Sydney

Until we undertook the journey from Elderslie to the city, I wasn't aware of how far out we were. I knew the skyline of tall buildings wasn't visible from Elderslie but I had put that down to being on a plain and not seeing the forest for the trees as such.

Luckily there is a bus stop across the road that takes us to Campbelltown around half and hour away and the furthest the train goes in that direction. It is then another hour and a half journey through many suburbs and stops before hitting central station and getting the feeling of being in a large city.

We jumped off here and made our way through Hyde parka and Chinatown where we stopped for lunch. I enjoyed a rather large serving of calimari with my first Aussie pint - Boag's. It wasn't too bad at all and was certainly refreshing after our trek.

Today was a paltry 18c with some clouds causing overcast as we made our way long the heaving streets in a northerly direction for the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

As we neared our destination, I could make out the distinctive shape of both monuments and must confess, I found the harbour bridge quite stunning and the opera house rather underwhelming. It is quite retro and kitcsh and if it was an ornamental present, it would be in a box, taken out and dusted off when the giver came over for drinks.

The harbour bridge on the other hand is grand in scale and looks magnificent. It is also multi-purpose and takes passengers over the water on foot, car and train and thus also appeals to my manly functional side.

There is also a busy wharf and train station close by taking locals and tourists on ferries and jetboats of which we will use tomorrow.

With Sydney harbour taken in, we made our way to the Sydney Museum (not to be confused with the Australian Museum) before heading home. I say this because although Wikipedia would have you think they are one in the same, there are indeed two different types, the latter we did not know existed due to lack of insight.

The Sydney Museum is, for want of a better word, dull. It has 3 floors with not much going on in any of them. Lou and I were hoping that it would have had a history of the aboriginals, a detailed exhibit on the colonisation of a continent by white men but it's a very much short and sweet version of this country seemingly designed for the casual visitor.

Slightly dismayed by our last venture but excited by Sydney itself, we made the journey back to Elderslie.

The other photos of Sydney can be found here.