Not surprisingly, yesterday's weather was the talk of the town. Debris and broken branches could be seen all over Sydney today but, against all predictions, the rain did let up and we even had occasional sunshine to accompany us on the city's exploration.
Here's a picture of our apartment building (top floor). It is surrounded by ample green parks where happy dogs play harmoniously in their special enclosures and numerous ibises dig their long curved beaks into the grass in search of some unlucky worm.
This was, of course, Diane's first day out in Australia. It started with taking in our immediate surroundings.
We caught our train to the city fairly early, which deposited us at Circular Quay about thirty minutes later. This is where Sydney's famed Opera House is located. It is an immense construction and it surprised me that its curved roofs are actually made of individual ceramic tiles.
Across the harbor, the Sydney Harbor Bridge makes a good show of itself.
We spent several hours walking about the area, which was hubbub with people of all nationalities, many of whom arriving on several cruise ships, stationed at piers along the harbor.
We particularly enjoyed pausing to be entertained by street artists, including a group of aborigines playing traditional tunes.
Yesterday, the final day of celebrations for the Chinese New Year was to take place, but was cancelled due to the storm. Many large temporary statues remained standing however and made interesting opportunities for snapping a few pictures.
Photography being my primary interest when traveling, I would have very much wanted to walk to the tip of the peninsula from where you could shoot an iconic view of the harbor that includes both the Bridge and the Opera House, but after a long walk through the Botanic Gardens and sweat beginning to fill my shirt, we collectively decided to pass on that option. Once again the botanic gardens included samplings of amazing trees. I do love nature, but I would have never expected to be as moved by trees as I am practically everywhere in Australia. Look at this photo attentively. Pay attention to the shady circumference on the ground, that's the width of the tree! It is as wide on the right side, as it is on the left, but I could not walk back far enough to take it all in, without turning Eric into a small pin.
We did however dare to walk the mile plus length of the Harbor Bridge. We could have elected to climb to the top of it, as well, but at $19 per person, we figured we'd skip it and take the free lower walk instead. The bridge offers a great vantage point to amazing views of the harbor and the Opera House.
By then we were quite tired. Diane and Eric were ready to go back to the Wolli Creek apartment. I, on the other hand wanted to explore the affluent neighborhood of Kirribilli, across the bay. We parted ways, but as it turned out, I got back to Wolli Creek way before them, since they had a change of mind and decided to visit the Sydney Zoo instead. In the end, everyone was happy. I'm glad we did get to visit this world-class city at least one of the two days we had planned here. After having explored the Blue Mountains upon arrival, Sydney concludes our short visit to New South Wales. Tomorrow a new destination awaits and our flight takes off early in the morning. I'll leave you with a last shot of the district of Kirribilli. Have a good night, or day, wherever you are.
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