Visiting Sydney

Up early on our second day, we decided to walk through the Botanical Gardens and take our time working our way over to Circular Quay to take a ferry to Manly beach.

As we walked over, we took the time to walk through a marina to look at the boats as is our habit. The building, which now includes many apartments and a hotel, was once a dock where wool was loaded for transportation abroad. We were told a rich contractor purchased the property and developed it. He still retains his own apartments on the harbour front of the giant former warehouse. Someone else also told us that actor Russel Crowe has a home there.

The Finger Wharf or Woolloomooloo Wharf is a wharf in Woolloomooloo Bay, Sydney, Australia. The structure is the longest timbered-piled wharf in the world,[1] and was completed in 1915. During its working life for around 70 years, it mainly handled the export of wool, but also acted as a staging point for troop deployment to the World Wars as well as a disembarking point for new migrants arriving in Australia.

We continued through the Royal Botanical Gardens where we stopped for a coffee and looked at the giant indoor living wall before moving on towards the Quay.

By then it was past noon and we wanted to get over to Manly Beach for the afternoon. The ferry is one of the best ways to view the harbour without paying the price of a tour boat.

Over in Manly, you can walk along the Corso, a shopping area, as you make your way to the beach. Leon needed a few things so we ended up shopping before finally getting to the beach.

The oceanfront was even more crowded that Bondi Beach and it really didn’t seem like a pleasant place to stop for lunch. We opted to walk back into the shopping area and found  delightful restaurant with a shaded garden in which to enjoy lunch.

We made our way back to the beach but by then the skies were clouding over and the wind seemed to be blowing sand around. Manly beach is not as wide as Bondi, so the rising tide really takes a lot of the beach away leaving less room for people sit on the sand.

We decided it was just too crowded, so we went back to the ferry and made our way back to our Airbnb.

It’s been an active 2 days and we are feeling the loss of our usual routine. So this evening our plans are simply to relax with a nice glass of wine.

All these photos of the Opera House show it in its various angles. On New Year’s Eve, the fireworks will be seen over the Harbour Bridge and a light show will also appear on the surface of the Opera House. You can imagine that we are excited to be in Sydney for what is probably one of the most iconic NYE celebrations in the world.