Sydney, Reliving the Past

Week three was spent around Sydney.  One of the most common birds in Sydney and Australia in general is the Sulfur-crested Cookatoo.  Here they are feeding on fruit from a tree in front of Betty's.

We took a walk to the local Carss Park.  Here Marion and I observed Cookatoos and the the Rainbow Lorrikeet.  This can be seen in the picture below on the main branch.  We had a nice walk and stopped for the typical morning tea.

On Tuesday we took a tour of downtown Sydney to visit sites we have frequented in past years.  we took the train from Allawah Station to Town Hall in downtown Sydney.  We went to the Queen Victoria Building to visit the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company) store.  Following that we had morning tea.  The QVC building is an historical three-storied building that today houses many of the upscale stores and businesses from around the world.

QVB first floor

View of one of the large clocks in QVB

We then walked over to Darling Harbor.  The monorail that used to service the harbor has been dismantled.  We had lunch here and walked around Cockle Bay.  Darling Harbor has the Aqauarium, Navy Museum, the Worlds largest IMAX theater aned many restaurants.

Cock;e Bay at Darling Harbor

We then walked back to Pitt Street and then onto Circular Quay.  The weather was clearing and getting warm. The cruise ship "Soverign of the Seas" was in port.  The Opera House is located at the harbor as well as the  Sydney Harbor bridge.  We decided to take the ferry over to Manly.  We have managed to do this almost every time we have been in Sydney.

Soverign of the Seas

Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House

Sydney Harbor Bridge

The ferry ride to Manley Beach is a short cruise on Sydney Harbor past the harbor opening to the sea.  We walked across the Corso to the beach, stopping for ice cream.

The Corso

Manly Beach was quite busy with surfers and boogie boarders.  I think the water was still too cool for just swimming.  Many sun bathers were present.  Marion and I sat and relaxed for about a half hour.

Manly Beach

Back from Manley we continued on our walk past the Opera House and onto the Botanic Gardens.  We past the tree that had been planted in Surreys memory.  Surrey, Betty's husband, was a botanist at the garden for 38 years,  His specialties were grasses, water plants and Chenopods.  Barre worked with Surrey for 12 years studying the water-lilies of tropical Australia.

Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney

We were now going to visit one of the women who helped Barre last winter at Kew Gardens in London with the web site they were setting up.  Niamh is presently working with Crustaceans at the Sydney Museum.  We passed St. Mary's Cathederal and walked through Hyde Park.

St.Mary's Cathederal

Hyde Park

We met Niamh, had dinner and took the train back to Allawah.  We walked home arriving around 9:30pm.  I have no idea how many miles we walked that day, but we were truly exhausted.