Thursday 27th November: Sydney

I got up early again for a walk by the harbour and round to Farm Cove to get a different view.
Once we both set off later, we decided to view Sydney from a different angle, namely using public transport.
We started by train, choosing to take a train which went over the Harbour Bridge and heading up into the north Sydney suburbs. This gave us a chance to ride on a double-decker train (and for me to admire the seats, whose back can be tilted so they face either way). We spent a little while exploring the town of Hornsby (some of the streets were quite Ramsay Street).
After heading back into Sydney (and having a little break), we then used the light rail (tram) line, which is fairly new, to explore in a different direction.
This evening we headed into the Oxford Street area before walking back through some of the ’ Christmas lights turn on’ events.
It still feels odd seeing and hearing Christmas stuff when it’s been so warm (although today we had intermittent drizzle and the temperature only touched 20 degrees).

Night view of the Harbour Bridge

Manly

Historic buildings from The Rocks and Millers Point

Views of (and from) the Harbour Bridge from my morning walk.

Wednesday 26th November: Sydney

While Rob had a lie-in this morning, I got up early and went for a walk. I was aiming for the Harbour Bridge but took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up exploring an area called Millers Point, an area with a good share of early colony buildings and a lot of character. I then found my way onto the bridge and walked across to the north Sydney suburb of Kirribilli, near the far end of the bridge and a lovely point to look back across at the city.
When I returned, and we’d breakfasted, we set off to explore The Rocks, the original area where the colony developed and full of historic buildings. We joined this up to Circular Quay, where we took a ferry to Manly. A short walk up its main street, the Corso, led us to the main beach, where we walked barefoot in the edge of the Pacific Ocean. We enjoyed a good wander around the town before heading back on an early evening ferry.
We decided to take some time out of sightseeing, so watched the film Interstellar before having a large tea and a circuitous wander back to the hotel.

Views from the river cruise.

Walk along the rainforest floor, an entrance to the old coal mine and The Three Sisters (a famous Blue Mountains outcrop, about which there is an Aborigine Dreamtime story).