Saturday 22 March 2014

Being a Tourist in Sydney: Day 3 (Part 2)

I think that, by now, some of you are getting a bit tired of Sydney.  Don't worry I shall continue to post some more pictures because this is the 'diary' part of my blog being attended to.   It's the part I shall look back at to remind myself what I was up to.  We did, after all, pack a great deal into the short time I was in Australia and Sydney in particular.

On day three after going down the coast and returning to the Domain and Royal Botanic Gardens we walked to Darling Harbour and then to the Chinese Garden of Friendship.  Odd as it may sound this garden which is set between the CBD and its roads and the Darling Harbour with its incredible hustle and bustle of eateries and people enjoying themselves, is an absolute haven of tranquility.  Yes, one can hear the noise of the city outside and yet suddenly that noise ceases to exist in one's consciousness.  

Inside the 1896 Queen Victoria Building with its shops and cafes and magnificent decor and that clock....
.....that wonderful clock with the boat traveling round.  It would really merit a post of its own but I'll spare you that.
Darling Harbour
Game of table tennis anyone?
Part of the Chinese Garden of Friendship with the CBD backdrop which disappears as one walks through the gardens.
with its water dragons - this is a baby
it's a shame there's nothing to give it scale
After that we went to China Town and the market.  Because of the hassle of my knee and all the walking Fiona had brought the car to where we would be at the end of the day after dropping Mo and I off at the start of the walk just before lunch.  So Fiona had actually walked the route twice - but the she's just a stripling anyway.  Despite that it was a bit of a surprise to discover that the few hours the car had been parked cost $46.  Now when I park in the central car parks in Glasgow I shall just think how cheap they are!  It was worth every cent anyway because a massive thunderstorm meant that Sydney was drenched and even saw some minor flooding as the drains struggled to cope.  We certainly saw a lot of people who must have wished that had an umbrella that day.

Tomorrow, you will be glad to know, we leave for the Blue Mountains.

16 comments:

  1. I remember my first impressions of Queen Victoria building and shops as a young working girl on her first business trip to Sydney. It was very grand to a girl from the 'bush'. You have just reminded me that I have been to Sydney more times than I thought I had. How we forget things ~ you will have me hunting for photos next.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Carol the Victoria Building may be small in comparison to the Westfield Mall but it has far more style and class. I thought it was beautiful and would have like a proper look around and to do a post on it but we were on a 'schedule' and a quick walk-through was all we had time for.

      Delete
  2. The clock with the boat is something I'd probably had taken a picture of and showed on my blog, too, if I had been there.
    Darling Harbour - now I've seen it! I've come across this name a few years ago when my Mum and I went shopping for clothes (for herself, for a change!) and she found some very pretty tops with the brand name "Darling Harbour" on the label, and we were wondering about that name.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Meike I'd have loved to have spent more time in the building. I didn't know there was a Darling Harbour brand but it doesn't surprise me there's a lot of up-market clothes shops there.

      Delete
  3. The clock and the dragon are worthy of a post on their own.
    What does CBD stand for? You may have said but if you did I missed it. Concrete Buildings Downtown is all I can think of.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would have liked to have done a post on the clock Adrian and on the building. I'm so used to the term CBD (which as Fi pointed out is Central Business District) here is NZ and Australia that I'd actually no longer realised it's not used in the UK. The UK equivalent term is the City Centre.

      Delete
  4. Central Business District Adrian.... we used to have one in Christchurch before the earthquakes!!

    I guess if you must inhabit a major city, then having green areas and peaceful eating areas is a lovely way to avoid the crowds.
    It looks nice.

    When did you break your ribs!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Fi, I've never been to a city with one of those. I've never knowingly travelled anywhere with one of those.

      Delete
    2. Fiona I broke my ribs in the Blue Mountains. I was on a bus!

      Delete
  5. Well I for one am definitely NOT tired of reading your Sydney posts....I am enjoying them immensely.
    That clock is absolutely beautiful.....my Dad would have loved it. He built his very own Grandfather's clock back in the day. He sent away to England for the internal parts and he made the clock....I must write a post soon on my dad's clock.
    I loved the Chinese Garden of Friendship too.
    Car park rates are pretty steep there, I will have to remember to be thankful for my $1.50 per hour parking here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for that Virginia. I'm conscious of the fact that sometimes what is of interest to me for the records is not necessarily of interest to everyone else. Your Dad made his own Grandfather Clock? I am really impressed.

      Delete
  6. I love the dragon (and am trying hard not to make a pun about scale...).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not beyond a wordsmithess like you I'm sure. Come on let's read it.
      Graham does have tendency towards using zoom. He knows from his son that prime lenses are the king of the roost.

      Delete
    2. Sorry Frances I'd not really thought of the punny temptation of my words. I was pretty close up to the dragon Adrian but out and about the zoom has it's place. Wait until you see all my bird photos! I couldn't have got them with a prime lens: a question of opportunity (apart from lugging one around).

      Delete
  7. Mystical beasts are rising up out of the water gardens, that is beautiful. $46 for parking, yikes! That clock does deserve its own post, I think, since I can't imagine what the ship is doing, or why. Thanks for the tour.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Terra you made me start thinking about the clock. It is called The Great Australian Clock and it definitely is worth a post of its own. Oddly I haven't yet been able to find out what the ship is doing either.

      Delete