Today is Daniel’s day. We’re only in Sydney because Daniel has wanted to go to Sydney and more particularly the Opera House since we left home so here we are. Ross loves Sydney, Barb not so much, but either way Daniel’s final vote was what brought us here.
The plan is to walk the 1km from the caravan park to the Lane Cove subway station and catch the train into the city. The constant rain all morning was waylaying our plans. We only needed a 15min break in the weather long enough to get to the railway station.
Lane Cover in under the Sydney airport flight path, and the amount of planes landing at Sydney is incredible. There is a plane every few minutes.
There was break in the rain just before 11am so we made a bolt for the railway station. It didn’t rain again for the rest of the day. It actually became quiet warm and sunny on and off and the morning rain ensured we swapped out the sunscreen for a bloody umbrella we had to share carrying duties with.
On the way to the railway station
Daniel was very excited to be in Sydney; on a train; in the subway; going across the Harbour Bridge on a train and going to the Opera House.
We walked almost constantly for around a total of 9 hours by the time we got back to camp. Turned out well being Friday because there wasnt a mass exodus from the city at 5pm, and the city stayed vibrant into the night.
The first sight from Circular Quay is of course the Harbour Bridge
Daniel got to see his beloved Opera House when we walked around every path we could find. Ross look into a tour but it was really expensive, the content would have bored Daniel stupid and the tours had really bad Google reviews.
We purposely walked around Circular Quay using the buildings to obscure the Opera House. When we got close Ross took Daniel across to view the bridge and the water. As we walked away from the buildings and Daniels focus was toward the bridge and water and Opera House came into full view right behind him.
Daniel was so excited
Pretty sure this is the first time this view has been photographed
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Its a real shame they don’t offer a look inside the Opera House without a tour. After almost wearing the paint off off the Opera House, we headed into the CDB. We went to Martin Place and like many before us looked in the window where Chanel 7s Sunrise is broadcast. We are a bit late to get our heads of TV, but we were there. There’s a rolling barrier which Koshy and Mel obviously roll across when they get sick of seeing idiot waving to their mums behind.
Then ….. roll the drums. The Martin Place Lindt Cafe across the mall from Chanel 7.
In we go for a coffee, its was chock block inside and we’re sure a significant percentage of patrons (like us) are there for morbid crime scene value. Everyone was looking at everyone, and Ross walking in with a backpack certainly made him the centre of attention.
The Lindt Cafe is a monument to our national dysfunctional response, where those charged with protecting the public catastrophically let them down.
Tesla the electric car company has a showroom in Martin Place, so we kicked the tyres, climbed all over them and pretended we might buy one. Tesla has a Model S and Model X on display, and each Tesla is powered completely by batteries. The cars themselves are really nice and have some impressive technology and performance stats.
Tesla are releasing a new “normal human” model worth around $50k. Like most people, including Ross, heres the answers to the the first question people ask. The Model S is worth $181k and the Model X$150k. The range per charge dependent on speed and ambient temperature is over 800km, and each charge would cost around $30 in electricity. There are super fast 12v direct charge units being rolled out, and with a portable device it can be basically plugged into a GPO.
Try to identify the Darwin Award moment in this pic
It can kind of be seen from everywhere
We went over it, around it and under it. One of the true wonders of the Sydney Harbour Bridge is the amount of paying tourists they can strap in and load up onto both arches of the bridge. There are more people on the bridge than there are looking at it. In the pic below the lines of people on the top arch are clearly visible
Daniel looked out across the water from the Opera House, seen a bit of a bow in the bridge deck. An inspection of the bridge by Daniel found the culprit. A quick nip up of a loose nut and problem solved.
We then walked to The Rocks area.
In the waterfront on the cruise ship dock was the worlds only female street performing contortionist (according to her). She put in a bit of an interesting and predictable show …. and then she squeezed herself into a 14 x 14 inch box, and she kept taking throughout. That was pretty impressive
We read about Australia’s biggest kids playground which is a Darling Harbour. Unfortunately Darling Harbour is a fair distance from Circular Quay. Daniel was very keen to go to the playground so we walked. The walk gave us the opportunity to walk the length of Sydney’s “Swanson Street”, being Pitt Street.
The playgound was ok, but Daniel wasn’t overly impressed. It was quiet big but we were surprised that’s its the biggest in Australia. Darling Harbour itself was awesome. A vibrant open space on the harbour with towers of apartments and rows of restaurants. A little like Melbournes docklands. There were people everywhere.
The other guy in this pic is struggling to understand why we’re taking a photo
When Ross seen the Maritime Museum in Darling harbour he recalled coming here many years ago. The Maritime Museum was the resting place of an Australian legend, the mighty Australia 2, winner of the 1983 Americas Cup. As Ross was explaining to Barb there used to be a monorail across the the harbour from the city to Darling Harbour he looked up and there was a small section of the old monorail sitting next to the bridge like an odd sculpture.
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