August 21, 2012

August 21, 2012

Sydney is built along and around the shore of a massive harbor. As a result the city operates many ferries and water taxis throughout the day. This morning we bought a day pass and took a ferry from our hotel on Darling Harbour around the downtown peninsula, under the Harbour Bridge to Circular Quay, the main hub by the Opera House. We then boarded the Manly ferry that took us to a far eastern suburb on the outer headlands. There we walked across a narrow isthmus to Manly Beach on the Pacific Ocean. It is a picturesque semi-circular beach with a great boardwalk. I bet it is jam packed in the summer with people surfing and playing beach volleyball. Even today it is popular with walkers, joggers, surfers, and winter tourists. It is also lined with distinctive Australian Norfolk Island pines. They are very nice but up close don’t seem to have ordinary pine needles. After strolling and doing some people watching, we decided this is the spot to live if we become Sydneysiders.

We walked to the southern end of the beach and up onto the rocky headlands lining the ocean. The seaside vegetation is very strange; pine trees with flowers, and trees growing corncobs. I continue to be amazed by the unique flora and fauna of Australia. We hiked along the cliff top till we reached Sydney Harbor National Park. On the way back we spotted some Water Dragons (large swimming lizards) sunning themselves on the rocks. We had a fish and chips lunch and took the ferry back to downtown.

We walked up to the Sydney Observatory on a steep hill overlooking downtown. It is an historic old building that was used not for astronomy but to set time to aid navigation. It houses lots of vintage astronomical and navigation instruments and a section on Captain Cook’s initial Pacific voyage on HMS Endeavor. His assignment was to go to Tahiti and make a scientific study of the transit of Venus across the sun. Once done he sailed west intent on finding the mythical continent of Australia. Fortunately for our trip he discovered it in 1770.

We then hooked up with a Sydney walking tour at 2:30. It was quite nice and informative. We should have done it the first day. Sydney was the epicenter of Australia’s early history. Having recently lost America, England needed another place to send convicts from their overcrowded prisons. They chose this recently discovered “empty” continent. Eventually gold was discovered here and Brits began begging to be sent here. After spending most of the day walking we cut out of the three-hour tour halfway and go back to our hotel to rest. For dinner we had Hunan Chinese, something we haven’t had since our early days in Chicago. After dinner we took the ferry back over to Circular Quay. This time to see the city night lights. Beautiful!