Cheryl's Travels: Some Sydney experiences

Today is my last day here in Sydney, and what I had planned to do didn't quite eventuate ... but I still had a great day.

I started my walking today heading to Sydney's Town Hall as I remembered it as a beautiful building. I guess it's not unreasonable to think that sandstone buildings that are nearing 150 years old might, at some point, need a bit of restorative work done on them ... but I do wish it wasn't when I'm visiting!! That being said, I must admit I quite like the scaffolding they've put up on the Town Hall - and so between it and the parts of the building you can still see, you might get an idea of the grandeur of the building.
The Town Hall was built in the 1880s and to this day it retains its original function and interior - that being the Sydney City Council Chamber, reception rooms, the Centennial Hall and offices for the Lord Mayor and elected councillors.

Next door to the Town Hall is the Queen Victoria Building (QVB) which first opened in 1898. It was built to replace the original Sydney Markets and was named to honour the monarch's Diamond Jubilee.

It spans four floors and occupies an entire city block. The dominant feature is the majestic Centre Dome. Glorious stained-glass windows and Romanesque architectural features can be seen throughout the building and an original 19th century spiral staircase sits alongside the dome.

Made in England, the Royal Clock was placed in the building fairly recently (in 1986). It performs on the hour, showing six scenes of the Royal English History, representing the close connection between England and Australia.

The Australia Clock is the world's largest hanging animated turret clock. It took four years to build and it chimes at half past the hour. It tells the story of Australia from the perspective of both Aboriginal and European settlers and includes 33 picture scenes, 15 of them animated.

I don't know anything about this piece of public art, but I've walked past it many times over the past few days, and so today I decided to take a picture. I love it and it definitely looks striking out on the street.

Back down to Circular Quay and can you believe it --- there's ANOTHER cruise ship there today (and if you're looking carefully you'll see that it's not the same one as yesterday).

My original thought for today was that I was going to take a tour of the Opera House, but unfortunately both the main concert hall and the drama theatre were both closed to the public today 😕. Seeing as how I was already at the Opera House though I decided to spend a bit of time really exploring the exterior of the building at least. Hopefully some of these photos might be of angles and perspectives of this marvellous building that you might not see on most postcards.

Now that I had a bit of extra time this afternoon, and seeing as how I was already near Circular Quay (where all the ferries leave from), I decided to hop a ferry and spend a bit of time in Manly. Manly is a suburb of northern Sydney, about 17 kilometres north-east of the Sydney CBD - and the nicest way to get there, I would have to say, is by ferry. The journey takes 30 minutes and allows for scenic views of Sydney Harbour, surrounding national parks and Sydney icons including the Harbour Bridge and Opera House (which I think you've seen already). The ferry service once advertised Manly as "seven miles from Sydney, and a thousand miles from care". The Manly ferries are the biggest ones in Sydney Harbour because they have to pass by the headlands into the harbour.

A second cruise ship in Sydney Harbour today

Manly has Sydney Harbour on its western side with calm water, the ferry wharf, a swimming area, and sailing and yacht clubs.

And then, only about half a kilometre to the east is the Pacific Ocean and Manly Beach. Manly was named by Capt. Arthur Phillip for the indigenous people living there, stating that "their confidence and manly behaviour made me give the name of Manly Cove to this place".

There is a lovely walking trail throughout Manly and a section of it runs along the Pacific Ocean. Looking north from the trail you can see the famous Manly Beach (and beaches further north as well).

Just south of the main Manly beach there is a little cove that houses Shelly Beach. As you can see, the waters in this little cove are much more protected and so swimming here is often possible even when Manly Beach is closed... like today.

And watching the surf today left no doubt in my mind about why the beach was closed!

Built by local residents in 1929, Fairy Bower rockpool was built when saltwater bathing became popular.

This little guy was walking on the rocks for a little while with me - he's an Australian water dragon. Australian water dragons have long powerful limbs and claws for climbing, a long muscular laterally-compressed tail for swimming, and prominent nuchal and vertebral crests. (A nuchal crest is a central row of spikes at the base of the head. These spikes continue down the spine, getting smaller as they reach the base of the tail.)