The Beautiful City of Sydney  

After 3 weeks of camping and backpacking in New Zealand, we arrived in Sydney and to our new home for 4 days, the Four Points Sheraton Hotel on Darling Harbour. What a treat to have pristine sheets, our own private bathroom , a real closet to hang up our clothes, and find chocolates on our pillow at night! We certainly have not lost sight of the finer things in life! We were also pleasantly surprised that Darling Harbour was a major activity area in Sydney and close to all that the city had to offer.

Upon arriving, we discovered that our weekend in Sydney would involve the celebration of ‘Australia Day’ which is a major holiday celebrating the first landing of the Europeans/convicts in Australia. Our legs were now back to normal after the Milford Trek so we were eager to see the city on foot. Sydney has a population of 7 million people but it didn’t feel that big. It’s nicely situated among various harbors and easily navigated by foot, bus, train or ferry. We soon got the lay of the land and visitors actually started asking us for directions!

The sun was shining on Saturday for Australia Day and the city became alive. There were five core areas throughout city and all within walking distance which offered a variety of venues including live Australia music, a tall ships parade in the harbor, Aussie barbecues, souvenir shopping and lots of lively pubs. We soon gravitated to the oldest saloon in Australia, The Fortunes of War (established in 1828) to enjoy a cold Aussie Beer. While walking around the city we enjoyed the people watching, especially seeing the Aussies celebrating their day with costumes, eating their meat pies, plenty of drinking and laughter. We ended the evening returning to Darling Harbour to see the parade of tall ships and the grand fireworks display.

Sydney’s climate is mild all year which offers an outdoor lifestyle and that is reflected in its layout. The Aussies and visitors make great use of the numerous restaurants, bars and cafes that line its many harbors. It is a truly beautiful city with a mixture of old and new.

As you will see from the photos on Sydney, a must for visitors is a tour of the world famous, Opera House. It’s an amazing engineering and architectural structure! We were fascinated by the history of the architect, the number of years it took to build because of the political issues involved and the huge cost overruns which were later resolved through a series of lotteries. The center has 3 buildings encompassing a massive concert hall, a large drama theatre and several smaller performance venues. It was designed with the best acoustical sound system of its type in the world. We were surprised to learn that the opera singers do not need sound amplification. The inside is just as magical as the exterior with a lot of open viewing areas from the lobbies which makes for spectacular views of the harbor. Just to the west is the magnificent Harbour Bridge that we wanted to climb but didn’t get the opportunity. We had beautiful (hot!) weather while we were in Sydney and took endless photos of these two structures.

Having seen Sydney from the city side, we were now anxious to experience it from the water side. Sunday we purchased an all day ferry pass and spent the entire day exploring the many coves and harbors though out the city. Manly Beach and Watson Cove were among them. The Aussies have been celebrating this day (not entirely sure why) for the entire month of January. When we arrived at Manly Beach we found the area jammed with people (both visitors and residents) watching a swimming and boat surfing (a cross between a kayak and surfboard) competition. More entertainment!

As you can tell, we fell in love with this beautiful city and its lively people.

It’s now time to pick up another camper and drive north to the southernmost section of the Great Barrier Reef. We wish we had more than 8 days since there is so much to see. Just wanted to complain a little …….

Where’s Pat and Mike?