Randwick, Games Workshop and Centennial Park
Central Sydney: Museum of Sydney, Observatory Hills, The Rocks, The Sydney Opera House, The Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Botanical Gardens
Distance: Buses, 15km, Walking, 35km
Total Distance: 8899km
I spent my first days resting, nerding out, visiting the local area and the local Centennial Park. It's quite odd having such a sudden change of flora and fauna. There's a lot of amazing birds in the parks here, as well as native trees able to deal with the low rain fall.
After this I felt ready to venture out into the tourist spots. My Lonely Planet guide suggested a walk from the Observatory to the Botanic Gardens, taking in the Bridge and Opera House.
In the way down I dropped in at the Museum of Sydney. This little museum is built over the site of the first Government House. It's got a good smattering of Aussie history but I can't say I stayed long. It was one of those museums with a bit too much guff, waffle, and information which, whilst probably interesting to the expert, wasn't an aid to my understanding of Australia's past.
However there were two exhibits I particularly enjoyed. One was in the cinema they have showing a series of old films about the building of parts of the city, such as the bridge. The other was a series of conversations between actors playing the parts of original settlers, giving the views and opinions of early Australia.
I moved off for the advised walk from Lonely Planet. The observatory, down past the bridge, to the Opera House, and out to the Botanci Gardens. I couldn't help but wander off course though.
Up on Observatory Hill there were a large number of couples having their wedding photos taken. This hill gives the best panoramic view of Sydney- thus is extremely popular. I had a plod around, taking in the large building that is the observatory with its 3 domes and the telescope outside as an exhibit. The view across Sydney was great, yet much of the modern cityscape is now housing, shopping malls, and industrial units. I felt out of place amongst the men in tails and ladies in white. Let's move on.
I went under the highway that goes onto the bridge via a small old stone tunnel. This lead to "The Rocks", an area that has been inhabited virtually all the time there's been westerners here. There's even an area of some of the first houses which have been excavated and left on show so that people can walk through them, sit on replica chairs by replica tables. In The Rocks of today there was a street market going on with everything from cloths and crafts to food and drink. A quick look around and I was off.
Between here and the Opera House are the Modern Art Gallery, great views of the bridge, and the quay. I wandered through the art gallery. It was ok. Nothing special. Nothing that really felt like anything. Not much that made me think. It was ok. I feel like the artists have spent too much time thinking about what they were going to produce and not enough feeling it. Saw better in New Zealand. But that's just my opinion.
The Opera House was cool to finally see. I never r aliased that it's two seemingly unconnected buildings. Nor did I realise that the roof is not big stretches of pure white. It's actually a series of white tiles, some tiles formed on the surface of the steel supports. Each of the two arenas had events about to start at this point. Everyone but me and the Chinese tourists were dressed up in their best for a night of opera or theatre. Hence I wasn't going for a proper look around the inside, instead the bars, cafes, and wee gift shop had to suffice.
The Botanic Garden is celebrating its 200th Anniversary. They've grown a few specific, spectacular, borders for the occasion and begun the renovation of some of their main buildings. I walked through on my way to the bus, amongst cycads and roses.
No comments:
Post a Comment