The Rocks and More

Monday morning looked a bit more promising weather-wise although still very overcast. We walked the half mile up to the Circular Quay ferry docks, caught our first views of two of Sydney’s iconic sights, the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and proceeded to the large Sydney Visitor’s Centre in The Rocks (area just to the west of the docks). We booked a 1.5 hour walking tour of The Rocks, located a café for a quick coffee, and enjoyed the food scavenging antics of several colorful lorikeets at a nearby table until our tour time.

Did you know that England used to send some of her convicts to it’s American colony?? After 1776, Australia got them! The labyrinthine Rocks area was literally carved out of the rocks on the shore of the harbour and was the early settlement area for convicts and guards. Interestingly, in 1973, a massive community clash between protesters and police, led by a well known union leader, resulted in the stop to demolition in the area. Today it is home to 96 heritage buildings. A most informative tour that we shared with four Texans and a young woman from Germany!

After lunch, we climbed the stairs up from The Rocks for a walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. You can pay from $188-$298 (depending on the time of day) to do the Bridge-Climb (up and over the top of the span) in the provided BridgeSuit, headphones, and hookup. Or you can pay $9.50 to go up one of the pylons.  We stopped at the Pylon Lookout and climbed the 200 stairs up to the outside viewing area at the top (almost 300 ft above the water). Despite the gray skies, the views were wonderful. There were also great displays and information about the building of the bridge from 1924-1932. At one point, the project was known as the “iron lung” for breathing life into the depression stalled Sydney economy!

see the span walkers?

After the pylon, we walked the rest of the way across the bridge and went looking for a ferry to take back across the water to Circular Quay. Along the way down the hill we passed another iconic attraction, Luna Park, a renovated 1935 amusement park. We didn’t do any rides but we did enjoy an ice cream cone!

Mark and the Luna clown

check out the ice cream name

looking back at Circular Quay

After arriving back at the Circular Quay, we bought 24 hour tickets good for use on either or both of two different tourist hop-on-hop-off buses. We were ready to sit and just see some of the city. The Bondi bus, as it is called, took us in a big circle out to the east of the downtown harbour in and out to multiple bays and along the famous Bondi, Bronte, and Coogee beaches. These beaches cling to the shore of heavily populated outskirt areas of Sydney. At Bondi, there were over a hundred surfers in the water. We had hoped to disembark and do a walk but sadly dusk was beginning to set in. It is winter here and the days feel short.

We have been struck that the city of Sydney has roughly the same population as the entire country of New Zealand. No wonder we feel like we are in a big city!