Sydney Sightseeing

There are 2 iconic sights in Sydney, the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, but this has done a disservice to many of the other places that are attractive to visit. We started Sunday morning by heading towards the ANZAC museum, and found our way barred by a St Patrick’s Day parade. It seems that wherever you go in the world there is an Irish Pub, and if you hit the week of St Patrick’s Day the Irish expect the whole world to stop for them. Eventually we found a way through via the underground of the Town Hall station, stopping to buy our TravelPasses which gives us access to all the government operated trains, buses and ferries for the week. The ANZAC memorial was interesting and rather beautiful, and we meandered through Hyde Park past St Mary’s Cathedral, several historic buildings and museums into the Botanical Gardens. Here there was an enormous din coming from the trees above, which proved to be territorial squabbles amongst the vast flocks of fruit bats. The shape of their flight is very like rooks or crows, apart from the fact they have a claw protruding from the leading edge of the wing, and when they get close enough you can see that their wings are membranes and not feather-covered.

Eventually we got to our first view of the Opera House, and after several attempts to get photos of each other with the icon in the background (it’s very difficult in bright sunlight without a viewfinder!) we arrived to find the end of a Greek gathering. My major impression was that the covering of the Opera House was less white and more creamy than I expected, but nonetheless very impressive. We are tempted to go to the opera whilst here but have yet decided.

The Harbour Bridge is….a bridge! I’m not sure why it is so feted other than the connection that it provides with the north shore. We eventually caught the ferry to sail under the bridge back to the wharf just outside the apartment, and collapsed before setting about a plan for the rest of the week.