February 7, 2017

   A peek through the curtains this morning revealed wet streets and a light rain. The news station reported that the temperature was 22 C. No sunscreen or sunglasses are needed today.  We met Bob and Maureen for breakfast and then the four of us walked to the Park Royal hotel to catch the tour bus for the Sydney City Tour starting at 8 a.m.

  The Cockle Bay was a frontier shared by the Wangal and Gadigal Eora tribes in 1788 when Captain Phillips fleet arrived with convicts, a garrison and free settlers to establish a penal colony far from Britain. The Recent Independence of the United States of America gave Americans the reason to reject British prisoners who had previously been sent to work off their sentences on plantations, so the British now needed to find a new place to send the prisoners.  Phillips arrived at Botany Bay which Captain James Cook had “discovered” several years earlier, even though Dutch explorers had known Australia existed for at least 100 years.  With no fresh water supply, Phillips looked for a more suitable site and explored another bay that extended inland and had deeper water plus there was a fresh water supply suitable for the new colony, where the convicts and garrison set to work quarrying sandstone to build the prison and barracks on the rocky side of the creek. Convicts continued to be sent to Australia until 1840.  This area is now known as The Rocks. The body of water became known as Port Jackson and Sydney Harbour.  In 1810 for a short time the governor of the colony was Captain Bligh. He was recalled to Britain and replaced by Loughlyn MacQuarrie from 1810 to 1820. Mr. MacQuarrie turned The Rocks into a full fledged settlement rather than an outpost of the Wild West.  He also authorized inland exploration to find good farming soil to sustain crops to feed the colony.

   From 1800 to 1803 Matthew Flinders circumnavigated Australia.  The first European recorded to attain the achievement.

  Mr. MacQuarrie set aside land for parks including Hyde Park where cricket games were played. There was also a race track where a famous Australian, William Charles Wentworth, raced his father’s horse.  He is known for exploring inland and finding the Great Continental Divide including the Blue Mountains and the vast desert to the west.

   The rain was light but steady, causing the cancellation of The Rocks walking tour portion. The bus has front mounted cameras that transmit to two video screens for passenger in the back to view the bus’s path. In port at Circular Quay today was Carnival Spirit. The bus did show its load of about 50 people all the sites of the walking tour, most of which we had seen on the cycling tour such as George Street, St Mary’s Cathedral, Hyde Park, as well as the Queen Victoria Building, Sydney Opera House, Royal Botanic Gardens, Darling Harbour and Mrs. Macquarie's Chair. The bus also passed the Sydney Observatory, lower George Street.   The Queen Victoria statue in front of the Queen Victoria Building on George Street was a surplus statue from Ireland that was sent to Sydney.

   The Neo-Gothic designed St Mary’s Cathedral’s corner stone was laid in 1820.  The church burned and construction on the replacement church was started in 1860.

   Moran Bay fig trees can be found in parks, especially the Royal Botanic Gardens.  The figs are a small and bitter fruit from Queensland.

  The route continued to suburban Sydney through Kings Cross, Double Bay and Vaucluse neighbourhoods en route to Bondi Beach, one of Australia's famous surfing beaches. Vaucluse is where William Charles Wentworth built a large house and is buried in the family plot. There was a quick photo stop, in a light rain, at Watson’s Bay which is the first bay as ships leave the ocean to enter Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour.  From Watson’s Bay on a clear day, Sydney skyline in visible.  

    At Bondi Beach, the rain was light but the wind strong as the group strolled to the pavilion for hot beverages or the toilets. Surfing has been practiced here since 1825.  There were about two dozen people surfing but less than a dozen strolling on the extensive sandy beach.  After a few minutes, our photos taken, we returned to the bus before the thunderstorm with driving rain began. There were still at least 25 people not back to the bus and the later passengers got soaked on the way back to the bus.  We later were informed that 38 mm of rain fell in Sydney, most of it falling in 90 minutes, causing flash flood in some streets.  With the heat on in the bus, we returned to Sydney passing the location of Australia’s first sandstone lighthouse commissioned by Governor Macquarie.

  Back in Sydney, the bus crossed the Sydney Harbour Bridge each way for people to see the view from the bridge.  The rain almost stopped when we were dropped off at Darling Harbour to board the Majestic harbour cruise boat for a harbour cruise with a seafood buffet lunch. The buffet tables consisted of seasonal hot and cold dishes, fresh local seafood, fruit and dessert. Spread on the tables was roasted seasonal vegetables; mussels & calamari; Butter Chicken; Saffron Rice; green beans Potatoes au Gratin Roast Beef; Hokkien Noodles; Panko breaded Barramundi (fish);Kale, Quinoa & Witlof Salad; Potato Salad; Beet, Olive & Feta Salad and Chinese Cabbage Crispy Noodle Salad plus coffee, tea, fruit and assorted pieces of cake.  The rain got stronger as the boat left the dock and continued most of the trip, making clear photos impossible.  The clouds could be seen hanging at the top of the tallest office buildings.  The course passed in Sydney Harbour's top sights including slipping under the Sydney Harbour Bridge and passing the Sydney Opera House, Fort Denison and Shark Island.

   Sydney Harbour is deepest in the middle of the harbour at 46 meters, with the shallowest spot about 9 meters deep. 

  The cruise ended at 2 pm back at Darling Harbour.  The rain again had almost stopped and the clouds were whiter. The temperature was just 22 C and windy.  We went to find some insect spray and get some coffee while Bob and Maureen returned to the hotel.  We found some “Off” insect spray at Woolworth’s across George Street from the Queen Victoria Building, with name brand stores like Coach, where we walked through to shelter from the occasional fine drizzle.  Going back to the hotel as the cloud was starting to break up, we stopped at Blue Bird café for cappuccinos and the Red Bottle to review their wine selection.  We bought Australian Yalumba Riesling wine and Yellow Tail Pinot Noir. We later opened the Yalumba Riesling wine for a pre dinner drink.

   When we reached the hotel lobby, we found Bob and Maureen and rode in the elevator with them. They recommended that we see the nearby Chinese Garden of Friendship at the edge of Chinatown.  We dropped off our purchases and walked just five minutes to the Chinese Garden which is a Ming style garden that reminded us of the garden in Shanghai, China, that we visited last year.  Within the garden was a Dragon Wall, Dragon Rock, Courtyard of Welcoming Fragrance, Pavilion of Clear View (at the highest point), Water Pavilion of Lotus Fragrance, Rock Forest, Penjing (Bonsai mini landscapes) and Twin Pavilion plus a Chinese teahouse that closes an hour before the garden. The garden symbolizes the friendship with Sydney’s sister city, Guangzhou, in China’s Guangdong province. We spent almost an hour strolling through plants, ponds and pavilions.

  We met Bob and Maureen in the lobby to walk five minutes to the Dixon Street Chinatown restaurant, New Tai Yuen Restaurant where we all ordered the special of fried meatballs and spring roll and white rice with a choice of 20 different dishes from which we each ordered one item to share.  It was a delicious satisfying meal.  We walked back to the hotel to end the evening. 

Total steps today 11,148 about 11 miles.