what I saw from the tour.

This wall is near the bottom older section of Sydney

This is a look at the outside of the Chinese Gardens. They were closed by the time Dale found them yesterday and we did not have time to check them out today.

Another view over the gardens to the modern buildings just behind it

This is the navel museum right down by the water in Darling harbor. The wildlife encounter and Madam Tussauds are also right here.

I found the merger of old and new to be so interesting. Sydney is working to keep there historical building preserved

These are apartments in the Rocks district, which is the original settlement area

They have kept the old ones of that district and still it looks vibrant and alive

It is like stepping into another time

Another example of old and new side by side

One last look out of our window across Hyde park before we headed to the airport and our plane for Christchurch, New Zealand