First Full Oz Day

I was so excited. I woke up and got ready to explore this new place I was in. I looked out the window and what did I see....beautiful bight sunshine....NO. It was a grey, very rain threatening clouds loomed over head. BUT weather smeather I was in Australia and I was NOT going to let a little rain stop me. So as pre-arranged I met Leanne and off on our adventure we went armed with raincoats and good spirits. Leanne being the veteran of Sydney (a few days more than me) knew which bus to take and after a short journey she was telling me to get off at the right stop. Funnily enough I was SO busy chatting away to this new friend that I almost missed my first sight of the harbour bridge and the opera house. Thankfully Leanne was there to point them out. I went a little photo crazy and so I have created a little slide show. But being that I am way behind...I'm warning you there will be more to come.

These structures are just that...only buildings but nonetheless there are fairly impressive. It is easy to see how they have become quite iconic in nature. The next four pictures of a friendly spider, Cockatoos, and a weird flower I saw in the Royal Botanical GardensAfter wandering about a bit in circular Quay Leanne and I decided rain or no rain. The Royal Botanical Gardens (right next door to the Opera house) would be our next exploration. We set off with the goal of finding Mrs. Macquire's chair. as it was to have stunning views of the harbour. But either the trees were hanging down low from the weight of the wet OR they have moved her chair (see photo for the view taken sitting in her chair). Now I highly doubt that the chair has been moved as from the next photo you can see that it is actually a HUGE rock. So I think the "view" was the harbour traffic that would have been going by not the "view" though of Sydney harbour now with the bridge and the opera house.We wandered around and to our surprise we found this castle like structure in the middle of the garden. Now it had actually begun to drizzle in earnest and we were beginning to get wet SO an indoor tour sounded pretty good. So we inquired at the gate house learned that the tour was free (yipee) and that the next one wasn't for another half hour. Determined to not let the now rain win we wandered about the garden of the structure until we were thoroughly damp and then took refuge in the portecastle (I think that is what it is called--the carriage shelter by the front door).
The tour was lovely and guided by this wonderful woman who was a volunteer and was rammed with good stories, interesting facts and history. The inside of the building was quite beautiful and I would recommend the tour to anyone who enjoys history and the insides of older buildings. the ceilings were very interesting the one in the large ballroom fascinated me as it was a combination between a Victorian mural ceiling and what looked like Australian Aboriginal painting. I was too chicken to ask if my guess was right SO when you come visit you'll have to find out for me.
By this time is was really chucking it down and we decided to head our of the garden and NO not for home...we are not made of stuff that melts....just that shivers...but for the Rocks and the market there.
It was pretty much abandoned. We wandered around a bit but the chill and the hunger were beginning to win and so we decided a bit of hot food would be good. A stop for wedges with heavy/sour cream and sweet chili sauce latter we again braved the outdoors. To our wonder and delight the rain had finally seen that we were going to continue no matter what and SO gave up and went home. The transformation of the market we stunning. It was rammed with people and the stalls were doing good business. After tasting a bit of this and that. It was off to see if we could climb the Pylon. So we found our way up onto the bridge and then over it. The pylon was closed and we were surprised to find out that the sun was soon to set being 17.45. But we hadn't come this far to quit so we finished walking the span of the harbour bridge and back. By the time we made it back to the Rocks it was abandoned once again this time because everything was shut. After a bit more we hopped back on the bus back to Randwick. Stopping at the Coles (a food shop) for what was needed for groceries. It was just past 22.00 by the time we parted company. It was a 12 hour adventure day. I was exhausted but excited for the next day.

Oh I nearly forgot in Circular Quay there was also this random sculpture of an woman made from real peaches. How funny it that!