Sydney Day 3

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Happy Australia Day!

Today is Australia Day, which is a bit like Fourth of July. It celebrates the arrival of the first British people here. It is HOT here today – 92 degrees and humid and sunny. It feels like August.

This morning, we walked around the harbor and had a tour of the Opera House. The iconic building was designed by a Danish architect and has great views of the harbor. We then strolled through the Royal Botanical Gardens, first walking along the water to Mrs. Macquerie’s chair. This is named after the wife of an early governor who wanted to return to England, but who could not. So, her husband had a chair carved from the stone at the point so she could watch the harbor in the general direction that one might leave to sail back to England.

We walked through more of the gardens, where lots of people were picnicking and watching the boats in the harbor. We saw colorful lorikeets in the trees and a colony of huge bats. After leaving the garden at the southern end, we walked through Saint Mary’s church and then enjoyed some of the Australia Day celebrations on the plaza in front of the church. We touched an echidna, which is like a porcupine with a platypus face. The echidna and the platypus are the only mammals which lay eggs.
We then strolled past the Sydney Tower, which looks like a gold marshmallow on a stick and is the tallest building in the city. We then walked through the Queen Elizabeth Center, which is now a shopping arcade but has fantastic architecture including gorgeous wrought iron stairs and a glass dome. We then reached Darling Harbor and strolled around the water’s edge where people were wearing Australia themed clothes. After a lunch of fish and chips, on the restaurant’s patio overlooking the harbor, we cut across the harbor bridge and went to the aquarium. The Sydney aquarium has a shark breeding program so we saw several sharks. We also saw a platypus and a dugong, which is like a manatee.

After an ice cream, we walked back up to the hotel and past several stages with local bands that were set up through the Rocks area to celebrate Australia Day. We had dinner overlooking Sydney Harbor with a distant cousin of Jonathan’s named Sheila. Sheila’s mother was related to Jon’s maternal great-grandfather. Tomorrow, we are on a plane again and off to Kangaroo Island.