Oz: Around Sydney

The Royal Botanic Gardens is a short walk from the city centre and is a great place to see some local birds and trees, not to mention being a beautiful setting for photos .  It reportedly has a million specimens on site.  The Tropical Centre within the gardens is worth a visit for its collection of exotic Australian plants. It reminded me very much of the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.

Take a look at this tree below and see how many white ibis you can see.

A closer look at the big bird

This photo of the kookaburra perching on a pine tree would make a good Christmas card.

An unusual sight for us - bats flying around in the day time and hanging from the tree.

Me, Jane!  Not!  We were lucky to bump into a video shoot for this Australian singer "Ashlea" who would soon be making her North American debut.  But this really gives you an idea of how lush parts of the garden could be.

It is obvious why this plant is called "Beehive Ginger".  You can see it in the Tropic Centre (below).

Sydney sits on a submerged coastline so it is surrounded by many harbours and inlets.  One of the best ways to see the Sydney skyline is to take the ferry to Taronga Zoo or to Manley.  You will be able to see the Sydney Opera House from all angles and then look back across the waters at Sydney from the Zoo, which sits atop a hill.

I still have fond memories of my first koala bear toy.  This is like a childhood dream come true - my first sighting of a real live koala.  A special area was set up to allow people to hold the koala in their arms for a photo, for a price of course.

The large Cassowary, one of the last remaining endemic flightless birds on the continent -

Perky little fella that might be some kind of turtle dove -

And of course, the kangaroo

This peacock strutted back and forth in front of the mirrored window showing off - maybe he thought he was seeing another bird in the mirror!

The ferry to Manley will take you under the Harbour Bridge so you get a harbour tour as well as a coastline tour in addition to visiting the bustling seaside town.  Watching the surf seems to be a favoured pastime as all the beachside restaurants were full when we arrived in late afternoon.

We ended up in a quiet Thai restaurant overlooking the beach away from the crowds.  Great food too!

Oz: Sydney the city

Sydney was a surprisingly walkable city although it also had great surface transit on which we depended for most of the four days we spent in town.  Our hotel was strategically located close to Chinatown and that was where we started off our sightseeing.  We were pleasantly surprised by the high standard of Chinese food here.  The proximity to the sea clearly placed it at an advantage for fresh seafood although this had no apparent effect on the steep prices.  But cost of living in general was quite high here, so we were thankful that at least it was money well-spent.  Restaurant meals were overwhelmingly delicious wherever we ate.

Chinatown portal "Four seas - one family"

Humongous abalone in shop window

Delicious fresh abalone and oyster on my plate

Sunday market at The Rocks, the historic area where Sydney began

Fresh fruit at The Rocks market

The famous Paddy's market

The ornate Queen Victoria Building with a shopping mall inside

The Edge of the Trees sculpture in front of the Museum which sat on the site of the first encounter between the original Gadigal people of Sydney and the first British exiles to arrive here

An eclectic mix of architectural styles in downtown Sydney

It was spring and the jacaranda trees were in bloom

St. Mary's Cathedral and the Art Deco fountain in the square beside it commemorating the Australian-French alliance during the Great War

Sydney Harbour Bridge, climbable for the young at heart

Awesome panorama of the Sydney skyline

Oz: Sydney Opera House

In November, 2010, we spent an amazing month in Australia and New Zealand.  You are invited to join us on this journey starting from cosmopolitan Sydney through the wilds of two national parks in New Zealand to the rolling hills of Christchurch.   

We landed in Sydney after a 20+ hour plane trip across eight time zones and visited the iconic Sydney Opera House that same day.  We had tickets to see Rigoletto that evening - what could we be thinking?!   But it was well-worth the visit.  Designed by Danish architect Jorn Utzon and completed in 1973, the building lived up to its reputation as a masterpiece of 20th century artchitecture and we found it to be breathtakingly spectacular.  You see below how stunning the interior was, as well as the exterior, under different lights and from various angles.

What the "sails" look like on the inside

The entrance

A view of the magnificent lobby and staircase

Looking out onto the harbour

From the inside looking out: roof detail

Framed by the bow of a cruise ship in the harbour

Majestic under threatening skies

Resplendent in the sun

Striking against the Sydney skyline

Breathtaking at night - whichever way you look at it.  And so Rigoletto became just a sideshow, although I did stay awake for the arias...