Sydney Sightseeing

Second day of our sightseeing itinery and Toni is in charge today with a visit to the sights of Sydney city centre. But first and most importantly there is an early 06:45am date for the two Daves and Matt with the TV to watch Man Utd v Arsenal in the quarter finals of the FA cup. They’re all ardent Arsenal supporters and are rewarded with a 2:1 win, roll on the semi-finals.

 To start the day and insight into the commute many locals have to the city centre, a drive to the local station of Gordon then a train ride into the city on a double decker train. We’re both fascinated by this, half the people appear to be sitting below the height of the platform while the others are looking imperiously down on us. Toni’s guidance for an upper deck seat is spot on as we can see everything from this height especially crossing the Sydney Harbour bridge. The walk begins with a visit to the QVB (Queen Victoria Building) housing many high end shops and a lovely coffee shop looking directly at one of the clocks. As it approaches 12 tourists begin to gather to watch it strike midday, we have the best seat in the house to watch the little ship circumnavigate the globe of the clock.



Sydney Harbour Bridge from the Manley Ferry

The sightseeing begins in earnest with a walk around Darling Harbour admiring the many expensive apartments and eateries plus a very large cruise ship. We continue through the city to circumnavigate The Rocks, the oldest part of Sydney where the first settlers started building and on the park in front of The Harbour bridge, there we have great view of both the Bridge and the iconic Opera House, you can’t fail to be hugely impressed. We walk round Circular Key, past the ferries which operate like buses carrying people to all areas of the vast harbour. A stroll round the opera house just to work up an appetite for lunch which Toni suggests we should take at The Establishment – a beautiful old “pub” in the business district. The bar area is long and spacious but the rear courtyard all old exposed brickwork, exotic plants and a magnificent water feature erupting from one wall. The food is equal to these wonderful surroundings and I must say the rest from walking was much needed. After lunch a walk through the beautiful Royal Botanic Garden to admire not only the plants but also the birdlife and iconic view of the Opera House superimposed on the Harbour Bridge. Time for home via the train, a short rest before getting showered for our evening meal at Acua, a  superb restaurant by the Olympic Pool infront to the Harbour Bridge. We can only say that the food was superb and the company of Dave, Toni, Matt and Lee made the evening very memorable (together with the yummy risotto / pasta starter followed by meltingly tender pork, main course).

Matt was our evening tour guide, showing us great night time views of the Harbour Bridge all light up and the views from his apartment which encompassed a large part of the harbour including the Bridge – New Year’s fireworks must have been spectacular from this viewpoint.