Sydney

Posted byrkrontheroadPosted inAustralia/New Zealand, Photography, Sydney, TravelTags:, , ,

While teaching in Japan in 2010, I went south for the long winter break to a continent I hadn’t visit before. I have never gotten over the magic of boarding a plane in one place, reading and sleeping for a while, maybe watching a movie, and getting out someplace in another part of the world. This time to Down Under lands to look for summer, visit friends, and explore. I have been inspired to share this Australia/New Zealand trip by blog friends: Alison of Adventures in Wonderland, a Canadian these days who recently visited her home in Canberra (where I didn’t go), and The Travel Architect, who is planning a trip to Australia (with different choices than mine).

 

Sydney Harbour gleamed in the sunshine as I walked from the bridge and wharfs around to the Opera House, watched the ferries come and go, and breathed in the fresh sea air. There were many historic spots along the way. I poked into Cadman’s Cottage, a little museum named for a convict (for stealing a horse) who became coxswain or boat superintendent. Campbell’s Storehouses, a picturesque row of old tan brick buildings are now fronted by outdoor cafes. On Writers’ Walk, quotes by authors from Australia and about Australia are embedded in a zigzag walkway.

 
Cadman’s Cottage
Campbell’s Storehouses
Writer’s Walk and Opera House

At the harbour, an Aborigine musician told me about his handmade didgeridoos carved from trees in the rainforest and painted with natural pigments. “The wood is better if it’s softened by termites,” he explained.

 

Sydney has a huge green swath of connected parks including the Botanic Gardens where an emotionally moving outdoor display described life before the arrival of Europeans, their arrival and impact from a native point of view, to the recognition of the Aborigine vote and more recent Sorry Day, now a national holiday and a celebration of Aboriginal culture. A wild, natural looking garden of both native and transplanted flora filled the historic location of the area’s “first farm.”

 
 
First Sorry Day 1998 
Please walk on the grass
 
 
 
Sundial
Flying fox

There’s a fine collection of Aboriginal and Australian art in the Art Museum of New South Wales. I was fascinated by the paintings and a mural representing indigenous stories of Dreaming, their creation lore, about ancient spirits and animals that formed the landscape.

Dreaming mural

Glebe, the neighborhood where I stayed, had old row houses with balconies and curlicued ironwork trim, reminding me of the French quarter in New Orleans, and great Asian restaurants. On my last day in the city, I took the ferry from the Circular Quay to Darling Harbour. From out in the harbor, you can see the classic view of the Opera House. Walked back to the hotel through Paddy’s market and Chinatown, lower George Street, sampling several parks and coffee shops along the way. At night, an Indian restaurant, and a tiny grilled seafood shop.

Glebe neighborhood

 
 
Glebe library
 
 
Thai restaurant

At the harbor

 
View from ferry
Darling Harbour

Street scenes

 
 
 
Government House
 
 
Water, Fire, Earth
 

After a month of traveling, I later returned through Sydney and caught King Lear at the Opera House. I just had to visit the marsupials at Wildlife World since I hadn’t seen any kangaroos out in the bush (as the Aussies call open lands). They were lazing in the daytime heat.

 
Koala
Kookabura

More Australia to come: Melbourne, St Kilda, Great Ocean Road, Cairns

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Published by rkrontheroad

Writer, photographer, traveler

39 thoughts on “Sydney”

  1. We travelled to Melbourne and Sydney in 2012 and really enjoyed our time there. So many memories in your post. The monorail did not last very long past our trip there, before it was removed. Happy New Year Ruth. Allan

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  3. What an exciting adventure. I have never been, but I do know some of my ancestors moved from England to Australia, possibly by convict transport 😉

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    1. I’m no authority, but I’ve learned that there were people from Africa a very, very long time ago (as they populated the Earth since human life is believed to have started there). More recently from southeast Asian islands and Oceania, some from Asia. Quite a mix, I’m sure.

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  9. Thanks for the shout out, Ruth, and for the teaser post! We’re so excited. It looks warmer than it probably will be when we’re there, but a wintertime visit is all our schedule will allow. I love the aerial view of the city and harbor.

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  10. Glebe looks like a good place to stay, I love those old houses! The Dreaming mural is great, and I enjoyed seeing some of the places I liked in Sydney and others (e.g. Darling Harbour) that I didn’t get to.

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  14. Hi Ruth, Lovely to see Sydney through your eyes! I’ve just been to Tasmania (from Brisbane) for a few weeks and experienced that same awe about how different a place can be at the end of a plane flight (particularly the climate). Am looking forward to your other Australian reflections. Cheers, Lyn

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  16. This is such a fantastic post with so many amazing photos from a place I long wanted to visit. I especially love your photo of the harbour and how on a sunny day, it looks like a little archipelago of islands, because there’s water everywhere you look. I also love how from above, you can get a good impression of the central city and the many waterside suburbs that radiate from it. Thanks for sharing, and have a good day 🙂 Aiva xx

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  18. Your first photo is an education in itself. I had no idea Sydney had so much waterfront beyond the formal harbor. I do know you can climb the support structure of one of the bridges for the view from the top of the towers, because my parents did it (at an advanced age, no less). Finally, several online articles about the Opera House include renderings of the other designs the committee considered in the competition. IMHO they chose correctly… by a mile.

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  20. Glebe sounds like a great place to stay. The old houses are beautiful and great Asian restaurants are always good to have aplenty and nearby. I love the Dreaming mural and the piece of aboriginal cosmogony you shared. Kangaroos and koalas are unmissable, I enjoyed getting to see Sydney through your eyes.

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