The first thing I notice when we landed in Sydney was this picture of the very funky Crochet Museum, which happens to be in Joshua Tree, CA! The photo was being used for advertising for UBS, the bank! (notice the spelling of favor) But it was very strange for me to see this photo from California on the jetway as we left the plane. This certainly was not what I expected to be my first sight in Australia!
Sydney is wonderful! Five days there was not enough. The spectacular harbor provides a stunning backdrop for the amazing Opera House and The Harbor bridge.
At night different colored lights shine on the Opera House. One night the lights were blue,
another night they were gray, I hadn’t realized how large the “sails” part of the building is and that these “sails” are mounted on a huge, long, low building. I had never noticed this prior to seeing the Opera House up close and in person. I knew the sad story about the architect before arriving in Australia. The Australian government mistreated him, blaming him for cost overruns and not paying him his full design fee. He never saw the building completed. Ironic, since this is one of the most iconic buildings in the world and won a Pritzker Prize.
The Rocks, one of the oldest part of Sydney is both charming and interesting. We stayed at a hotel that was adjacent to The Rocks and almost under The Harbor Bridge.
I loved the location because every night we could walk back through charm and funk of The Rocks and see the lights of The Opera House and the bridge. We were about a half mile from Circular Quay and the Central Business district, so we were really close to everything, but just out of the fray.
The Rocks plays a big part in Sydney history. It’s the place where sandstone was quarried to build out the business district. Terrace houses, which could be compared to tenement housing, the early “red light” district and some wealthy home owners all shared The Rocks as their home. Located on the hill above the Circular Quay, the main entry spot for ferries, people could watch the boats come and go. It was a very active spot during WWII. Today The Sydney Opera House is located on the opposite side of The Quay.
Views are everywhere down by the harbor. We took a ferry to Manly, a suburb on the north side of the bay, to get a view of the harbor from the water.
Elliot Bay in Seattle and Boston Harbor are both beautiful, but they don’t have sandstone cliffs with waves crashing into shore. There were beautiful vistas of the city, the Opera House, and the Sydney Harbor Bridge before the ferry rounded the bend
and headed to Manly. The entrance to the harbor has impressive rock cliffs on either side.
The ocean is right outside the entrance to Sydney Harbor, hence the waves.
We also saw crashing waves at Bondi Beach, a place that is slightly reminiscent of the relationship between Santa Monica Beach, Venice Beach and LA, however here you’ve got a gorgeous sandy beach accompanied by crashing surf and a fierce riptide.
There’s a cliff walk from Bondi to Coogee Beach that is just spectacular. We had wonderful, crazy waves 
along with the opportunity to see an annual sculpture tour. There were about 140 sculptures spread out along the walk.
It was spectacular to have the cliffs, the sea, and the art all together. Even though it was a Monday, the walkway was packed with people. At the beginning of the walk is the famous Iceberg Club. Two saltwater pools are built into the rock and people swim there throughout the year. When we first arrived, people were doing laps in the pool beside the ocean.
You can become a member of the club for a day and take advantage of the pool, the bar, and the restaurant. We, of course, took advantage of the bar! In reality it was to enjoy the view. As the day progressed, the waves became larger and more dramatic. Part of the cliff walk was closed because the waves were splashing onto the walk. The main part of the pool at Icebergs was also closed because the sea kept crashing into the pool. It was spectacular.
The Botanical Garden is right in the heart of Sydney on the bay. It’s a lovely place with a walk that circles the garden and follows a cove in the harbor. Unique species of trees have been brought in from all over the world.
The issues Sydney as a city are facing are similar to what large cities in the US are experiencing. Everyone wants to live close in, but the costs are prohibitive. We learned about the city’s issues when we joined an architectural tour. The tour gave us a unique look at the founding of the city and the construction of the buildings over the centuries. Our guide was a local architect who gave a lot of insights to the problems Sydney is experiencing with growth.
We continued heading to some of the smaller museums as I had done in last year’s trip to Amsterdam. We saw an example of homes in The Rocks area which reminded me of the Tenement museum in NYC. The Barracks Museum was another stop. It’s where convicts and, later, immigrants were held.
Food, glorious food. Everywhere. Some of the best meals we had were at top restaurants and many were good, some not great. We dined at the bar at Mr. Wong’s with a view of the dead ducks hanging ready to be turned into Peking Duck.
The food there was marvelous, the view was a bit different. The restaurant itself is in one of the older buildings that was, thankfully, not torn down in the heart of the city and the interior had a wonderful industrial flavor.
Kangaroo is on a fair number of the menus. We were told there was an abundance of the animals so they are not an endangered species. Of course, Mr. Ballenger tried kangaroo, but no can do.
The last day was one of those days where the best laid plans go up in smoke a bit and one has to change things up.
Mr. David took some time to recoup and I went off on the aforementioned futile chase of a museum that was not open. (previous post) Rather than taking the bus back, I decided to walk. The weather was just perfect, a brilliant sun, with not too much wind. Since I hadn’t planned anything else other than the museum, I took myself to Spice Temple, a noted Asian restaurant and David relaxed at the hotel. This was not a hardship for him as our hotel had a nice deck on the harbor.
I finished our Sydney trip with a walk out to the middle of the Harbor Bridge. Luckily, there’s a bridge I could walk across to accomplish this feat. There’s a paved walkway on one side of the road filled with a mass of people sightseeing, jogging or commuting to work. The other side of the bridge contains a bike path. This was the easy walk. you can also opt for a walk up to the very top of the bridge’s framework, something David and I decided wasn’t going to work for us. But this, was definitely “a walk in the park” or across a bridge.
In Search of the San Andreas Fault 