We've been lucky with the weather as you can see. Have had a few really spectacular days that made for good photo ops - like this view as the Manly ferry is approaching Circular Quay, just around the corner from the Opera House. Note the cruise ship at the terminal. Rather than trying to elbow our way thru all of the "boat people" we opted to get away from the downtown area and caught another ferry over to the upscale suburbs of Balmain, Woolwich, Greenwich, and Hunters Hill - pretty little communities with some nice relaxing walks.
One of the stops on the ferry ride over to Balmain is Luna Park - an amusement park just the other side of the Harbor Bridge that's marked by this creepy looking face at the entrance. It's a Sydney icon, and I guess has been here for about 50 years.
Another pleasant saunter was around the other side of the Opera House to the Royal Botanical Gardens, which occupies the site of the original vegetable patch laid out by First Fleet settlers back in 1788. It's now a huge green space in the middle of the city - attracting office workers on their lunch hour and joggers enjoying the serpentine paths that wind thru and around the harbor-side setting. This particular spot is a popular photo stop for the bus tours...for obvious reasons, so we took our turn in the queue.
One of the features that make Sydney such a beguiling place to visit is the assortment of pretty shoreline walks all around the harbor. Someone definitely got it right years ago when miles of shoreline were set aside as part of Sydney Harbor National Park - a green buffer between the housing developments and the water. This particular pathway wound its way along for about 3 miles. Along the way you encounter obscure little ferry wharfs where (if you're so inclined) you can hop on a boat and return to Circular Quay, proceed further along the ferry route and hop off anywhere that pleases you or, as we did, just pop in to have a flat white (a local coffee), sit a while, and recharge for the next leg of the hike. What a pleasant place this is.
For me, what makes the city especially attractive and endearing is the fact that all along the shoreline walks - and anywhere you walk in any of the suburbs - you're constantly getting glimpses of the harbor. It peeks at you around every corner, from tiny little picturesque coves like this one to full blown panoramic views from one of the headlands...usually with views of either the Harbor Bridge or the Opera House.
See what I mean? Am told that the harbor itself is only about 19 miles long from the entrance to where you enter the Paramatta River west of the city (where the Olympic venues were in 2000). Thing is, that with all of the little inlets, bays, nooks and crannies that meander off in various directions there must be several hundred miles of actual coastline around the harbor, all of it providing elevated prospects like this one looking down at the water. I don't know if there's such a thing as a "perfect city", but for me Sydney comes as close to it as any place I've ever been. In my next life I want to come back as a "Sydneysider" as the locals are called...(also, rich, famous, talented...oh, well, you get the idea.)
Some wild orchids decorating a section of one of the shore-line walks.
As we rounded a corner on one of our hikes we encountered this Eastern Water Dragon sunning himself on the path - one of the many exotic creatures that live in the bush around here. Looks pretty fierce but they're actually harmless. Seeing him was a little startling at first - he must have been nearly 3 feet long - and at first glance I thought he was a snake. Since we were in the vicinity of the Taronga Zoo we initially thought that he might have been an escapee but nope, turns out that he was just another one of the locals. We later saw about 20 more as we proceeded on.
Leaving the Quay on the ferry back to Manly. You just can't get away from the Opera House. It sits smack in the center of the harbor and your eye is constantly drawn to it no matter where you are. One thing's for sure. In an age when every city is starting to look like every other city you're never going to mistake Sydney for anywhere else. It really is unique.
And the screen saver view as we motored by one sunny afternoon.
We'll be back here for a couple of days at the end of April - just before we jump on our return flight to Portland in fact- but for now it's time to re-claim the car and head west out of the city to the Blue Mountains.
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