DARLING its sooooooo MANLY... (Sydney Harbour National Park)

Member Name: rachels_ratty

Product:	Sydney Harbour National Park
Date:	16/04/03 (364 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: That Opera House!, Good value attractions and plenty of them, Excellent transport system

Disadvantages: So much to see, so little time!, Expensive, Busy and a little unfriendly at times

Sydney – somewhere I had wanted to visit from being a small child. I have no idea where the draw to this city came from but fixate me it did! Odd then that it took two trips to Australia to actually "get there", but at the beginning of this year I finally managed it……


~HISTORY~

Sydneys story began in the late eighteenth century when the British Government of the day decided to establish a penal colony (to help with overcrowding in the goals back at home) in the newly discovered land of Australia, more importantly in the newly declared territory of New South Wales. The first fleet of eleven ships sailed into Sydney Cove on January 26 1788 after eight difficult months at sea. Led by Captain Arthur Phillip, the group of 1200 convicts, soldiers and their families began building the countrys very first "white" settlement which they named after the British Colonial Secretary, Lord Sydney.

Soldiers and prisoners worked hard to carve out a pretty rough and ready settlement. They used their European knowledge to do this and all ignored the skills of the local Aborigines who had lived there for so long and who were now being wiped out by the diseases that had been brought to this "New" land. Many times the colony came close to starvation, as the European way didnt work here. It wasnt until further investigations of the area discovered fertile ground at Paramatta that the settlement was saved.

The transportation of convicts ended in 1840 and by now the population of Sydney was around 30,000. The City of Sydney was established in 1842 along with all the trappings of a "free" society like elections. Gold was discovered in the area in 1851 and that’s when the city really "took off" with people arriving from all over the world wanting their piece of the new riches. Many did make their fortunes, however a more certain way of making money was in the building trade
; the huge influx of settlers meant a boom in this particular industry!

Sydney is not an easy city to negotiate for the first time visitor as its streets are not laid out on a grid system as in say Melbourne or Adelaide. This is because unlike those two cities that were "planned"; Sydney grew and developed as people arrived and as convicts became free men. Today, much of the history of Sydney has been retained. The tracks hacked through the Bush have become the citys thoroughfares. The "official" eastern side of the settlement still contains the buildings that denote power/control. A lot of these fine buildings were built between 1810 and 1821 when Laclan Macquarie (pronounced McQuarry) was Governor of this (then) convict town. He had a vision of creating a city and was recalled to London for his troubles, accused of spending too much money on the place!



~THE ROCKS~

I was lucky enough to have my own personal guide around this area; my good friend Robyn who is herself descended from one of the first convicts showed me plenty of things I think I would have missed had I been looking around on my own.

The first settlement in Sydney was built along the natural rock ledges, which are not far from the waters edge hence the name "THE ROCKS" was used to describe them. This name is still in use today and this first strip of housing became the settlements first street, which is where I shall begin this section. This thoroughfare is called GEORGE STREET and as the oldest street in the whole of Australia has many buildings of interest along its length. The SYDNEY VISITOR CENTRE is a good place to start, as it is full of free leaflets and booklets as well as being run by very knowledgeable staff who can help with any questions you may have. They also sell good quality souvenirs at very reasonable prices!

Next door to the visitors centre is CADMAN’S COTTAGE, the oldest surviving building i
n Sydney and it dates back to 1816. Its now the Sydney Harbour National Parks Information Centre but its still good for a photo opportunity! The OLD POLICE STATION at number 133 is adorned with a truncheon and lions jaws and is a fine building made from local stone. Across the road at number 100 is the BILLICH GALLERY, which is housed in the old Seaman’s gallery. The ROCKS MARKET situated north of the corner of Hickson Road is another good place in this area to buy souvenirs and also has some antique stalls.

ARGLE STREET is also full of history, but history that I think a lot of people miss. As we walked up it towards Lower Fort Street, we passed under the BRADFIELD HIGHWAY, the road that crosses Sydney Harbour Bridge. At this point, Argyle Street passes through THE ARGYLE CUT, which has been hewn from the rocks and the pick marks can be clearly seen where the route was slowly carved out. As Robyn pointed out to me, it was convicts who were the ones doing the hacking, the labouring and many died achieving the route for Argyle Street. I know for a fact that if she hadnt pointed this out to me I would have probably passed through here without a second thought…

The ROCKS SQUARE, between Playfair Street and Mill Lane is a lovely paved area bordered by small shops and eateries. Between 12 noon and 2pm live music is played here and thus makes it a lovely place to eat lunch which we indeed did! On Mill Lane itself is a large tri-faceted stone SCULPTURE depicting the three groups of people who founded Sydney – the soldier, the convict and the free settler. On each side of this piece of artwork each figure is carved in "relief"; on the convict outline metal shackles have been added and on the soldier outline is a gun. Another moment where I just stood, looked and reflected.

The GARRISON CHURCH at the corner of Lower Fort Street and Argyle Street was originally the church for the local troops and still retains its milita
ry connections. It has a fine stained glass window, the walls here are covered in plaques given by many military divisions from around the globe and when I visited, the church was also full of various wreaths. I found it to be a very poignant place to walk around, especially given the situation in the world today… This place of worship really isnt that big and attracts a lot of visitors but was still perfectly quiet.

OBSERVATORY HILL on Watson Road is one of the good spots in Sydney to get photographs of the inner harbour and the wharves. This is also where you will find the SYDNEY OBSERVATORY, which is built on the site of one of the city’s forts. Its very easy to see why this site was chosen as a defensive point from the view you get from here. The observatory is free to enter in the day but there is a small admission charge after nightfall.

Saving the most famous until last in this section; SYDNEY HARBOUR BRIDGE begins crossing the water from this area of Sydney on the South Side of the harbour. Opened in 1932 it is affectionately called the COATHANGER by all Sydneysiders. It has to be one of the most photographed structures in the world! Its not just an imposing edifice though; you can walk it, drive across it on the Bradfield Highway, climb it or visit its very own HARBOUR BRIDGE EXHIBITION complete with a lookout 200 steps up…

At the Rocks end you get up onto the bridge walkway by taking the steps that lead up from just below Observatory Hill, on Watson Road. This is the only way to cross the bridge for free! The walk takes you from The Rocks to MILSONS POINT. By the time wed managed that (and it seems like one heck of a long way), we jumped on a bus back to the city! I wasnt brave enough to do the BRIDGE CLIMB, but for those of you who are, it costs roughly A$150 and takes roughly three hours.



CIRCULAR QUAY~

Circular Quay is essentially the citys bustling ferry terminal; catch ferries
here to Manly, round to Darling Harbour, across to the zoo amongst other places.

On the West Side of Circular Quay is the MUSEUM OF CONTEMORARY ART, which is free to look around. It is housed in a large 1930s Art Deco style building and it presents paintings and film by living artists. They also host special exhibitions for which they charge a small fee. The lawned area in front of the museum is a good spot to sit and relax, or on a hot day, collapse! Just up from the museum is the OVERSEAS PASSENGER TERMINAL where all the immense cruise ships dock. While there I saw a couple of P & O liners as well as the QE2.

The EAST CIRCULAR QUAY PRECINCT offers a good selection of restaurants, cafes and bars and is an excellent place to watch the ferries come and go. There are also upmarket shops, which I found were good for window-shopping if nothing else! The OPERA QUAY PRECINCT beyond this is on a lower level and is reached by way of short flights of stairs or a small escalator. It is essentially a collection of shops and bars/cafes, which are pretty expensive, but boy is the view impressive!

This leads me to what has to be THE most famous and recognisable landmark in Australia and something that I was totally over-awed by; the OPERA HOUSE. Situated on BENNELONG POINT and finally completed in 1973 it was designed by Danish architect Joern Utzon and over 1,000,000 tiles in an Aztec pattern cover its roof. The Opera House actually houses 5 separate theatres and covers all manner of theatrical works, not just opera! Guided tours of the interior are available, but I found my little piece of heaven just by walking around the exterior until I reached lands end so to speak and looking out over the water. Not many people walk right round this building so the quiet was fantastic!

Whilst you have Circular Quay on one side of the Opera House and Bennelong Point, on the other and stretching around FARM COVE are the ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS which were
established in 1816. The gardens have several entrances (and the main one is on Mrs Macquaries Road), but I have included them in this section as there is a large gateway to this large and green oasis just across from the Opera House steps. This haven of peace and quiet in the middle of such a large city has, amongst other things, a Pyramid Glasshouse (the tropical centre), a herb garden, a walled cactus garden and an oriental garden. Myself, I just liked to grab a bench and relax whilst taking in what has to be the best view in the world…

Around the other side of Farm Cove are MRS MACQUARIES POINT and MRS MACQUARIES SEAT. This apparently was the Governors wifes favourite spot in Sydney, which is why it has been named in her honour. Mrs Macquaries seat was where she used to sit and watch the ships come into the harbour and its actually a rocky outcrop that has had a seat carved into it. It is said that only women should sit in it and if they do theyll be lucky in love (maybe I should have sat my a**e down for a while)! The views from here are pretty stunning and the whole CBD (Central Business District) can be seen. Perfect for photographs!


~DARLING HARBOUR~

At the AQUARIUM I literally come face to face with some pretty impressive sharks in the Open Ocean Oceanarium. This is where you get to walk through the water via glass tunnels and this is the last place you get to on your tour around the Aquarium. Other draws in this place are the Salties or Saltwater Crocodiles (one species of animal that will attack man without any provocation), the very impressive Great Barrier Reef display, seals, fairy penguins and fish like the Barramundi and the huge Murray Cod. The A$23 entrance fee was worth every cent and I spent several hours there.

For POWERHOUSE MUSEUM think Science Museum in London! Costing A$10 admittance the displays here I thought were excellent. Whilst you can only ever see a fraction of what the museum has accumu
lated during its 120 years in existence, what you do see is well presented and the large displays are stunning. Theres aeroplanes here hanging from the roof, as well as some very old steam engines, satellites and space suits. If science is your thing then this is somewhere not to be missed on your tour of this area.

STAR CITY is Sydney’s CASINO. A stunning building set at the top of a steep bank of steps, escalators and water cascades, its not just a place for slot-machine addicts! It also houses a couple of theatres, a gym, restaurants and bars, spas, saunas and you could even live there! Star Citys philosophy seems to be to get people through its doors and then keep them there by any means possible! Not my cup of tea I have to say but it was worth a look nonetheless…


~SYDNEY CENTRAL~

The SYDNEY TOWER (or AMP Tower, or Centrepoint tower, call it what you will..) soars 304 metres, thats 1000 feet in old money, above the Centrepoint shopping Centre on Market Street. At the top are four levels; the lower two house revolving restaurants, the third a licensed café and above that is the OBSERVATION DECK. Due to other buildings being in the way you cannot see the Opera House from here, but you can see the bridge and anyway, the views are that spectacular from what is the highest observation deck in the Southern Hemisphere, who cares! Admittance costs around A$19 but most guidebooks give 20% discount vouchers away which makes the cost around A$15. The entrance fee includes SKYTOUR: THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN EXPERIENCE. This takes you on a virtual tour of the country and ends with you being strapped into a roller-coaster style seat and thrown around whilst watching a huge screen which covers half the room youre in. Now thats what I call audience participation!

ST MARYS CATHEDRAL on College Street is a stunningly imposing building. The crypt here features what I would describe as an incredible mosaic floor that depicts The Cr
eation. Free tours of this church take place every Sunday at midday. Across the road from the cathedral is HYDE PARK. This was declared to be "common ground" in 1792 and was the venue for the colonys earliest cricket match in 1804. Apart from being a lovely tree filled green area it also contains the ANZAC MEMORIAL and the ARCHIBALD FOUNTAIN. Most recently this particular park was one of the focus points of the Peace Marches (which I did indeed attend).

A little further down College Street (and at the corner of William Street) is the AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. This is Sydneys equivalent of Londons Natural History Museum. Unlike the NH in London however there is a small entry charge here, A$8 is the current adult admission price. I did think it was good value though as the museum covers three floors and theres plenty to see, including dinosaurs, Aboriginal historical artefacts (and the Aboriginal story told in their own words), minerals and there is an area set up specifically for the under fives.

On the corner of Phillip and Bridge Streets is the MUSEUM OF SYDNEY, which has been built on the site of the first GOVERNMENT HOUSE in Australia. This house was demolished in 1846 but the foundations for it were discovered by archaeologists back in the 1980s and have been preserved and are just one of the exhibits at this particular museum. In case you havent guessed, this is where you will find out about what life was really like back in the Colonial days and here you can chart Sydney’s development from 1788 onwards. Entrance is A$7 per adult and I found some of the exhibits to be very moving.

Before you all begin to think that Sydney is an expensive place to be, as everything seems to charge you money to get in let me tell you that there are plenty of sights to see that are free! Central Sydney is good to just walk around as there is a lot of history to look at if you know exactly what youre looking at! Walk down MACQUARIE STREET and
theres the old RUM HOSPITAL, which has now been divided up into three separate institutions. The South Wing is now The Mint, the North Wing houses Parliament House and the Central section retains the original hospital theme and is Sydney Hospital. Incidentally, outside the main entrance to this latter building is an exact copy of "il porchino"; the famous pig fountain in Florence, Italy. Why is it there? Who knows..I certainly have no idea but it does have novelty value if nothing else! The STATE LIBRARY is also on Macquarie Street, between Parliament House and the Hospital. The library has a substantial collection of Australian Art and manuscripts, which are frequently on display.

MARTIN PLACE, which is lined with shops, is a major focal point in Sydney on ANZAC DAY as well as on Remembrance Sunday. This is where you will find the CENOTAPH (the War Memorial) and this is also where Sydneys Christmas Tree is placed each year. The ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES is on Art Gallery Road (behind Macquarie Street and across the Domain). This, you will all be glad to hear is free to get into although they do charge for special exhibitions. I found it a very peaceful place to spend a few hours.



~THE BEACHES~

BONDI has to be just about the most famous beach in the entire world and it is only 8km east of Sydney Central. Its also, Im sorry to say the place I was the most under-awed and unimpressed by! To me the whole place screamed "fake" and "artificial" and to me even the sand looked like it shouldnt have been there! I think I only spent an hour here before I decided to do the coastal walk down to BRONTE beach. There are only 2km between the two and on the way you pass another beach, TAMARAMA, which is very small and set into a tiny inlet. Stunning is the only way I can describe it and I thought it to be the best of the eastern beaches. Bronte beach itself is, in my opinion, far more "real" than Bond
i but there is a dangerous rip here so its very dangerous for swimming and surfing. The next beach down from Bronte is COOGEE, which seemed to me to be very clearly the backpackers choice!

MANLY is the first in the long line of northern beaches and is reached by ferry from Circular Quay. The ferry arrives in Manly at the Wharf and from here it is a relatively short walk down the shop and café lined street that is THE CORSO to the main beach. I went here with a South Australian woman who was staying at the same hostel as me and as we walked out onto the beach we both looked at each other and said “Glenelg”! Before I get too many confused looks, Glenelg is Adelaides beach area…and the similarity between Glenelg and Manly was very striking to us both.

There are roughly a further dozen beaches north of Manly before you reach the "last swim" in Sydney – PALM BEACH. Id use words like pretty, stunning and scenic to describe it, but if any of you watch Home and Away youll know that already! Yes, this is where they film that particular Soap Opera and yes they are usually filming there. Its comical to watch the young and beautiful having to repeat the same scenes over and over and over….



~GETTING AROUND~

If theres one thing Sydney has plenty of and does well is public transport, you just need a degree to understand the zone arrangements for each! The Sydney area BUSES, TRAINS and FERRIES all come under the umbrella of STATE TRANSIT and zoned passes can be bought that allow you to interchange between all three separate modes of transport. These passes can be bought at either Circular Quay or at Wynyard Station on Carrington Street and these two places also have transport information offices. Some of the buses are quite frankly old and not so clean or green but at least the services seemed to be reliable! The ferries are also old but in their case they are more than forgiven, as this is the
total charm of them. I cannot comment on the trains as I didnt go on them but from what I was told they were clean but got very busy…

The MONORAIL loops from the city to Darling Harbour, the Powerhouse Museum and back again. Ticketing for this is separate from those Ive already mentioned as is that for the LIGHT RAIL which is a small tram system that connects CENTRAL STATION to Darling Harbour, Star City and the Sydney Fish Market.

The afor mentioned Central Station, main entrance on EDDY AVENUE, is the place to catch all INTRASTATE (meaning within the state) and INTERSTATE trains. Its also where the INTERSTATE COACH TERMINAL is located.

For tourists there are two special bus services, the SYDNEY and BONDI EXPLORERS. A day pass for each costs A$30 but you can also buy a two-day pass for A$50 which allows you to interchange between the two buses to your hearts content! As Sydney has no form of "free" transport at all I did exactly that and bought myself a two-day pass so I could "get my bearings". Although fifty bucks sounds a lot to spend on a bus ticket I found it to be very good value for money. Each bus, whether its the city or Bondi explorer are "coach style" and air-conditioned. They both drive a set two-hour loop, stop at all the major attractions (yes the Sydney explorer does go both over the bridge and through the Sydney Harbour Tunnel) and the drivers are all friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. There is a CD commentary that runs between stops but most of the drivers will add extra information to it and as Im a sponge for all things trivia/history I was in heaven! The buses are all hop-on-hop-off so you can get off wherever you please and then just catch the next bus along when youre ready.

Last but by now means least, in this section I should include SYDNEY KINGSFORD SMITH AIRPORT, Sydneys air terminal. Divided into International and Domestic and only 9kms out of the city, the runwa
y juts out into the historic BOTANY BAY so nervous fliers beware! Both terminals have superb facilities and are ultra-modern and clean. From the airport you can jump on the green and gold AIRPORT EXPRESS which provides a connection between both terminals and the City/Kings Cross. The fare is currently A$7 per adult. Alternately most if not all hostels provide a FREE pick up service from both here and the Rail Terminal. Simply go to the information desks, locate the "accommodation boards" and use the free phone to call wherever you plan to stay.



~SO, WHAT DID I THINK?~

Well first of all I know that I havent done the place justice here, nor did I even remotely see all there is to see while I was there. Despite spending several weeks in the City I know I certainly could have spent longer! I spent most of the time pinching myself in almost disbelief that I had finally made it there and I never failed to be bowled over by the Opera House and I did go down to the Quay regularly…

Sydney sprawls in every direction and that for me was a drawback as Im not a huge city fan at all. However the city itself is fairly open; wide streets and lots of parklands and green areas certainly helped crush any claustrophobic feelings that could have otherwise surfaced in me. The city is very clean streetwise although there is definitely a smog that hangs over the place during hot weather which I found a little unpleasant.

Another drawback to the place is that I thought most things were expensive; I would equate Sydney to London, price wise. The only thing I found to be ridiculously cheap was Internet access through the myriad of Internet Cafes! Accommodation here is pricier than you will find anywhere else in Australia, so is shopping in general but especially food and drink and the majority of museums/exhibitions charge admittance. Of course there are bargains to be had here as everywhere but you just have to look a little hard
er!

For those of you who are interested, whilst in Sydney I stayed in the famous Kings Cross area. No its not as bad as some people make out, in fact it has a charm of its own and isnt at all dangerous. Here you can outside a café and watch the sights go by!! Yes it’s Sydney’s Red Light district but thats only noticeable at night and overall the place has a very vibrant atmosphere.

So I guess the big question is – “Would I ever go back?” The simple answer is yes I would, Id love to spend more time there seeing more of what the city and its surrounding areas have to offer, I didnt get into the Blue Mountains for example while I was there. Is it my favourite city in Australia so far? No it isnt, that accolade still belongs to Adelaide and I doubt that will ever change. Id visit again for sure, but its not somewhere I could live…


One Australian Dollar = roughly 35 pence

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