Sydney, Australia

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I never had a heart for cities. The Great Barrier Reef was my main target in Australia. But the flight was through Sydney. I decided to stay for a couple of days and see at least the two of the iconic structures structures of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

Flight from Christchurch to Sydney was with Air NewZealand, a comfortable 3.5 hour journey left me in Sydney airport before noon. As directed by Lisa (Sydney expert) took the train to Central, changed for Kings Cross and walked to Challis Lodge. The lodge appears to be an annex to an old convent, with wooden floors etc, kind of done up for tourists. As I had only two nights here I was not too concerned with with the stay. However the place was clean, quiet and had all the amenities required except Wi-Fi.

After leaving the luggage in the room went out to see where I could go, Opera House and Sydney Bridge being the priorities. Went down a lot of steps to the sea level where there was a small harbour with a lots of private yachts. Climbed back up to the entrance of Botanic Gardens and walked through to harbour side. It was getting to be quite hot in afternoon ~28ºC in the blazing sun and the gardens were absolutely fabulous in providing a green shady cool surroundings. Did not spend too much time there as wanted to get to the Opera House first. Decided to spend a bit more time here on the way back.

The Opera House designed by a Danish architect did not get its deserved accolade when it was built. It won plaudits only later, becoming the symbol of Sydney and even of Australia itself. It is one of the most photographed buildings in the world. Its "shell" roofs looked very shiny in the sunlight. Only when you get on to it you realise that they are covered with ceramic tiles ( should be easy to maintain). The construction should have been a nightmare for the builders as there were no straight lines anywhere on the structure except at the base.

I left the Sydney Harbour Bridge for the next day and walked back to the Botanic Garden and spend some time there. There were many different sections, the rose garden, the herb garden, ther oriental garden etc. etc.. I could spend at least a day here. Got back to the hotel, washed and dried all clothes that were used over the last few days.

Early start on the second day; walked to get some breakfast, continued towards Circular Quay through Philips Park, Hyde Park, by the Cathedral, Sydney Tower (they call it the "golden bucket"). At the Quay decided on a boat trip through the harbour, almost 2 hours. The boat was very user friendly, it even had a free wi-Fi hotspot (strange considering what you have to pay for Wi-Fi here) and called at a lot of small warfs around the harbour. On landing back around 1100 hours went on a conducted walking tour of the city. Did not complete the tour as we were going too slow as some of the Americans did not walk any faster. The guide was a Korean Student, you pay her what you think the tour was worth. She was very funny and had a different outlook on things from a normal tour guide. Very interesting background to founding of Sydney, its name, the history of penal colony etc. Took a train to Milsons Point On the other side of the harbour and walked back on the Harbour Bridge. This is a two tier bridge. If you want good views of the harbour and the Opera House you have to pick the correct side as you can not go to the opposite side until you get to the other side. The views from the bridge make it worth walking it. On the port side got down from the bridge for a walk through the Rocks area (the original penal colony area). There were commemorative stones or plaques erected in places of special interest, as the first execution of a convict, first house, even where first landing of the English, etc. Walking through narrow walkways was easy as everywhere there were informative information and direction. This is now kind of preserved place but a lot of commercial activity (shops, food halls etc) still goes on here, including a market, all aimed at the tourists. From the Rock got down back to the Circular Quay.

From the Quay I started on the last item on list for Sydney. A visit to the famous Bondi Beach. This time I took a bus for the 45 minute ride. There is nothing spectacular about Bondi, except that it is Sydney's local beach. It is a lovely beach almost crescent shaped with golden sands with rocky out crops at both ends. Though coming to winter, being Saturday, there were a lot of people there, swimming or surfing or just languishing on the beach. However the day was already changing to be cloudy and there was a small shower while I was there. After an hour of roaming about the place I decided to get back to the hotel and get ready for the early flight to Cairns. I could get a shuttle in front of the hostel (save on dragging the luggage 0.5 km to the train station and changing lines with the luggage). Looking forward to the trip to the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns..

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