Our last evening and night on the cruise ship was uneventful. However the morning produced something special. We would always have the curtains partially open so I had some idea of sun rise. This morning I woke and noticed it was light outside, but I could also see the shore and buildings. I woke Helen and said to her she needs to see this. Outside we were passing the Sydney Opera House in the glorious morning sunshine as we cruised slowly through the harbour and under the Harbour Bridge.
Being a relatively small cruise ship we were able to sail under the Harbour Bridge and into the new cruise terminal in White's Bay, this meant we passed Darling Harbour and it's skyscrapers.
As we docked there were wonderful views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The disembarkation was very organised, we left our suite, our home for the last sixteen days and went upstairs for breakfast and to wait for our colour to be called. Unfortunately our pick up was at 10:00 am and we had about an hour to wait, but a positive was that we could check into our room when we reached the hotel.
The hotel was a short distance to George Street, the heart of the CBD and a short walk to Circular Quay. After sorting ourselves out we set off to explore the city, with a short diversion to see what was wrong with my phone we headed to Circular quay and a walk around the Opera House and the Rocks before finding ourselves at the Observatory where there were some impressive Fig trees, a Kookaburra and wonderful views of Sydney.
It was very hot so the shade from the trees and an increasing breeze was very welcome.
I had visited Sydney twice before, Helen had not. I came in 2001 and 2003, over twenty years and the difference was amazing, lots more high rise and amazing roads around the area. We walked down to Darling Harbour, the sky had clouded over and the wind, was now quite strong, but still very warm.
We found a restaurant and had an early dinner before heading back to the hotel, where we sorted ourselves out for the next few days.
The next day we were on a morning cruise around the harbour. We met the ship, a small ship with four other couples and set off to explore the bays and marinas that make up Port Jackson, the true name of the harbour. The real Sydney Harbour is on Vancouver Island in Canada.
There was a lot of gossip and pointing out of the celebrity ships, apartments and house on the shores and hills overlooking the water. However my favourite was the apartment block with the address of 42 Wallaby Way, this was the building that housed P Sherman, the dentist in Finding Nemo.
Unfortunately the weather wasn't brilliant, but it was dry and still very warm, this didn't take from the grandeur of the buildings and of course the Sydney Opera House.
After the cruise we walked through Circular Quay and then out into the Royal Botanical Gardens, again I had come here over twenty years ago, but really couldn't remember much about it. The first birds we came across were the Australian White Ibis, which are everywhere in the city, almost like pigeons.
The Australian white ibis has established in urban areas of
the east coast in increasing numbers since the late 1970s; it is now commonly
seen. In recent years, the bird has also
become increasingly common in Perth, Western Australia, and surrounding
towns in south-western Australia. Populations
have disappeared from natural breeding areas such as the Macquarie Marshes in
northern New South Wales. Management plans have been introduced to control
problematic urban populations in Sydney.
Due to its increasing presence in the urban environment and
its habit of rummaging in garbage, the species has acquired a variety of
colloquial names such as "tip turkey" and "bin
chicken", and in recent years has become an icon of Australia's
popular culture, regarded with glee by some and hatred by others.
Other birds on the lawns in front of the water and around the ponds were the Australian Wood Duck.
A Magpie Lark, which could be confused with the Australasian Magpie, but is much smaller.
A Masked Lapwing.
The path winds along side the harbour. An interesting fact about this water is that it is almost freshwater, but the water is very dangerous after dark when Shark attacks are known. The offender in this case being the Bull Shark that are known to swim up rivers and thrive in the murky water.
On safer ground there were views once again of the iconic buildings.
Sulphur-crested Cockatoos were everywhere, they like to feed on roots and tubers in the ground and often can be seen grazing on the ground.
a popular cage bird, these cockatoos can have a life span of seventy years or more.
A Pied Currawong, a type of crow named for its call.
We stopped for a drink and attracted the attention of the Silver Gulls. These are similar to the Red-billed Gulls in New Zealand. They were once considered a sub species but are now a separate species.
We were sitting close to a Buddleia bush and as the temperature warmed up and some sunshine appeared so did the butterflies.
This beautiful butterfly is known as the Orchard butterfly and is a member of the Swallowtail family.
It was great to finally come across some spectacular butterflies.
The Orchard was quickly joined by a Blue Triangle, another member of the Swallowtails, the special blue markings almost iridescent.
But in some it was a little washed out.
The one bird you hear all the time around the city id the Rainbow Lorikeet. They fly around in flocks screeching as they pass overhead and disappear into the foliage of the trees. I had been hearing them and not being able to find them in the trees. Being Common should not deter from the beauty of the bird, something we never see in the UK.
The Rainbow Lorikeet is unmistakable with its bright red
beak and colourful plumage. Both sexes look alike, with a blue (mauve) head and
belly, green wings, tail and back, and an orange/yellow breast.
They are common along the eastern
seaboard, from northern Queensland to South
Australia. Its habitat is rainforest, coastal bush and woodland areas.
Rainbow lorikeets have been introduced to Perth, Western
Australia, Tasmania, Auckland, New Zealand and Hong
Kong. Unfortunately evidence shows that Rainbow Lorikeets compete with
native birds by dominating their food sources and nesting sites. They are
capable of dislodging much larger birds than themselves. They may also carry
avian diseases which can threaten the health of native bird species.
They have been declared a pest in Western Australia.
It is easy to see how they get their name.
They are a beautiful bird though and extremely photogenic.
Walking around the garden there was more butterfly action, the Blue Triangle once again.
And the beautiful Macleay's Swallowtail.
Once again the Botanical Gardens were a wonderful open space in a very busy city, lovely to see green lawns and trees with leaves in February!
We left the gardens from the north side and walked around the plaza around the Opera House. A Chance to be a little artistic with the shapes of the roof on the Opera House. All of these being in black and white.
The Opera House is widely regarded as one of the world's
most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architecture.
An international design competition was launched
by New South Wales Premier Joseph Cahill on 13 September 1955 and received 233 entries, representing
architects from 32 countries. The criteria specified a large hall seating 3,000
and a small hall for 1,200 people, each to be designed for different uses,
including full-scale operas, orchestral and choral concerts, mass meetings,
lectures, ballet performances, and other presentations.
The winner, announced in Sydney on 29 January 1957, was
Danish architect Jørn Utzon. Utzon's design was selected by
Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen from a final cut of 30
rejects.
The Government of New South Wales, led by the premier, Joseph
Cahill, authorised work to begin in 1958 with Utzon directing construction. The
government's decision to build Utzon's design is often overshadowed by
circumstances that followed, including cost and scheduling overruns as well as
the architect's ultimate resignation.
From 1957 to 1963, the design team went through at least 12
iterations of the form of the shells trying to find an economically acceptable
form (including schemes with parabolas, circular ribs and ellipsoids)
before a workable solution was completed. The design work on the shells
involved one of the earliest uses of computers in structural analysis, to
understand the complex forces to which the shells would be subjected.
As one of the more popular myths has it, Utzon had a eureka
moment while peeling an orange. While it’s true that the solution can be
demonstrated in this way, it had in fact been architect Eero Saarinen who, over
breakfast one morning years earlier, cut into a grapefruit to describe the thin
shell structure of the roof of his TWA Building, and later used an orange to
explain the shape of the shells to others.
By his own account, Utzon was alone one evening in his Hellebæk office with a number of the most intractable Sydney Opera House problems weighing heavily on his mind.
Utzon was stacking the shells of the large model to make space when he noticed how similar the shapes appeared to be. Previously, each shell had seemed distinct from the others. But now it struck him that as they were so similar, each could perhaps be derived from a single, constant form, such as the plane of a sphere.
The Opera House was completed by an Australian architectural
team headed by Peter Hall, the building was formally opened by Queen
Elizabeth II on 20 October 1973, 16 years after Utzon's 1957 selection as
winner of an international design competition.
It is an iconic building, if, as Helen put it a little smaller than she thought it would be
Across the harbour, nestling under the Harbour Bridge is Luna Park.
Luna Park Sydney is a heritage-listed amusement
park located on the northern shore of Sydney Harbour. The amusement
park is owned by the Luna Park Reserve Trust, an agency of the Government
of New South Wales. It is one of Sydney's most famous landmarks and has had a
significant impact on culture through the years, including being featured as a
filming location for several movies and television shows.
It has gone through several openings and closures, one closure due to a fatal Ghost Train Fire in mid 1979. Lately it re-opened in 2004 and is currently operating normally.
Back in 2003 I spent a heavy evening in the Fortune of War pub in the Rocks, this evening after having dinner we passed the same pub, there was live music, we decided to have a drink and many more later we came out after a great evening.
Tomorrow we have a trip out to the Blue Mountains and I hope the heads were clear.
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