Sydney is an amazing city, situated on a wonderful harbour as it
is. A better harbour than San Francisco, where mostly we have
mudflats along the bay, but it reminds people of it.
Sydney is bustling, and harder to get around than Melbourne which
seemed easier to walk around. Though we rode Syndey's trains and
ferries several times.
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Yes, even in the taxicab you are now warned you are being recorded
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Car show was on, and people were driving this test track for SUVs. In spite of the $1.30/litre gas, Australians love their SUVs.
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Park in Darling Harbour area
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Downtown viewed from Darling Harbour
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The ferry to Tasmania is ready for cars.
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We take a harbour cruise
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Sydneysiders love to have boats, marinas are everywhere
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Tour boats and working ferries are everywhere
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Modern apartments and a cable stay highway bridge behind them.
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The aquarium with downtown behind it
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Urbanity
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In the Rocks, the steps are old enough that they had to block off one section that had been worn down
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Olympic facilities, viewed from Sydney Tower
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Various peninsulas leading all the way to the ocean show the scenic nature of Sydney at sunset
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A noodle fest in Hyde park, where we ate after taking these photos. Including one booth with an orange-apple-ginger juice that may be the best I have ever had.
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Night view of Darling Harbour
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Darling Harbour and downtown at sunset
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Harbour area at sunset
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Sun sets over downtown seen from the east
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Folks in Sydney know they are in Australia's main city, to the point
of being cocky about it. Even the taped narration on the cruise was
a little too full about how wonderful Sydney is. Which is not to say
it isn't very nice. They raved several times about how good Australian
food has gotten in the past 20 years, due to Asian influences. The food
was often quite good, but sorry, Sydney is not on the level with Paris,
San Francisco, Tokyo, Hong Kong, London, New York and the rest -- not yet.
Sydney gets a fair share of tourists who will not see much else of Australia,
so it has 12,000 didgeridoo stores and tourist shops to represent the
whole of Australia.
In Sydney we quite liked the general sense of the place, built around
the harbour, and the stroll through the botanical gardens and domain.
Darling Harbour was very pleasant, and the Paddy's market in it an
amusing marriage of 1st world flea market and wild asian market.
The powerhouse museum was entertaining. We didn't feel the call of the
other museums so much.
