SHOTS AROUND SYDNEY

Our family loved Sydney. I get there frequently but have very little time to tour. I did click off a few shots while moving around the city from meeting to meeting a few months back. One meeting was held at Cockatoo Island, a place with a long and storied history.

Cockatoo Island, an UNESCO World Heritage Site,[4] is an island located at the junction of the Parramatta and Lane Cove rivers, in Sydney Harbour,Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

At 17.9 hectares (44 acres) it is the largest of several islands that were, in their original state, heavily timbered sandstone knolls. Cockatoo Island rose to 18 metres (59 ft) above sea level and is now cleared of most vegetation. Called Wa-rea-mah by the Indigenous Australians who traditionally inhabited the land prior to European settlement, the island may have been used as a fishing base, although physical evidence of Aboriginal heritage has not been found on the island.[5]

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The water taxi out. He was late. It was raining very hard …

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After my speech we headed down to the wharf for a ride back to Sydney. Luckily, it stopped raining for the walk.

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Someone marking time.

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The old ship buildings remain intact.

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There are a few unusual cottages at the top of the island, apparently for rent.

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With great views of Sydney and your own private tennis court. Hard to beat the view.

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Perhaps we will consider it for our next holiday.

LETS TRY THAT AGAIN: COMMUTING TO SYDNEY

 

Day two and instead of taking the Sydney fast ferry I took the Manly fast ferry. The same boat that I had taken the night before from Darling Harbour to Manly beach, or so I thought.  It ended in the same location – Circular Quay. So I started walking, again.

A few shots of Manly Beach in the morning. Good morning Mr. Hemmingway.

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There are a lot of 40’s themed murals around.

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We always struggle finding good surf shops for things like flip flops and bathing suits for our boys. Not so in Australia, every other store is a surf shop of some type.

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My exit point.

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Sydney has a LOT of military ships kicking around. This one was coming into port. When I shot a few photos, they waved.

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This shot was from the night before. A big port.

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Not to get too far off track, but these two shots were from the night before also. The clown creeped me out.

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And a very big cruise liner in port.

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I laughed at this sign. I really wanted to go in and ask where I could get a good cappuccino.

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This building has no scientists according to this article.

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According to this article, Leopold struck out on his own on January 4th, 1888 (right side of the page).

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Almost at the office.

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Another good walk.

THE COMMUTE IN TO SYDNEY

 

While staying at Manly Beach I commuted to downtown Sydney each day for work. Despite a significant amount of coaching and planning, I kept getting on the wrong ferry out of Manly Beach each morning (there are 3 every 30 minutes and many go to different places – a few permutations). The upside is that I got dropped off at different places each morning and had my camera, so I explored my way to the office with a little help from Google maps on my iPhone. The downside … it often took longer.

A few (quite a few) photos from Day 1’s wander to the office and the ferry ride in.

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A friendly ferry.

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No one honked while I stopped in the middle of the road.

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I have been to Sydney a handful of times and never explored the city. It has always been airport > hotel > office >  customer > office > hotel > airport. It was nice to walk through the streets. I was struck by how Sydney has preserved so many older buildings. Toronto and Sydney are similar in age, and compared to Sydney – Toronto falls way short. They would have torn most of these buildings down by now .. which is a shame. Well done Sydney.

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Someone told me this is a rubber tree. I think they are wrong, I believe it is a sycamore tree.

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Beautiful church.

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This fellow stopped to have his photo taken. He was charming the people exiting a long line of buses.

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During my “lost” wander to the office I stumbled upon a coffee shop that I had been to before. It happened to be the shop which serves the best cappuccino in Sydney (or the best that I have had so far). I asked about the froth – as I would love to get it that thick on my home machine. Alas, it is a special milk only delivered to the shops.

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The sky was very blue in Sydney. This is a zero processing handheld HDR. Well done Canon.

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The place where I should have gotten off each morning. I only got it right the last time. Which isn’t a bad thing.

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Thanks for stopping by.