Australia - Part 4

Sydney

We enjoyed our last beautiful morning sunrise in Palm Cove among palms and gentle breezes.

I hated to leave. We drove to the Cairns airport for our flight to Sydney.

Upon arrival in Sydney we immediately plunged into an urban environment of heavy traffic and 6-lane expressways. Palm Cove was now in a different universe, far, far away. Eventually, we were delivered to our excellent multistory Intercontinental Hotel where our room had a magnificent view of the Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge.

Our journey from Cairns to Sydney took us south through 17 degrees of latitude from the tropics, across the Tropic of Capricorn, into the southern temperate zone. It was noticeably cooler in Sydney! I definitely needed a jacket as we rapidly walked through windy streets to find a yarn shop C wanted to visit. After our brief solo excursion on nearby streets we embarked on a 3-hour bus tour around Sydney. There were stops along the way to view the iconic Opera House and Harbor Bridge. The panorama in the second picture below came out nicely. Be sure to view it in full size.

We learned the Opera House's architect was inspired by orange slices. Our bus driver offered a humorous alternate interpretation when he said it resembled, "a pack of nuns in a rugby scrum"! That remark brought laughter from the whole group.

I was glad our bus tour included a visit to the park where the Royal Botanic Gardens are located near our hotel. There I got to see Mrs. Macquarie's Chair. The chair, carved from sandstone by criminals in 1810, was a favorite sitting place for Governor Lachlan Macquarie's wife, Elizabeth, who would sit here enjoying the harbor view in the early 1800's. Lachlan Macquarie was an influential governor of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821.

As the Sun got lower we saw yet another view of the Opera House and bridge from the park.

The bus tour also included a trip to Bondi Beach, a famous surfing spot. Lots of surfers were nicely illuminated by the setting Sun.

After the bus tour we returned to our hotel and prepared for dinner. We walked to the nearby Opera House and had the view below as we approached. Our outdoor dinner tables are visible inside a rectangular open space on the left ground level side of the Opera House.

Dinner featured unfamiliar items in small portions on large plates. Lately, when dining out, I often I have to Google almost every menu item to see what I'll be putting in my mouth. I'm also finding it increasingly difficult to hear individual conversation over the general roar of many voices speaking at once. On the other hand, during dinner I had a magnificent sunset view of the Harbor Bridge from my seat. Images of rugby players from the Sydney team were projected onto the bridge.

When dinner was finished we walked back to the hotel with a view of downtown Sydney before us.

After a massive hotel breakfast buffet the next morning, we embarked on a bus tour of beaches north of Sydney. Many of these beaches are famous surfing sites, including Narrabeen Beach mentioned in the Beach Boys' Surfin' USA. We stopped near Palm Beach to climb a very steep path up to the light house at Barrenjoey Head.

There was a nice view of Palm Beach below as we climbed up the trail.

On the hilltop we saw a mother whale and calf playing far below. They were unmistakable in binoculars, but still too distant to see real detail. The lighthouse base held an interesting collection of old gear, including this nice signal flag chart.

Also on display was an excellent illustrated poster explaining how light from the bright central light source was sent out to sea in horizontal parallel rays.

A spiral staircase led to the top of the lighthouse.

We stayed below and explored the lighthouse keeper's living quarters. On the steep walk back from the lighthouse I spent an enjoyable time talking with David Malin, a famous pioneer in scientific color photography. We then had a massive lunch of fish and chips which sat gurgling in my stomach the rest of the day.

After lunch we visited a site with aboriginal rock carvings. It was a short walk through grassy forest to reach the site.

One of the aboriginal carvings is pictured below. The exact age is unknown, but it is probably thousands of years old.

The next panorama shows a view from the rock carving site.

After viewing the rock carvings we took a ferry back to our hotel. On the walk from the ferry terminal to the hotel we passed the Justice and Police Museum where I decided to join some of the mean characters arranged on the sidewalk outside.

In the evening our tour guide took us on a walk through "The Rocks" section of Sydney where the first landing by British settlers was made. We all went for dinner at a pub. C and I were so full from lunch we each had only a slice of apple pie with ice cream. Then we walked to see historic Sydney Observatory.

Before entering the observatory I could see some bright southern stars even through city light pollution. Alpha Centauri and Hadar were visible in the constellation Centaurus. I could also see Achernar in Eridanus and Alnair in Grus. I was hoping to look through one of the observatory telescopes, but, instead, we heard a lot about observatory history. Finally, as our time was running out, we were shown the observatory's old 11-inch refractor. There was only time to look at Jupiter and the telescopic view was disappointing. Perhaps the old refractor needs maintenance, or perhaps the seeing was awful. An 11-inch refractor should yield a wonderfully sharp view of Jupiter, but I've seen much better views through smaller telescopes.

We returned to our hotel feeling tired. Soon we would leave Sydney for our next Australian adventure.