Our hotel is in The Rocks, an old part of the city next to Circular Quay which is the transport hub of the city. It also means there are spectacular views of the bridge and opera house. When I was in Sydney 25 years ago, The Rocks was notorious. It had a reputation for being rough. I suspect that was because the housing was mostly social housing and the people working class. They also had a very strong community and fought to preserve their homes from developers who wanted to bulldoze the whole area and build high rises. To an extent they have been successful. A lot of the older buildings have survived. And there is still social housing. But you can tell it is still under threat. There are signs about that show the tenants are still fighting to stop their homes being sold to developers. The area is a victim of its own success.
Anyway. We had to go see the harbour so spent a very pleasant if blustery, couple of hours cruising around. The harbour is lovely, and so is the waterfront property. The bay is the second busiest port after Hong Kong. I can see why, there were yachts dodging between ferries and naval ships. Talk about organised chaos. We hopped off at Darling Harbour. This is a modern development with the Maritime Museum, Madam Tousauds and lots of places to eat. There is also a wildlife zoo with koalas and lots of reptiles, including a massive salt water croc. And... we saw a koala move! Amazing as they sleep for 18 to 20 hours a day!
See he moved!
For once we wereactually somewhere when something I was happening. It was Lunar New Year and some big wigs were being entertained on the quay. There were fireworks and a lion dance and then they turned the Opera House red!
The next day we walked around The Rocks , tried a few of the pubs, of which there are many. Phil went up a pylon of the bridge, I waited at the bottom and we generally had a great time.
I really like Sydney. I will be sorry to leave.
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