Day 53: Sydney sights‏

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Today we had a jam-packed itinerary around Sydney starting with the ferry from Manly to the CBD at 8am. I quite liked the idea of getting the ferry to and from work each day like the locals! Our first stop was a closer look at the Sydney Opera House, despite its slightly dirty appearance it still looks pretty impressive standing at the edge of the harbour. We then walked through the botanical gardens to Mrs Macquaries point, where a seat carved into the stone is named 'Mrs Macquaries chair'. After a quick dash back to circular quay we hopped onto a ferry to Watsons Bay; this is the landing site of the first fleet back in 1788. It also has a magnificent view of the Pacific Ocean at a spot called 'The Gap'.

We had arranged to meet a school friend of mine (Nikki) at Observatory Hill for lunch and we swapped travelling tales for an hour or so. Our final stop for the afternoon was the Sydney Olympic Park, but I'll let the athlete tell you about that!

Bailey's bit: It is a small custom of ours that when we visit an Olympic city we go and see the Olympic stadium. So far we have ticked off Berlin, Rome and London, we can now add Sydney to that list. The complex is looking in a very good state with most of the arenas still in use, while we missed the tour we took in the aquatics centre, athletics tracks (two of them?) and the main stadium. We also visited Cathy Freeman park when the Cauldron now stands as well as Gold, Silver and Bronze plaques listing all the medalists and their events. I took a picture of Cathy's and the legendary distance runner Haile Gebrselassie's Gold plaques. Also saw the bronze plaque of a certain Bradley Wiggins!

Daily mileage: 5 tried exploring around slightly but soon realised the headland always sends you back towards Manly beach or the ferry wharf.

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