Sydney Day 1

Today was a day for sightseeing around Sydney.  It was a fun and interesting day.

We took the train into central Sydney (Circular Quey) and purchased tickets for the City Tour buses.  These are double decker buses that tour through the city and allow you to get on and off anywhere along the route.  We had done the City bus in the past, but they have added a bus to Bondi beach.  The tickets work on both buses with the ability to transfer between buses.  We spent most of the time on the buses but did get off at a few places.  It is a good way to get an overview of the city, its various neighborhoods plus stop at for a while and explore an area in more detail at your leisure.

Here are a few highlights of the tours.

Here we are on the upper deck of the bus ready to go.

Victoria shopping area.  This building started out as a produce market many years ago.  Now it has many stores and shops on multiple levels.

A statue of Queen Victoria is located at the main entrance.

One of the finger wharfs that has been converted into an apartment complex.

New South Wales State Library building.

Sydney’s famous and picturesque Opera House.

Bondi Beach and the Pacific Ocean (Tasman Sea).

Victorian style houses.  These are on the national register.

Couldn’t resist taking a picture of the Mushy Peas sign…..sounds really appetizing.

Sydney Harbor bridge also known as the “coat hanger”. 

An Ibis that was running around in The Rocks area.

Some of the back area in “The Rocks”.  The Rocks is where the initial English settlement took place.

Another view of the Sydney Opera House from across Circular Quey. 

We are not sure of the significance of the yellow snails, but we saw a lot of them around the city.

 

Finally we went to the top of the Sydney Tower to watch the sunset.

We hopped the train after the tower tour and headed back to our hotel near the Sydney airport.  Tired but had a fun day.

We end with a quiz for Dayna:  Can you name the individual that “discovered” Australia for England.  Extra points if you can name the location where he first set foot in Australia.