Aline's travel blog: October 15, Monday

October 15, Monday

I left the hotel at about 11:30 to take the bus to the Sky Tower. I did not see any advertising outside to guide me to the entrance. I knew it had to be on this block, but I walked around half the block and could not find it. It turns out that the bottom levels are within a huge mall, and I had to take the escalator up 5 floors to get to the ticket office and the elevators to the top of the tower. Before that however we entered into a 4-D theater to watch a short movie clip. It was very well done. We were following a parakeet, in flight, and flying over Sydney and the Sydney Harbour. At one point we were flying low near the rocks and the waves crashing on shore and I actually felt the spray ! No kidding, they have it arranged so that we get sprinkled with water. A bit later on, the film had us on a sailboat in the harbour and again I felt water spraying us (it added to the experience.) After the film was over, we took the “fast speed” elevator up to the observation deck, 44 seconds to rise 250 meters above street level. And the views were spectacular of course. The only disappointment was not having a clear view to the Opera House because of highrises between us. The tower is 309 metres high, the Observation deck is 250 meters high. When it opened in 1981, it was the fourth tallest building in the world.

How would you like to be the window washer in THIS establishment? YIKES !

Views from the top: Looking East, Manly is at the very top centre of this photo. Farm Cove, Wooloomooloo Bay & Elizabeth Bay.

Even with the zoom, this is all I could see of the Sydney Opera House

Looking West towards Darling Harbour and the Paramatta River

ANZAC Bridge

Looking straight down to Pitt Street below

Hyde Park and St. Mary's Cathedral

Zoom on the fountain in Hyde Park. It is absolutely brilliant.

The Royal Botanic Gardens and Mrs. Macquarie's Point

Looking towards Paddington, the Victoria Barracks and the Sydney Football Stadium
Sydney’s metropolitan area has about 650 suburbs and sprawls 70 km to the west, 40 km to the south and 60 km to the south.

The next thing on my check-list of things to see in Sydney was Bondi Beach; but before taking the bus I decided to walk around the downtown area and see some of the other streets. I walked down Pitt Street until I reached Bridge Street,

View back to the Sydney Sky Tower

Historical buildings on Pitt Street

Somewhere between Pitt and Bridge Streets

Historical buildings on Bridge Street. This one has statues of men who played a major role in Sydney's history.
and turned right all the way up to the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Conservatory of Music

I then walked up Macquarrie Street a few blocks before cutting back in to Phillip Street to catch the 380 bus to Bondi Beach. Rode past my hotel and kept going east for ½ an hour until I arrived at Bondi. It was definitely worth taking the time to come out here. Bondi (or Boondi) is an Aboriginal word meaning water breaking over rocks, or noise of water breaking over rocks.

I sat on the grass verge above the beach for awhile, taking in the beautiful site. Breakfast was long gone so I decided to look for somewhere to eat; nothing along the beach however so I went back up to Campbell Street. I only walked a few blocks when I spotted a restaurant that had a wrap around verandah on the second floor.

THAT’S THE ONE ! It was quite expensive, but I wanted to sit up there and have a really nice lunch with a glass of white wine and just SIT BACK AND ENJOY THE VIEW.

They had a 2-course lunch special for $33: 8 items to choose from for an appetizer and another 8 items for the main course.

I ordered a spinach and beet root salad; it came with apples, walnuts and feta cheese. (Sandra: you would have LOVED IT !) .

As a main course I ordered the marlin, which I have never eaten before. It was a huge slab of fish on a rich mango mustard sauce and was served with mangoes, mint leaves, tomatoes and onions. I ordered a nice glass of Sauvignon Blanc to go with that.
The view from the terrace was beautiful. There were two ladies sitting at a table beside mine who were just finishing their meal; one about my age the other probably in her 70s. They were out to celebrate the older lady’s birthday. They had not finished their bottle of wine and brought the bottle over to my table for me to finish, saying that they had noticed I was drinking the same wine as they were. How nice is that !