We had been to Sydney twice previously and loved it. I was curious to see if it was as good as we both remembered. Well times have changed and sadly Sydney has suffered through a few terrorist attacks but it's as sensational as we remembered it!
It's hard to capture the vibe of Sydney accurately but a few descriptive terms that come to mind are extremely friendly, laid back, cosmopolitan, vibrant, hip, diverse, modern, and very easy to navigate. In my mind it's truly one of the great cities of the world. Not bad for a place that first earned it's place in history as a dumping ground for convicts mainly but not exclusively from Britain.
We educated ourselves a little bit on this part of Australian history at the Hyde Park Barracks Museum. Hyde Park Barracks were kind of like Australia's version of Ellis Island but for those convicted of crimes and sent down under. While there were some "hard core" criminals in the mix, sadly a lot of those sent to Australia were convicted of relatively minor offenses and some (both male and female) were as young as 11-12. In some cases there were happy endings with the convicted being "reformed" and becoming productive members of society. It was interesting to learn that over the past 50 years or so the Aussie's have embraced their convict past. These days it's a badge of honor if your family heritage traces back to someone who spent time in one of the prisons. I looked on a display in the museum and there was no evidence of any Tucker's having been residents. I'm not sure if that means there were no British roots in my past, no criminals in my family tree or if they just took my kin folk out and hung them. Most likely it's a combination of two of the three, you can decide which ones.
One other part of Australia's past that must be mentioned is the history of the Aborigines people. Those early European explorers who claimed to have discovered Australia, ha! They were met at the shore by a civilization whose history can be traced back over 50,000 years! The mistreatment of this group by "outsiders" was very similar to that of native Americans and very sad. Thankfully there seems to have been significant strides made towards reconciliation and protecting what is left of the Aboriginal culture but it's impossible to completely undo what was done.
Now on to a brighter subject and that's Sydney and Australia today!
Sydney is a huge city with great beaches such as Bondi and Manly as well as neighborhoods and attractions that could keep you busy for months.
With just one day we focused on the city center near the two most iconic landmarks, the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. As usual we were on foot and on our own.
First up was a walk from Darling Harbor, which is in the entertainment district, over to the Harbor Bridge which we walked across and back. Think of this Bridge as Sydney's equivalent of the Golden Gate Bridge. It's a little over a mile in length and offers great views of the harbor, city and the #1 attraction, the Opera House.
We then looped around Circular Quay which is the transportation hub where you can catch ferries, buses or trains to other destinations such as the beaches and outer neighborhoods. The Opera House is adjacent to Circular Quay and serves as both a great backdrop or focal point for pictures. We don't take a bunch of pictures partly because I've seen too many folks "miss the moment" by trying to "capture the moment". However, by the time the day was over I had taken about 60 pictures and the Bridge, Opera House or both were in all but about fifteen!
We didn't go in the Opera House. I'm sure it's quite nice inside but there is a fairly steep fee to get in plus once you've seen one fancy Opera House you've seen them all.
Most of our time was spent in the Royal Botanical Gardens which would be Sydney's equivalent to New York's Central Park but probably with a significantly less chance of getting mugged. Although it was a Tuesday around mid-day the park was full of young and old alike enjoying a near cloudless day.
We sailed in as the sun was rising and sailed out as the sun was setting. It was an amazing day in an amazing city. We're already looking forward to our next visit to this sensational city!
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| Sydney Opera House |
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| Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge |
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| We walked across it for free-for a few hundred bucks you can climb it and go over the top |
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| From the Royal Botanical Gardens |
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| The skywriter wrote "Aussie"-After a few minutes the wind blew it around a bit and it looked more like "Russia" |
