Manly and Sydney CBD

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The plan for today was to go right into the heart of Sydney. They were telling me that they don’t tend to go into Sydney that much, and having me over was an excuse to get out and about and see what been happening locally.

Paula drove Bryan, Damon and myself to Manly, where we walked along the beach front alongside the famous Norfolk pines, and then down Manly Corso. ‘The Corso’ is Manly’s high street, and leads from Manly Cove, with the harbour beach, to Manly Beach, on the ocean side. It is lined with many shops, cafés, pubs and food shops, and is also home to many restaurants, bars and clubs. It is the ‘heart’ of Manly.

At the harbour beach end of ‘The Corso’ was ‘The Esplanade’, which was where all the Sydney-bound ferries depart from. We bought return tickets, which cost about $15 (£5) each, and boarded our ferry. The Manly to Circular Quay ferry service has been running since 1854.

We sat inside, as it was much too windy to have an outside seat. The journey was pleasant, and took about twenty minutes. We were sharing the waterway with many other smaller boats and yachts, and they seemed to be playing 'chicken' with the big ferry we were on. I was surprised we didn’t hit any as they really did seem to dice with death, even though they knew that the ferries had right of way.

On our left, we passed Fort Denison. This is a small outpost built on the small ‘Pinchgut Island’, which sat in the middle of Port Jackson, which is the name for the stretch of water between Circular Quay and the Tasman Sea. The fort was built during the Crimean War in 1857, and was used initially as a defence post against any Russian attack, and later on to imprison convicts on bread and water. I can’t imagine being stuck on there, and it must have been unbearable at times.

We also passed ‘The Bounty’, which is a replica of Captain Bligh’s galleon ship, especially made for the Mel Gibson film, ‘The Bounty’. Nowadays it was being used as a tourist feature. It looked amazing in the sun, with vast sails and detailed decoration.

As the Sydney skyline drew ever closer, we drifted to the left side of the Harbour. This was the side of our destination and docking point, Circular Quay. This is also known to the locals as ‘The Quay’.

Brief History

The original landing-place of the First Fleet was at the mouth of the Tank River, which has long since been canalised and built over. The point where it joined the Harbour had been silted up under the action of the tide, so hundreds of convicts laboured for many years to construct a horseshoe-shaped harbour wall, which was to be known as Circular Quay. This was then rebuilt in the 20th c., but the original name was retained.

Nowadays, there are four separate ferry wharves, which are used by the ferries to not only cater for tourism, but also as the only efficient way of travel for thousands of commuters to get into work each day from the northern suburbs of Sydney.

As we arrived in ‘The Quay’, the striking Opera House was to my left, with the wharves and main city centre, and all the imposing skyscrapers directly in front. To my right, on the opposite side of the Quay to the Opera House, was the much larger Overseas Passenger Shipping Terminal, which frequently accommodates the larger cruise ships. Further round to my right was the Harbour Bridge.

Anyway, the entire ferry journey took about forty minutes.

Once docked we walked down some old cobbled streets past the Overseas Shipping Terminal to 'The Rocks', and then on to Sydney Harbour Bridge. The bridge can be crossed by one of three ways: foot, car or by rail. We walked onto the footway and checked out the height and the wind on the bridge.

It was surprisingly windy on the bridge and, as it is every day, very busy. It was just before lunch, and many people used the bridge just to jog down, during their lunch break. As we looked up we could see people ascending for their BridgeClimb™.

After this, we walked down to George Street, which is right in the centre of the CBD, overshadowed by the dominant AMP Centrepoint Tower, which stands at a height of 305 metres.

There was a small park nestled amongst all the large, modern skyscrapers, so we picked here to have some lunch. It was cool and shady here, and I wasn’t surprised it was well used at lunch times by office workers.

We carried on with our walk down George Street, which is also the oldest street in Australia. It was originally a nameless track, which was used by convicts to fetch supplies of water. It was named in 1810, after King George III.

We walked as far as St. Andrews Cathedral, which lies on the corner of Kent Street and Bathurst Street, and was designed by Mr Greenway.

Next, we walked down Pitt Street Mall. I bought a CD from HMV. It was a dance music compilation called ‘Wild! 14’, part of a popular series apparently. I wanted to get a CD which was really popular out there, and Damon had recommended I buy it, so I bought it. It cost $35 (£11.50), which is cheaper than in England.

We then looked around at all the many designer shops down Strand Arcade. The Strand Arcade runs from 193-195 Pitt Street to 408-410 George Street. It was built in 1891, and is the only one of five similar shopping arcades built in Sydney in the last two decades of the 19th century.

Our next destination was Hyde Park Barracks, also designed by Mr Greenway. This is located on the corner of Queens Square and Macquarie Street.

Convict labour built the barracks between 1817 and 1819 to house at least 800 male convicts. These were marched from here to their place of work in chains. Governor Macquarie was so pleased with the building that he granted Greenway his freedom.

After the transportation of convicts to New South Wales ceased back in 1848, the barracks were home to the immigration department, and later, in 1887, by the court authorities. It was restored in 1975 to its original condition, and now houses a museum depicting the history of the first ‘involuntary settlers‘.

Sydney is a nice city as everything is so close and nearby.

The Queen Victoria Building, or QVB for short, was our next port of call. This was originally built as a market hall between 1893 and 1898. It is around 200 m long and 24.3 m across, with a 57.5 m high central dome surrounded by twenty smaller domes. Years of neglect had meant for it to be demolished; however plans to restore the building to its former glory were passed and between 1980 and 1986, it was restored to its original state. It houses around 200 shops and is open seven days a week. I must confess it is a lovely building with magnificent polished woodwork, elevated walkways, antique lifts, stained glass windows and also mosaic floors, which seemed to take me back a hundred years at least.

The building also has links to the underground rail network, via various smaller shopping arcades. One feature within the shopping centre sticks in my mind, and is located right in the centre. It was a castle, which had been suspended from the ceiling. Every hour a small character pops out of one of the four different doors. It doesn’t sound much of a feature, but when was the last time you’d seen anything even remotely similar?

Once I’d done the rounds in here, we then took a walk down Art Gallery Road, that not surprisingly leads past the Art Gallery of New South Wales. A short walk further on and on either side of us, was The Domain, a large park. The sun was again beating down today, and it was a lovely day to be doing this walk. ‘The Domain’ is a popular place to spend a relaxing lunch break from work. During the weekend it becomes Sydney’s equivalent of London's 'Speakers’ Corner’ in Hyde Park.

As we walked further down ‘The Domain’, we passed Woolloomooloo Bay. Today of all days, three naval warships had docked in the bay, which was apparently not a regular occurrence. Bryan said that they were probably going to be sent to the Indian Ocean, as a precaution for the attacks on Afghanistan.

As we walked down, we came to Mrs Macquarie’s Point. In the distance, sitting in Port Jackson, Fort Denison could be seen less than a kilometre away.

As we walked further on round, now going back towards the main city we came to Farm Cove, which is on the east side of the Opera House. The name Farm Cove comes from the colony’s first farm and vegetable gardens were situated here.

The footpaths we walked along were used for the cycling stage of the pentathlon in the 2000 Olympic Games. Farm Cove was also the location used for the swimming stages of the triathlon in The Games.

We then went into The Royal Botanic Gardens. This was established in 1816, and covers an area of some 30 hectares. It is mainly devoted to exotic and native trees and wildlife, though also includes various hothouses sheltering ferns and orchids. It is a very beautiful and picturesque area, which is a popular place to go for a relaxing stroll. It is also home to around 400 species of plants from all around the world. There were many sheltered little streams and ponds brimming with life, be it fish or birds. About half way round we spotted hundreds of fruit bats sleeping at the top of the large and imposing Moreton Bay fig trees. I had never seen fruit bats before then, and they were just hanging upside down doing nothing.

They usually wake at dusk, and circle the illuminated city landscape when night arrives. Possums also begin to stir as the day draws to an end. There were many gardens devoted to different cultures, including a Chinese Garden, and the well-tended flowerbeds were stocked up well with lots of bright plants and flowers. It was flooded with wildlife, and birds could be seen everywhere, both in the surrounding sky, and also cooling off from the hot Sydney sun. Duck ponds, a romantic rose garden, and a fragrant herb garden also gave an English feel to one of the gardens.

Finally, we came to Sydney Opera House, which has to be seen in the flesh to be believed. I honestly didn’t think it was that big from what I’d seen before on the television, but it really is a magnificent building. Performances are held in the evening, and would always need to be booked in advance. However, it is much more than just an opera house, as the building also includes three theatres and studios, a concert hall, a cinema, a library and restaurants and bars. We went in and had a look round, but the main opera hall arena was out of bounds as they were preparing for a performance that night, so I couldn’t have a good look in there. The lighting was very subdued and relaxed, and there were many exhibitions on show, advertising the performances on show. I also wanted to look in the gift shop for a thimble for Mum, as I know she likes them sort of things. I got a great one for just $10, which was perfect.

We also walked around the perimeter of the opera house on one of the verandas above the water of the harbour, and along the Waterfront Promenade. We had a rest on one of the bench seats in the shadow of the opera house, and looking back out onto Circular Quay. As we were walking back to Circular Quay, we spoke to some guy who was advertising helicopter flights over Sydney. Bryan got talking to him and found out that he was actually from Southend, in England. This is where Vic’s and Bryan‘s family descended from. It makes you think though, you go all that way round the world and you meet someone who grew up in the same area. Sometimes the world can be such a small place!

Further round Circular Quay, as we were walking I noticed ‘Writers’ Walk’ on the ground. ‘Writers’ Walk’ is a series of bronze inscribed plaques set into the pavement. The plaques are inscribed with quotes and poems from many writers who either live in, or who have visited Australia, and include Joseph Conrad, Charles Darwin and Mark Twain.

A short walk around the quay and we were back on the ferry. There were quite a few people waiting to get on this time, as we were coming back during the ‘rush hour’. The journey back was as choppy as before, and as we approached the mouth of the harbour, the ferry bent to the left and entered Manly Cove.

We walked back down Manly Corso, and picked up a bus that would take us back to Harbord, still using the ferry ticket which was a bonus. The buses were much larger than the ones we have here. They are basically two of our ‘normal’ buses joined together. The bus journey took us about ten to fifteen minutes, and we got off just a short walk from Bryan’s.

The temperature today had been 21ºC (70°F) and sunny.

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