Our second day in Sydney: Kevin was off early in the morning to meet with the folks at a university an hour and a half south of Sydney. I was left to my own devices. My philosophy for this whole trip was, “soak it up”. I’d be alone for much of the time, as this was a work trip for Kevin, so on this first day, I hit the streets by 7:30 am. First order of business: caffeine. I headed west toward the downtown/harbour bridge/botanic gardens.
This one’s for you, Kristen. The Queen Victoria Building in all its glory with its namesake presiding out front: a huge, supa elegant indoor mall, if you will, but of 1898 vision and construction. Quite impressive – takes up a city block and you can be sure this picture does NOT do it justice.
On the other end of the spectrum, the ever-popular Sydney Tower Eye building. Somewhat confusingly, the building’s own website states the following: “Construction of Sydney Tower Centrepoint shopping centre began in the late 1970's with the first 52 shops opening in 1972.” Um, OK.
I was headed to the Harbour Bridge, which I was praying would have a pedestrian lane, for a taste of the view of the Opera House. I was not disappointed. There’s a strong emphasis on preventing silliness on the bridge, what with the concertina wire every which way, but it was no barrier to the view.
I just went out to the halfway point.
Sydney Harbour is quite a complex affair with many bays and coves – not at all what I was expecting. Well, not true – I’d read up on it – but still. I only ever ended up exploring two individual such coves.
Behold the power of zoom. The neighborhood with our hotel is in the background somewhere.
Spying on rooftops on the way back across the bridge.
By now it was only 10 am and I was already pooped. Onwards. I hung out taking in the whole cruise ship scene in the harbor, and then exposed myself to art at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Then it was back across town to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The place was flooded with school groups, rivers of kids of all ages, all in uniform. I enjoyed the A/C...and the free wifi. Oh, and the art.
Then it was time for the Royal Botanic Gardens, where I got up to my usual tricks.
It is incredibly grounding to see day lilies, which we have all around our VT house, in a place that is in two different hemispheres (south / east).
Just as it is unbelievable to see this sort of thing happening.
Gahhhhh...
At this time of year, we were heading into fall, so there wasn’t a great deal in bloom. I went apeshit over Banksia spinulosa, found in Eastern Australia from as far north as Cairns all the way down to Victoria in the south. Keep in mind – there hasn’t been a lot of photography in my world for months now. I was feeling a little rusty. Banksia was happy to pose for me.
Still pretty green – just starting to get squirrelly.
Nice!
And then they warm up into pink and red!
Yummaliciousness.
When it’s all over, this is what it’ll look like. These must be from last year.
Lord only knows what this is. I think it’s made of meth, because it was an instant high.
This is what all that looked like on the ground. Add another bit for the part on the bridge.
Eventually I made my way back to the hotel, as did Kevin. We wandered the neighborhood for dinner and then I think we pretty much collapsed...and thus concludes day 2.
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