Sydney walkabout

Had to wake Dad up this morning at 0945, having been woken up myself by the alarm an hour earlier. I reckon that must be a first. The sun was shining so we decided to go out for a walk down Macquarie St via the museum of Sydney and then cross town to Darling Harbour, which is another place Dad has never been. The MoS was interesting - build on the site of the original 1788 government house, and containing a lot of stuff about the house, the colony and significant things like the bridge and the opera house. After that we walked past the state library, parliament building, hospital and the old barracks to St. James's church, which Dad thinks is where my grandfather's funeral service took place. Then across town to Darling Harbour, noticing a number of instances of older buildings. I had thought central Sydney would be entirely new but they have preserved some good examples of inter-war tower blocks as well as older terraces tucked away amidst the skyscrapers.




Darling Harbour has been turned from a major dock area (Dad recalls it as such, although he used to dock up at Walsh Bay by the bridge - now posh apartments it appears) to a very nice waterfront, with bars and restaurants, the aquarium and, over the Pyrmont bridge, the Australian national maritime museum. Guess where we ended up? After a very good lunch at a place on the dockside called Bungalow 8 (food in Sydney seems universally very good, in my experience so far) we crossed over to the museum. The galleries and HMAS Onslow (Oberon class submarine) and Vampire (1950s destroyer) were worth seeing too. Unfortunately the Endeavour replica was not there, as she is in the process of circumnavigating Australia.

Got the ferry back under the bridge to Circular Quay and a brief change before going to dinner at the Bennelong restaurant - in the small operahouselet at the southwestern corner of the opera house site - with Ken and Di Handley, who were greeted by name in there and, fortunately for me, picked up the tab. Nice, and probably insanely expensive, Tasmanian pinot was chosen for us. The eponymous Bennelong was, I found out in the MoS, one of the Aboriginal people who first interacted with the colonists, and he became quite a celeb in his time. Wonder what he would make of his restaurant...

Jet lag has subsided today and I felt fine. Having lunch on the wharf in the sun I could appreciate what a great place Sydney would be to live and work, especially if you were a young professional with some money to spare.