February 6, 2017

This is our first full day in Sydney

  After a good eight hour sleep, we had a buffet breakfast in the hotel and were off to explore Sydney by 8 a.m., having remembered to apply sunscreen.  The sun was shining, a slight wind and the temperature was 26, with a high predicted of 31 today.

  The walk to Bonza Bike Tours, in The Rocks neighbourhood on the west side of Circular Quay, was an easy stroll through the busy Central Business District (CBD) along George Street.  We took a less direct route to start, in order to find the Park Royal Hotel, where we meet at 7:45 a.m. tomorrow for a bus tour of Sydney and lunch on a harbour cruise.  The walk to the Park Royal took 8.5 minutes.  However, due to our ambling pace, it took almost an hour to arrive at Bonza Bike Tours to reserve spots on their four hour guided cycling tour.

  Along the way, we passed some late19th century buildings amongst the newer construction of tall office and apartment buildings since the late 1960s. We also noted the people hurrying to their office jobs were well dressed, with many of the women in stylish dresses or blouses and skirts. There were at least three coffee kiosks or cafés in every block, with lines of people waiting to order their coffee.  We stopped in the courtyard of St. Andrew’s Cathedral, built in the 1860s, to take photos, then, nearby photographed Sydney Town Hall and the Queen Victoria Building.

   Sydney Town Hall is built where an old cemetery was once located.

   The Queen Victoria Building was completed in 1898. The building takes up a large city block along George Street. It contains a modern four level shopping center, however it was constructed as a make work project during a depression. It has more than 20 small and larger domes as part of the roof design. Situated in front of the QVB is Irish sculpture, John Hughes’ bronze statue of Queen Victoria.  Further along, we passed the old Post Office at Barrack Street. We found that George Street at the far end is the main street for the original business street of first settlement known as The Rocks neighbourhood.  Nearby, we noticed that the Norwegian Star was the ship docked at Circular Quay today. 

    Before 1788, when Captain Phillips arrived with the first ship of convicts and the garrison to guard them, “The Rocks” land was the traditional home of the Gadigal Aboriginal people. In 1900 this neighbourhood was a slum which had experienced recurring outbreaks of the bubonic plague throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The government decided to redevelop The Rocks as the "gateway" to Sydney, but the Heritage Act of 1977 allowed The Rocks to retain many of the historic “character” two hundred year old buildings and cobblestone lanes, cafes, eateries and unique stores.

  Around the corner from Bonza Bike Tours, we sat down at La Renaissance French Bakery for a great cup of “white” coffee (with milk) in their small outdoor courtyard, before walking over to Campbell’s Cove.  Here the 150 year old Campbell’s storehouses have been converted to restaurants. On the street behind them is the Metcalfe Bond building used as a Customs warehouse for contraband seized from 1920 to 1989.  The nearby wharf was formerly operated by Australian Steam Navigation Company which built its storehouse close by, including a clock tower.  Over by the Overseas Passenger Terminal is a colourful statue of an ancient Chinese chariot, part of the Chinese New Year Festival sculptures dotted around Sydney. Next we walked down and Playfair Street, another old street, to locate Tourist Information before going on the cycling tour.

   Upon returning to Bonza Bike Tours, we changed into our cycling shirts and riding gloves that we had packed and were given a 600 ml bottle of water and handlebar pouch for cameras and other valuables. Then we were directed to their courtyard, filled with bicycles and helmets to choose a bicycle, helmet and slather on sunscreen.  Our guide was Steve who took the group of 11, to walking their bikes down Argyle Street to by the Overseas Passenger Terminal to explain the four hour itinerary and some Sydney history, which was sprinkled throughout the tour. Sydney started as a British convict colony.   There other riders were from Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, California and Arizona. Eight people were over 55, two were over 30 and the youngest woman was about 22 and visiting Australia for five months.

  First stop was for a view of the Sydney Opera House where Steve took photos for people with the Opera House in the background.  Nearby was the hotel where Leonardo Di Capprio stayed while he was filming The Great Gatsby.

We followed the path along the harbour to Walsh Bay where was saw an old wool warehouse which has been converted to condos, where Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise once lived in the $13 million fourth level penthouse.  In the shadow of the Sydney Harbour Bridge we road up to the Sydney Observatory.  En route Larry’s bike got a flat tire, which Steve fixed while the group took photos of the harbour and relaxed in the shade.  We could see the distant White Bay cruise terminal where our ship will be loading passengers in three more days. The history of the Sydney Harbour Bridge was explained.  The steel arch bridge was constructed between 1923 and 1932, taking six million rivets to build. Since the citizens of Sydney did not trust that the bridge was safe for traffic without support from pylon towers, the architect added the structures, but they have no function in the design of the bridge.  We mounted the bikes and rode to the middle of the bridge for more photos.  Besides the bicycle lane, there are two rail lines, six lanes for vehicles and a pedestrian path.  We glided back to the end of the bridge and turned for a short pedal to the Lord Nelson hotel and brewery, Sydney oldest hotel, for beer and cold beverages, air conditioning and water bottle filling. Larry tried their Admiral Dark Ale, other tried the Quayle Ale named after the former American vice president, Dan Quayle, the hotel owner’s friend. The distance travelled was about seven km.

We continued to the newly completed Barangoo Reserve which used only Australian native plants and sandstone in the design of paths and open areas and bush.  Across the harbour, which is naturally deep, is Luna Park built in 1932 as an amusement park and is still in operation.  Continuing the tour we headed to Darling Harbour which is close to Sydney’s Central Business District (CBD). Situated around the harbour are Madame Tussauds, the Australian National Maritime Museum, Powerhouse Museum, Sea Life Sydney Aquarium and Wild Life Sydney. The harbor is named after Lieutenant-General Ralph Darling who was Governor of NSW from 1825 to 1831.  At its base can be seen the charming century old Pyrmont Bridge built in 1902 for carts, horses and people, never used for cars. It is the oldest electrically operated swing span bridge in the world.  We cycled on roadway bicycle paths into Chinatown, not far from our hotel.  Next destination was Hyde Park, where the Australian New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) memorial to soldiers of World War I has a place of honour in the south section and the Archibald Fountain is the main feature of the north section. Close by is St. Mary’s Cathedral which was started in 1820 and completed in 2000 when the twin spires were moved into place by a helicopter after being constructed off site.  It is built with Australian sandstone.  Then it was on to the Domain area where we went to see the harbour viewpoint near Mrs. MacQuarie’s chair carved into the stone by prisoners over 150 years ago, for the prison governor’s wife to have a place to watch ships enter the harbour. In the middle of the harbour is the tiny island where Fort Dennison stands to guard the harbour entrance, now used as an event venue.  We followed the path into the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney along the water having to walk our bikes thorough the park. We passed the outdoor cinema and its large screen for a grandstand of over 1,000 people can watch a nighttime movie only for a few more days.  At the opposite end was the Sydney Opera House, where we stopped for pictures before returning to Harrington Street and ending the 17.5 km ride. The temperature was 31 C and the sun was shining, but a wind was blowing about 20 km per hour.  We changed from our cycling shirts and went to the Playfair Café for lunch. We chose a beef sandwich and a lamb sandwich accompanied by Passion fruit juice to drink.  As it was only 3:15, we walked 10 minutes to Observatory Hill to look inside the Sydney Observatory and its museum.  We walked back to the hotel in under 40 minutes.

  There was a message that Bob and Maureen had arrived from Canada and were walking to the Sydney Opera House.  We later met them in the lobby and walked to the Greek Restaurant in the Belvedere Hotel about a 15 minute walk and enjoyed the dinner.  Bob and Maureen had an early night, so that they would be ready for tomorrow’s Sydney sightseeing bus tour and Harbour cruise.  There is a possibility of rain and a high of only 26 C. 

We walked over 14,000 steps today plus the 17.5 km cycling route that also included 4,000 steps.