As evening falls, the sky is still clear of cloud, unlike the days and days that have preceded this. The parrots and kookaburras are very vocal tonight, but then night seems to fall earlier by the day. I guess daylight savings will come to an end soon.
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| Government House |
We left camp this morning with a general plan of travel, caught the train to Wynyard, then to Circular Quay where we tried to sort out a ticket duplication problem which arose yesterday when we were rushing for the Parramatta ferry. We were unsuccessful but handed a complaints / resolution form to complete and send in to the appropriate authorities. I suspect we will not get around to doing anything about it, however even having lost one day’s travel, we count ourselves to be getting an excellent deal with these weekly travel tickets. We have seen what one way tickets to our various destinations cost, and realise that the amount we have paid out for the three weeks (less one day), is just a tiny fraction of what even one of those weeks would have cost otherwise. We would thoroughly recommend anyone travelling to Sydney and staying four or more days to buy one of these weekly multi-passes!
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| Government House |
Spontaneously, and influenced by the fact that it was not raining, we headed off up the hill to the Botanic Gardens, and across to Government House located in the north west corner of the gardens, overlooking the harbour.. This amazing “castle” built in Gothic Revival style in 1845 sits among beautiful gardens of it’s own, filled with trees planted by visiting royals over the years; the young Queen of England in 1953, Boudoin and Fabiola of Belgium, Charles of England, Diana, his wife, et cetera, et cetera. The building is open for guided tours, but alas not on Tuesdays. If we have time or the inclination, we may return to do such a tour, however even with this third week extension, we are running out of time to do and see all the things we want to.
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| Looking down through the Queen Victoria building |
From there, we walked on down through the gardens to Farm Cove, had our lunch watched by kookaburras and mynahs (not noisy miners this time). From there we walked up over the second peninsula of the Botanic Gardens to Wooloomooloo Bay, to wander about the streets of old terrace house back toward the city, more particularly toward St Mary’s Cathedral, across Hyde Park, and in amongst the towering skyscrapers of the business area of the city. The Queen Victoria building, referred to some time ago when we were seeking a bus station, is an incredibly beautiful building and one of Sydney’s most cherished landmarks. It was built in 1898 to replace the old Sydney markets, later used for various other purposes over the intervening years; housing a concert hall and the city library, before being restored to its former glory in 1984. It is considered by some to be the most beautiful shopping centre in the world. That is a big statement, but we can see why some would find it so. It houses five levels of stylish shops and cafes, and a very elegant tea rooms on the top floor. As Chris and I wandered around in our jeans and walking shoes, we decided not to bother wandering in to the shops to even pretend we were would-be customers. They would not believe us.
From there on the lower floor we passed under the streets to a Westfield shopping centre, and enjoyed a McDonald’s coffee rather than tea at the tearooms. We came out in the Pitt Street Mall, a part of one of the main streets closed off for pedestrian traffic. There were street entertainers, shoe shiners and beggars, along with a buzzing busy populace made up of workers and tourists such as us. A walk up Martins Place also famous for some very old and grand buildings was not quite as interesting, but took us to the station at Wynyard, where we discovered a Coles superette to source some necessary supplies before catching the train uneventfully home.
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