Sydney

Blake and I spent a whopping 5 days in Sydney, 2 of those being travel days. so we had to make the most of it with 3 full days of sight-seeing! It was a bit of a marathon!

We did two walking tours, visited the opera house 3 times, went to some more botanical gardens, and ate some wonderful food! We had amazingly wonderful hosts who took us on a full day driving tour of the whole city, including a visit to an old school style lawn bowling club on a seaside cliff.

I must admit that we're a few days into our Melbourne visit, and the memories of Sydney are fading fast, but I'll to my best to keep up the pace and length of these posts!

We attended two of the "I'm Free" walking tours, which are walking tours you pay for afterwards depending on what you feel its worth. We liked that model so much we attended a second one, which I will describe later. Our first tour began in the CBD (central business district) by the old town hall and cathedral buildings. Our very theatrical tour guide then brought us up through the main parts of Sydney to the north end, or "The Rocks" for this fantastic view of the opera house! We learned much of the rough and tumble beginnings of Sydney as a convict colony and military base, and much about the roots of the Aussie way of life!

We have now visited botanical gardens in almost every city we have been in! Brisbane has two, one in the city, and one at the base of a nearby mountain; and even little Bundaberg had a little botanical garden showcasing the regions plant life. Sydney had a lovely garden, but we both agree that Mt. Coot-tha in Brisbane was the best botanical garden. Most of the others seem more like city parks with lots of plants, but nothing too spectacular and not much writing in the way of what the plants are. Blake has, however, been particularly taken with the little seed pods shown up above, and is quite excited when he finds that plant in each city.

I was particularly delighted with these orange and red flowers, which upon closer inspection seem to resemble small crayfish claws! The bizarre tree in the background is quite common around Australia though we've yet to commit it's name to memory.

Our second trip to the Sydney Harbor Bridge and Opera House was immediately after the botanical gardens, as they are right near each other.

As you can tell, it was a chillier day in Sydney, but we got up close to the Opera House for this selfie, wind off the bay be damned. We were quite surprised to find the inside lobby of the Opera House to be quite utilitarian, almost brutalist, and quite evocative of a parking ramp. I can imagine that the concert halls themselves must be more interesting, but of course one must be a paying customer to see in there.

Our second walking tour focused exclusively on The Rocks, which was where the earliest convicts were placed and made to eek out a meager existence for crimes such as horse stealing. Seems a bit hard punishment! Our tour focused on the small laneways that were trampled into The Rocks between buildings before cars, and I can attest that they are quite labyrinthine. We learned more about the history of the people who lived there, viewed an active archaeological site where artifacts of the earliest days are still being uncovered, and once again finished with a picturesque view of the city skyline, bridge, and of course Opera House.

Blake's favorite color is green, and so I joked with him that I arranged to have the Opera House lit up in his favorite color for this occasion. Don't tell him how many thousands I spent for this moment ;)

Our final full day in Sydney found us walking along the other side of the Harbor where we discovered this incredible public park and playground for children. I found a way to enjoy it as an adult myself, with jumping from step to step and climbing up the big rope structure!

We finished our evening with stops at two of the three pubs which claim to be the "Oldest in Sydney." Luckily the beer was some of that good new stuff, and not barrels of the old swill still laying around in the basement.

We left Sydney at 7am on Wednesday, after being given a ride to the train station by our lovely hosts, and headed for Melbourne.

Up next, the train ride from Sydney to Melbourne, watching the countryside shift, and our introduction to the city, including another "I'm Free" walking tour!