Yesterday, we were treated to another day with Professor Howells of the University of Sydney. We started the morning by attending a lecture of his on current trends in Australian architecture. Many slides he presented were of private residences in New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland, which was interesting because it showed how each region's architecture responds to the unique climates. After lunch, Professor Howells led us on another tour, this time of the architecture of Sydney. We were led around the downtown area, where we were shown some buildings from the early days of Sydney, as well as some new buildings.
Today, I started the morning by heading to the Royal Botanic Gardens. I enjoyed some new views of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge that I hadn't found yet. Later, we headed back to Bondi yet again to enjoy our last day in Sydney. It was extremely crowded today due to the nice weather, but it was also extremely pleasant to be able to people-watch in such a beautiful location. We also got to see some unique kites in the air; there is a famous kite festival tomorrow, and some people had decided to pull theirs out a little early. We had been disappointed that we would miss the festival due to our flight to Brisbane, so this was a nice surprise.
Sydney, Days 7 and 8
Sydney, Day 6
We had a free day today, so we headed out to the Blue Mountains for a day of bushwalking. To get there, we took a train to the town of Katoomba, one of the main towns in the mountains. From the train, we were able to catch glimpses of the western suburbs of Sydney. We started the morning by heading west from Echo Point, a central information center in the area. On this leg of the journey, we got some views of the Three Sisters, a famous rock formation in the area. We also got to the base of Katoomba Cascades and saw Katoomba Falls from afar. We headed back to Echo Point for lunch and then headed east for the afternoon. On this leg, we got up close to the Three Sisters, and also saw Leura Falls. By this point, we were pretty tired and had climbed an awful lot of stairs for one day, so we headed back to the train station and back to Sydney. One of the most fascinating aspects of the day was the vegetation. The plant life in the area was unlike anything I've ever seen, and boring as it may sound, it really made me feel like I was on another planet, not just another continent.
Sydney, Day 5
We started the morning by taking the bus up to a suburb north of Sydney called Ryde, where we given a tour of a construction site. The site will be a shopping center; shops will be opening before Christmas, but construction will continue on while parts of the building are being occupied. The tour gave us an insight into Australian construction methods. Later in the afternoon, we climbed the South Pylon of Harbour Bridge, where we learned about the bridge's construction and saw some great views of downtown Sydney and the Opera House. The day was warm, so we decided to head back out to Bondi Beach. Unfortunately, we still aren't used to the sun setting so early due to it being winter here, so by the time we made it out to Bondi, the sun was getting low and the temperature by the water was much lower, so it wasn't long before we headed back to downtown for the evening.
Sydney, Days 3 and 4
Yesterday was our first opportunity to see the inside of an Australian university. We spent time at the University of Technology, Sydney, where we met Professor Patrick Healy of the School of the Built Environment. We attended a class of his, where we listened to students' presentations on managing subcontractors. After that, we walked through Chinatown on our way to Darling Harbour. After eating dinner, we walked up Observatory Hill, where we had a fantastic view of Harbour Bridge and North Sydney, as well as a lot of bats.
Today, we were given a tour of the University of Sydney. The campus has a mixture of new and old architecture, which we learned about from Professor Trevor Howells from the Faculty of of Architecture, Design and Planning. Professor Howells is considered to be the top historian of architecture in Sydney, and possibly all of Australia. After spending the morning and much of the afternoon at the university, we took the ferry back to Manly. We walked over to Shelly Beach, and then did some bushwalking around North Head. Once it started to get dark, we headed back to downtown Manly, where I had an excellent dinner of prawns in curry sauce with jasmine rice. By this point, we were beat, so we took the ferry back to downtown Sydney and called it a night.
Sydney, Day 2
Ben Folds makes me want to learn how to play the piano. I was reminded of this when I saw him in concert last night. In concert at the Opera House. Earlier that day, we went to Bondi Beach - one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. We walked a little ways down the Coastal Walkway before turning around to meet up with some others who had done other things in the morning. We never found them (we found out later that they got off at the wrong bus stop and were an hour late to the meeting place), but we had a good meal at a cafe across from the beach. After that, a friend and I continued down the Coastal Walkway, all the way to Coogee Beach before catching the bus back to the CBD (Central Business District). A great walk on the beach and a great concert in the evening made yesterday a great day.
Sydney, Day 1
Musselman's Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies are the best packaged cookies ever. I had the privilege of trying these delicacies on the flight from LA to Sydney. The flight was 14.5 hours, but didn't feel bad at all. I was able to sleep for about 6 hours, and after that it was about the same length as the flight to LA. We arrived at about 6:15 in the morning Sydney time, we got our 7-day travel passes, which allow us to travel on any bus and ferry, and on the subway in most of the areas we'll be visiting. We took the subway to our hotel, which was only 2 blocks from the station, checked in, showered (which felt glorious) and headed to Circular Quay, where many of the ferries depart. We wandered over the Opera House and the surrounding Botanical Gardens, and then hopped on the ferry to Manly. We walked around Manly Beach for a short while before heading back to the ferry, from which we were able to watch the sun set behind Harbour Bridge.