Being a Tourist in Sydney: The Last Day

The last full day that I spent in Sydney was a Sunday.  We didn't venture very far from Fiona's pad in Coogee in that we just motored and walked from the apartment along Coogee, Clovelley, Bronte, Tamarama and Bondi Beaches and the intervening coastal paths.  It was a lovely, leisurely and very warm day.

Early morning (as seen from the apartment balcony at breakfast) lifeguard training

By late morning every child in the area seems to be joining in one of the training programmes for water safety and awareness and first aid and swimming.

There was an incredible family feel about the whole thing with parents watching and helping and competitions too.

Tamarama Beach

Tamarama Beach: sitting on the café deck watching volleyball and the world pass by

with a couple of pugs which everyone stopped to play with

and a last look at Bondi

with some rock fishing

and a sight I confess I have never seen when people fish from the rocks below my house in Eagleton on Lewis (after all can you imagine pink Crocs on Lewis?)

And that, folks, is probably my last Sydney and Australian post bar one.  The last one will have no beaches but will, I hope, be well worth waiting for.

Being a Tourist in Sydney: Centennial Park

Centennial Park is a large public, urban park that occupies 220 hectares in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney.   The Park forms part of the larger Centennial Parklands which comprises about 360 ha.  Two of the most interesting things for me were the lakes and the variety of water fowl and birds and the immense colony of grey-headed flying fox bats.  These are endemic to the south-eastern forested areas of Australia.  It is the largest bat in Australia with adults having an average wingspan up to 1 m (3.3 ft) and weighing up to 1 kg (2.2 lb). The head and body length averages 253 mm (10.0 in).

One of the things about blogging is the reading that one does when looking up things bout which one is writing.  In this case I became fascinated by the bats because in the evening the sky over parts of Sydney is absolutely filled with these huge creatures as they migrate from their roosts to their eating places - they eat fruit and flowers.  The bats of Sydney even have their own website (perhaps I should say a website devoted to them to be correct).

Immature Moorhen

 Hardhead Duck (back) and Wood Duck (front),   

Australian Wood Duck

Black Swans

Moorhen

Hard Head Duck

Black Swan

Cormorants

Darter

Pied Cormorant

Darter and Pied Cormorant

Ibis

Pied Cormorant nesting colony

Grey Headed Fox Bat (Fruit Bat)

Grey Headed Fox Bat

Grey Headed Fox Bat

Being a Tourist in Sydney: The Rocks

One of the things you just have to make time for on a visit to Sydney is a visit to The Rocks and the Rocks Market which is partly under the Harbour Bridge.  Mo and I spent a morning there before Fiona eventually caught up with us and took us off to our afternoon adventure.

By the time we were ready for coffee it was packed - and there was a huge garden at the back.

Lots of the old properties have been renovated and turned into shops of all sorts.

How's that for a body?

There were many stalls selling arts and crafts of every description and a lot of food stalls too

The Rocks Market is to the left of this picture under the bridge.  This part of the port area is The Rocks.

On top of the Harbour Bridge (One to jog Kate's memory)

Sydney's oldest pub

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.

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

Fiona's idea was that we would see the sunset from the Manly Ferry.  From a gloomy start the day had cleared up and we set sail on the ferry to Manly from the central wharf in downtown Sydney (see the map on my first post). 

Waiting to leave I photographed the amusement park on the other side of the harbour under the Bridge

and a rather splendid block of apartments.

The second Manly Ferry coming in as we were leaving

Leaving the wharf with the CBD as a backdrop

A view of The Opera House that is rarely shown.

Out for a quiet sail

The Rhinos get everywhere.  This one is called 'Fragile'.  Hmmm.

Manly Beach on a quiet late afternoon.

and looking the other way.

The sun went down in a blaze of ordinariness

Watching the sun set from the top of the Harbour Bridge

Returning to port.