What a wonderful day we have had! But then every day has been fabulous; this new life of ours is just wonderful. Sometimes I feel guilty thinking for saying that, when there are others who are not living on the same high as us. But then guilt is a wasted sentiment.
We left our roadside camp after a quiet night. The laughing kookaburras had been the first to wake me up, then soon the magpies and bell miners took over. I have written of the bell miners before and still their chimes continue to fascinate me.
Our journey was entirely on Highway One today, a route we had avoided as much as we could. I expected a fast monotonous road with views beyond the road side being hidden by trees. This was true in part but the road was quite amazing, wending its way through high rock cuttings, passing through the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park and across the Hawkesbury River. The landscape was stunning. 
Within an hour we had reached the perimeter of this huge city and entrusted Tomtom to guide us through the myriad of city roads to our camp on the edge of the Lane Cove National Park. It is quite incredible that there is 600 hectares of bush here in the middle of the metropolis, twelve kilometres from the CBD, no doubt as the crow flies. We have booked for one week initially, with leeway to extend a couple more days. We will however decide within the next couple of days whether we want to extend right out to a further week. There is so much to do and see here in Sydney.
After lunch we walked to the nearest railway station, North Ryde, and descended into the bowels of the underground, reminiscent of those in London; several levels of steep escalators to the underground platforms.
Twenty five minutes later we arrived at Wynyard Wharf, and walked out on to George Street into the buzzing business centre of the city, crowded with smartly dressed city workers and a few casually clad tourists such as us. The skyscrapers are more numerous than they were when I last wandered about here in 1973 and Chris when he was here about two years before that.
We walked on down to Circular Quay and the Rocks from where we could see the Opera House across the bay. We visited the The Rocks Discovery Museum, a brilliant little museum that spells out the history of just that area of Sydney; the Cadigal aboriginal people, the convicts and other settlers, the growth of Sydney or at least that small part of it from 80,000 years ago until today. The exhibits were simple, intelligent and interesting, and best of all there was free entry.
We walked up through the restored cobble stoned lanes, past the bars and restaurants that have been established in this picturesque corner of the city, to the Harbour Bridge and walked across to the other side of the harbour. Who would have thought that we would do that! The views were fabulous although the day had been duller than one would choose for such a sightseeing tour. Sydney prides itself with glistening blue sea and sky; these were absent today.
From Milsons Point we caught the train back to North Ryde and walked the kilometre back to camp. There, waiting for us were brush turkeys, lorikeets and crested pigeons. It is indeed a wonderful place to have planted our wheels for the week.
 |
| Our trip thus far: a mere squiggle on such a large continent |
No comments:
Post a Comment