February 21 - Sydney in much too short a time

This morning we docked in Sydney for the second time in 15 days, but this time not at Circular Quay  which is practically under the Harbour Bridge and in sight of the Opera House.  We were instead at White Bay, not nearly as centrally located.  Oh well.

I didn’t sleep well because this morning I had to change cabins for the remaining 80 days.  It had been described to me as an easy process but it was a little more complicated than I was led to believe.  Anyway, it got done and I’m settled into my new home.

I had arranged for a private half day tour here to see some of the major sights in Sydney with a lovely guide named Linda booked through Toursbylocals.com.  My friend Helga came along with me.  Linda was very knowledgeable and packed in as much as she could in the short time we had.  Her driver Damien picked us up and brought us into the city where Linda joined us.  I knew that we didn’t have time to see things in depth but I figured if I could see the iconic things like the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and Bondi Beach at least I would have a little better sense of what Sydney’s like.  I can always come back again and spend more time here.  

That's our guide Linda and Helga with me.

Downtown Sydney is full of towering skyscrapers in between which are interspersed some old historic buildings.  Unfortunately riding around in a minivan you don’t have many opportunities to take photos.  Like all big cities Sydney has lots of traffic and you can’t really just stop to take a picture.

The first point of interest we traveled across was the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The bridge is a steel through arch edifice opened in 1932.  Originally it had six lanes of traffic; now it has an additional two lanes which used to be tram tracks on the eastern side.  On the western side are a pedestrian walkway and a dedicated bicycle lane.  At each end  of the arch are a pair of concrete pylons faced with concrete.  These were originally there for aesthetics but all four now have uses. One contains a museum and at the top, if you climb 200 steps, a viewing platform where you can get a 360° view of the city and the harbor.  I forget what it costs to do that.  The other thing one can do is climb across the bridge itself along a walkway on the arch.  That tour operates in all-weather except when there’s an electrical storm and costs  from $300 and up depending on the time of day.  As we drove across I could see some of the crazy people doing that.

Imagine climbing to the top of that pylon or better yet, climbing up that arch.

After driving over the bridge we drove through an old neighborhood past the residences of the Governor General, the king’s representative, and the Prime Minister of New South Wales.  These people live very well with magnificent homes pretty well hidden behind fences and trees and right on the waterfront of the harbor.

The Governor-General's house from the harbor

Next we drove to a wonderful lookout spot where we could see the whole harbor, opera house and city.  When I come here again I will have to make a reservation to take a tour of the Opera House, but there was no time for that this trip.  Linda told us a funny story about one of the tourists she guided.  The man asked her what that ”funny looking building with all the creases in it” was.

What a beautiful sight!

Our next stop was at a lovely park near the Royal Botanic Garden  to get another good view of the harbor and Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair.  The chair is a large sandstone rock that was carved into the shape of a chair by convicts in 1810. Elizabeth Macquarie was the wife of the man who was Governor-General of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821. The story goes that when he was posted to Australia she didn’t want to go but he told her it would only be for about a year.  She was reportedly so homesick that she would go and sit on the rock chair every day to watch for the arrival of ships bringing news from England.  Poor Elizabeth!  Sydney at the time was just an outpost for convicts to be sent and it must have been pretty grim for an English lady.  Planted all around were massive trees that Linda told us are a type of fig tree called a Morton Bay Fig.  The fruit on them didn’t look at all like our figs but birds must love them because there were lots of remnants on the ground.

That's Elizabeth's seat on the left up those steps. It doesn't look very comfy.

And here's the inscription about why it's there

After seeing the chair we headed off  on our ride through more neighborhoods of Sydney, including one named Woolloomooloo (isn't that a great name?), to come to the next point of interest, the Gap.  The Gap is a sea cliff at the southern head of the entrance to the harbor.  It faces the Tasman Sea and is made of sandstone.  While the view from the top is beautiful, the Gap is famous for being a location from which people wanting to commit suicide leap. In the last 20 years about 120 people have leapt to their death here.  Once again there is a story, this one absolutely true, to this place.  Across the street from the Gap is an ordinary looking house in which a man named Don Ritchie lived. Mr. Ritchie was a veteran of the WWII Royal Australian Navy and a retired insurance agent.  If he saw someone out on the rocks, he would cross the street and engage them in conversation. He would ask if he could help them somehow.  Once he got them talking he would invite them to come back to his house and have a cup of tea.  He has been credited with saving a couple of hundred people from suicide.  He became known as the Angel of the Gap and when he died in 2012 he was widely mourned.

The Gap

Finally we drove to Bondi Beach which is a little over half a mile long and has been filmed in lots of movies.  The beach has some strong rip currents and shark nets. (Interestingly the nets don’t stretch all the way across and sharks can swim around the ends.)  The surf conditions gave rise to what is the largest volunteer organization in the world, Surf Life Saving Australia which has 190,000 members. Families in the area begin teaching their children swimming and life-saving techniques almost as soon as they can walk and it is considered a matter of routine to join the organization.  Linda and Damien knew of a great spot where we could get a panoramic view of Bondi.

Bondi Beach from the great viewpoint

The pavilion on the beach

After getting our shots we drove down to the beach itself.  It’s getting toward the end of summer here so schools are back in session.  Because of that there weren’t tons of people on the beach. There’s a large pavilion with restrooms and cafés located sort of at the middle of the expanse and we went there for a pit stop and to get something to drink. Then we started heading back to downtown Sydney.

Downtown from not far from Bondi

On the way we drove through Chinatown.  Lunar New Year was just a week and a half ago and there were still colorful banners up everywhere.  Every store was Chinese with all the signage in Chinese.  The vast majority of people walking around were also Chinese with the odd tourist here and there taking pictures.  

We did pass one really interesting building as we drove back, the Queen Victoria Building.  Built in the Romanesque Revival style it was completed in 1898 and was designed to be an indoor shopping street.  It was never truly successful and underwent several changes to office space, some government offices and fell generally into a state of disrepair.  There was talk of demolishing it.  Evidently there was a significant outcry about that and it was instead listed on the historic register and renovated.  It’s now a shopping mall again but most of the interior structure no longer exists as it was built.  You can’t possibly miss it as you drive through the city because it stands in the midst of towering glass, concrete, and steel buildings.

The Queen Victoria Building

Damien took us back to the terminal and we ended our whirlwind tour.  If I really want to see Sydney I’m going to have to come back and spend at least a few days. It looks like a really interesting place.

Back on the ship I found all my stuff in my new cabin and I had to put it all away again.  At least I’ll have no more moves until May.  Then I met Claudia, my friend from two of last year’s cruises. Helga, Claudia and I had dinner together to catch up on our lives.  We sailed while we were eating so we missed sailing under Harbour Bridge.  One of Claudia’s friends was out on deck and she shared her photos with us.  Thank you Sandy.

After dinner we went to the show and after to the Club where another another reunion awaited us.  The new trio – new to this cruise but old friends from last year’s Antarctica cruise – boarded today and will be with us until Vancouver.  It was great to see them and I love their music.  There is a new singer with the two remaining trio members and she seemed very nice.

That was my day in Sydney.  Packed full of new sights and reunions with old friends. It’s a sea day tomorrow.  Hooray!