Sunday, September 10, 2017, 2nd Post: Kirribilli and Sydney!

Apologies, Everyone!  We've been having a great time over the last few days in the 'bush' with Ross and Avril here in Waitui on the Mid North Coast.  Internet connectivity has been extremely challenging.  Will get some pics added to past blogs later today, once we get back to Sydney.  Fuji.

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What a phenomenal 1st full day in Australia!  So much to see in Sydney and just scratched the surface.  Can't thank Ross, Avril and Erica enough for their indulgence, patience and accommodation walking us all over the City.  We ended up walking ~5miles yesterday starting from Kirribilli and over the Sydney Bridge.  Anyway...

Up early, 0545, made some coffee and sat down at the dining table in the main room of 4 Maruda Street to just enjoy being in the moment and picking up were I left off with this blog.  It still feels surreal staring out the large picture window on the 2nd floor of this brownstone building and the thing that immediately catches your attention is the Sydney Opera House - it's right there!  Almost feels fake:  like what I'm seeing with my eyes is a picture on a wall that just happens to be framed in front by the waters of Sydney Harbor; the crystal blue sky above, and; Circular Quay and downtown Sydney skyline, just hanging up on the wall in this room.  Really stunning!  I guess if you lived here similar to any other anyplace in the world, it would become just part of normal... but, not from visitors come 1/2 way round the world to be here. :-)

Early morning Sydney skyline

Manly ferry passing by the Opera House

Could not have asked for better weather - crisp mornings, no clouds, mild mid-day temperatures and, the best part, forecasts for more of the same. For visitors to these parts, couldn't be better.  New South Wales' spring is just starting to kick in.  Ross and Avril tell us that it's been quite dry in these parts contributing to fires throughout the region.  That perspective was certainly borne out during our in flight descent into the greater Sydney area.  We saw HUGE forest/brush fires along our flight path north of Sydney and as we get closer to the city, over 1/2 dozen smaller fires dotting the landscape. When asked how most of the fires get started, there seems to be an inordinate number of them, our hosts said 'man-made'... now that's sad and makes me a bit angry at anyone that would willfully do such a thing so harmful, in most cases (except perhaps for deliberate controlled burns), to not only the flora and fawna but also, people and their homes.

Wow... just re-read what I wrote.  Went from pretty darn happy, very quickly to, not so much in a paragraph!  Sorry... back to the day.

Erica was up next followed by Rose, Ross and Avril.  We immediately picked up conversations we ended as we retired for the evening and started new ones over coffee and light breakfast which consisted of:  buttered toast with either Vegemite or apple butter from home.  My recollections of Vegemite aren't favorable to be honest.  Pretty certain it had something to do with how it was prepared at the time.  The way Erica enjoyed the uniquely flavored spread and shared with me, has now converted my opinion to quite favorable!  I'm naturally more of a sour/salty taste persone as is my daughter, Meg.  Rosie and my son, Conor, tend to be more sweet/savory types.  I really like Vegemite on buttered toast.  Gonna bring a jar home with me.

Side note:  This just popped into my head from a conversation about Australian money with Erica. Australian bills are all different colors, different sizes and, have embedded grail bumps for those visually impaired.  They also have nicknames.  By denomination and color:
$5 = Prawn
$10 = Bluie
$20 = Lobster
$50 = Pineapple
$100 = Avocado or Kiwi
Who knew?  She did. :-)

By 0900 we were all dressed and headed out for our day in Sydney.  Decided to walk along the seawall towards the bridge so we could enjoy the views to the harbor.  Eventually, we had to turn and head uphill to reach the access point to the bridge.  So, we trudged up the fairly steep ramp to the pedestrian access point located on the eastern side of the bridge.  As we approached the access point stairs, we spied a lot of activity underneath the nearest arched opening under the bridge - there was a market with many vendors set up plying their wares, aptly named Kirribilli Market.  Apparently, this market happens once a month during the season and our timing was perfect to enjoy it.  Most of the vendors under the overpass were selling crafts, jewelry, clothing, leather, art and the like.  On the western side of the pass-through arch were the food vendors and a few entertainers.  As we wandered about and listened in to conversations, the vendors were from all over the place including a handful with distinctly American inflections. :-)  We took about 20mins to enjoy the market before heading up and over Sydney harbor via the bridge.  Planned on spending a good amount of time in the area known as 'the Rocks.'

Rose and Ross 'hamming' it up outside of our Brownstone

Ross, Erica and Avril

Our Brownstone viewed from the harbor walk

We were all enjoying the walk and views to Sydney

The Bridge

Rose, Ross and Avril crossing the road over to the bridge

Bridge access point

The Kirribilli Market

One of the performers at the Market.  Beautiful voice

Proves they were there....

The walk across the bridge was enjoyable and not a 'bad stretch of the leg.'  Along the way took a lot of photos of the brownstone we were staying in Kirribilli, the harbor itself and, the Opera House and its surroundings.  We also saw a couple of cockatoos just perched on light poles along the way.  So cool to see them in the wild vs in a pet shop selling exotic birds.  Once we reached the other side of the bridge and descended into the 'Rocks,' I lost track of how we meandered from place-to-place and won't try to capture that.  I will try to list some of what was saw along the way.

Start of walk

Approaching first arch on the east side of bridge

Our Brownstone AirBnB from bridge

Everyone but the photographer

Rosie and I

Opera House

Circular Quay

Here come some ferries from Manly Beach direction, looking East

Wild Cockatoos!

Avril and Ross with Rosie taking Cockatoo photos

Erica first led us to an archaeological dig (that's her background) she participated in a few years back via Suzanne's Place, and example of the original buildings that were prevalent back in the early days of Sydney's development.  Then on to the Cumberland Street Archaeological Dig within the 'Rocks' where Erica was actually a part of the Team excavating the site - so cool!   This area now famously known as the 'Rocks,' has historical significance to Australians.  As I understand it, underneath what is now modern Sydney, particularly the area around Circular Quay, lie the ruins of some of the original architecture and buildings dating back to the days of convicts exiled here by Britain.  There's not much of it left but, the Australians have tried to preserve some of what was here over 200 years ago for visitors and locals to appreciate.

The famous Glenmore Hotel and rooftop bar

Erica and some of the artifacts of the dig

A view to her section of the dig.  Look far right corner

More artifacts on display

From there we started making our way to the weekend Market in the Rocks via the Rocks Discovery Museum, which we toured briefly.  The museum was set up to give you a sense of 4 distinct periods of time:
- Warrane (Pre-1788):  Warrane is the name the Gadigal people (the traditional landowners) give to the area known as Sydney Cove.
- Colony (1788-1820):  History/evolution of Sydney Cove, the town built by British convicts.
- Port (1820-1900):  Describes the thriving free settlement that shaped the future of the convict town.
- Transformations (1900-Present Day):  Information around how The Rocks has survived and flourished as a treasured historic precinct.

After our brief visit, we headed over to the famous Market at The Rocks. Meg raved about The Rocks Market when she was here on her semester abroad from Marist College.  Tons of vendors selling all types of wares underneath a sprawling awning providing cover from the elements.  It stretches for quite a ways and we really only walked 1 side of the whole venue.  By this time, a few of us were feeling a bit 'parched' - Erica, Ross and I - so, we picked a spot for a beer, the Mercantile Hotel, located right along and amidst the Market.  Avril and Rose joined us soon afterwards and we had a nice pause before continuing on our guided tour.

An Ibis or, as the Aussies call the, a 'bin chicken'

Erica and Dad enroute to the Rocks Market

Enjoyed a cool, frothy one here right next to the Rocks Market

A handsome Devil!

Left the Market, crossed under the bridge and Erica led us down to the purportedly 'oldest existing pub of Sydney,' Hero of Waterloo (there are other pubs that claim similar rights, :-) ).  From the outside, it's a wedge-shaped building.   The pub has a lot of character on the inside.  As has become routine for us in the short period of time we've been in Sydney to date, we all had a beer inside.  Turns out that this particular pub, way back in the day, used to be notorious for getting unsuspecting lads of able body, drunk out of their minds, and then absconding them through a 'secret' dungeon area below the pub that had a tunnel leading out towards the wharf area where they were loaded aboard wooden sailing ships of the day and conscripted into service!  How wrong but, how interesting.

The Hero of Waterloo Pub

When established

The bar inside

Ordering our beverages

Touring the dungeon

Erica, only having heard of said dungeon, approached one of the bartenders and asked about the dungeon.  Turns out they do have a lower level that dates way back and that sure, she'd be happy to take us down for a look!  While Ross and Avril manned the bar stools, Erica, Rosie and I descended some old wooden steps in the back of the bar down into the basement/dungeon.  It was kind of creepy and cool all at the same time.  The present day bar used it primarily for storing things like kegs and other supplies however, it definitely had the look and feel to me of a place that might have been used as a 'sleep easy' back in the prohibition days of America.  We all looked for a tunnel/passage out of the 'dungeon' - didn't find or see one.  May very well have been bricked up but, we weren't inclined to try that hard to find it.  Went back upstairs and re-joined Ross and Avril.

The time now was early afternoon, well past lunch and we were definitely 'peckish.'  Erica then led us to another pub, the Lord Nelson Hotel and Brewery, which also boasted to be the oldest existing pub in Sydney.  Didn't matter, we were hungry so, popped in.  The sign on the building says:  'Sydney's Oldest Hotel, est. 1842.'  Erica tells us that the moniker "Hotel" is/can be code for 'pub.'  Lunch consisted or 3 orders of fish & chips, 1 order of a meat pie and 'mushy' peas (Rosie) and, 1 hamburger for Erica.  We also ordered an appie:  beef nachos.

Lunch here

Side note:  Turns out in pubs, they don't serve you.  You go up to the bar and place your food/drink order, pay there and then they bring out your order.  Another slightly different way of doing things with nachos, at least in the Lord Nelson Brewery, is serving them with all of the savory beef underneath all of the rest of the nachos's ingredients vs pouring all of the hot beef over the top and, no jalapenos... 'course, we didn't ask for them either so, don't know if they could have accommodated us or not.

After our refreshing repast, we left and walked up and over to the Sydney Observatory.  I'd been there before, back in 2010.  It gives you a really fine view of the area on the west side of the Sydney Bridge including a view to the amusement park at the northern base of the bridge, Luna Park.  Right next to Luna Park is a Marina with lots of boats moored, Lavendar Bay.  There's a large gazebo on the Observatory grounds that visitors like to climb up into, take photos and just enjoy the view.  Additionally, there's a military memorial nearby with a very old canon maintaining quiet sentinel over the Sydney waterway.  Enjoyed the location for about 20min before heading back to the Rocks and exploring a few more original archaeological sites.

View from the pergola

Cool view from Sydney Observatory

Great photo!

The harbor cannon maintaining vigil over Sydney harbor

Wandered through a couple of local bars along the way back down to our next area of interest, Circular Quay.  Went into and climbed up to the rooftop bar of the famous Glenmore Hotel just for a look; left and made our way into and through the Argyle, had more of a club-like atmosphere with guests lounging around on bean bags and interesting decor.  Next, made our way down past Phillip's Foote, Ross's favorite pub in the Rocks, and then on to the Baker's Oven Cafe where Ross decided to buy quite a few delicious, extremely rich, caramel slices that he shared with all of us.  This bakery was the exact one I purchased a meat pie and sausage roll back in 2010 when I was on business... so good!

Glenmore Hotel

Ross and Erica having some fun

Erica amongst the old city's ruins

Ross' favorite

My favorite Bakery along George Street and Ross coming out with treats

We then continued to walk down to Circular Quay, a very popular area for many reasons including: access point for Cruise ship visits; all the ferries that take locals and visitors all over Sydney Harbor, come and go from the piers here; tons of restaurants and, the signature attraction; Sydney Opera House.  We all strolled over to the Opera House.  Ross, Avril and Erica decided to sit this one out while Rosie and I continued on to and wandered around the iconic landmark to our hearts content taking a lot of photos along the way.  To me the most striking thing about this series of 'sea-shell or sail' shaped structures is that when you finally get up close, you can see that the outer coating of the buildings - seen from afar, look to be a solid white covering - but, are actually thousands of individual tiles very closely mortared onto the buildings exteriors!  Reminded me of the Space Shuttle's heat shield.  Very cool.  Our visit complete, walked back down the many steps and re-joined the Browns. We needed to head back towards the ferries and train station to get Erica on her way.  For her tomorrow, Monday, is a work day.

Approaching the Opera House

She's really here!

Rosie in front of 1 of the iconic buildings.  Reminder her of a Conquistador's helmet

View to the west

There's actually a bar and restaurant in the building of the Opera House

A happy Rose

Erica was fabulous and we appreciated her going out of the way to spend time with us and show us around Sydney with all of the local insight and 'tips' she possessed and shared with us throughout the day.  She really is a good mix of both Avril and Ross's personalities resulting a very interesting person all unto herself.  We really enjoyed her company.

Once Erica was off to the train, we went in search of the pier and ferry back to Kirribilli.  Appeared to depart from Pier 4 and the next one was at 1725, 30min from that moment.  Decided to take a seat at the City Extra for some beverages: coffee for Avril and I, tea for Rosie and, a beer for Ross.  We only realized after we sat down that the service was not quick but, on the contrary, slow and our available time was evaporating.  We ended up getting served, transferring our beverages to travel cups, paying the bill and then leaving to queue up on Pier 4 - using our Opal cards - for the ride back to Kirribilli departing at 1725.  This particular ferry appeared to be the correct one but, it turned out not to be.  It basically stopped at all the piers on the Kirribilli side except for the one closest to our Brownstone.  Fortunately, Avril cottoned on to this and we disembarked before we could have ended up back at Circular Quay!  Was a bit of a hike back to our Air BnB but, not bad.  Made it back by ~1815.

On the ferry back to Kirribilli

Ross and Avril having a laugh

The Australian Prime Minister's residence

Admiralty House = White House

Relaxed and chatted for a good hour discussing a wide range of topics including world affairs and politics.  Of course, we solved them all and after doing so decided it was time to get some late dinner.  So, we did.  Around 2000 headed up into Kirribilli and found a nice Thai restaurant, Stir Crazy, and enjoyed a tasty dinner before heading back to the brownstone and calling it a night.  Before turning in we did turn on the telly and tried to get an update on the devastation wrought by Hurricane Erma on the Florida Keys and the State of Florida.  Very sad and tragic.

Fuji