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.

A Garden in Wanganui

Perhaps not my choice of garden adornement. But amusing nevertheless.

The Sunken Garden

In between Marine Parade and the sea in the centre of Napier is situated The Sunken Garden. I blogged about the rock wall in the garden in my last blog. It is always a blaze of colour and full of interesting features. I will do another posting about it soon.

Flowers

One of the things that strikes visitors to Napier is the flowers. There are flowers everywhere around the City centre. These are in the gardens on Marine Parade. I don't know what they are and I don't have a book of New Zealand Flowers although these may not necessarily be indigenous anyway.

The Rock Wall in the Sunken Garden

In 1969 the Sunken Garden on Marine Parade was built after a visit by the then Mayor, Peter Tait, to Durban in South Africa. Though I'm not quite sure what the relevance of that is! It's a splendid garden. The rockwork and rock wall was carried out by Len Crompton, a stonemason from the Cotswolds in England, who was then on the staff of the Parks and Reserves. The wall contains examples of rock from all over New Zealand.

Napier Centennial Gardens

For three years I have passed the Napier Centennial Gardens many times a week but have never stopped to have a look at them. When Mo and Fiona were here they did and said that there was a lovely waterfall in the Garden. Given its location I assumed that the waterfall was a small man made one. However it appears to be anything but man made and it is certainly not small falling almost the full height of Bluff Hill at that point.