After breakfast I set off to see the sights of Sydney. I started by retracing the previous days walk through Hyde park. The sun was in a different part of the sky so I retook some better photos of the things that I had seen yesterday.
Statue of Captain Cook who landed at Botany Bay, a few miles south of Sydney, in 1770
I feel that the Sydney Tower looks surprisingly dated for something designed and built in the 1970’s. To me it looks as if it is from the 1950’s
The cathedral seemed to be closed which I found a bit strange and annoying as I had wanted to have a quick look inside. Instead I went to the Hyde Park Barracks, the destination for thousands of transported convicts from Britain. Transportation to Australia began in 1787 but not everyone received a life sentence. When a convict reached the end of their period of punishment they were free but most were not allowed to return to England. By 1818 the free population of Sydney was greater than the number of convicts. The freemen demanded protection from the criminals (!) so the barracks was built by the prisoners to house themselves overnight. By day they went to assigned jobs around Sydney. When transportation ceased the barracks became an immigration depot, a poorhouse, government offices and finally a museum. The displays inside are really good, showing what life was like for the occupants of the barracks throughout its life.
The brickwork of the barracks is in amazingly good condition for something built 200 years ago by convict labour
Just north of the Hyde Park Barracks is The Mint. These buildings were constructed between 1811 and 1816 as the Sydney Hospital. In an early Private Finance Initiative deal it was built by private contractors in exchange for a monopoly on rum importation. In 1854, following the discovery of gold in New South Wales, a branch of the Royal Mint was established on the site. The Mint operated until 1926 when it was moved to Canberra. I was a little disappointed with this museum even thought it was free to enter! The buildings were interesting enough but I felt that there could have been more artefacts from the building’s past. The Bank of England has a nice little museum in its basement. There’s nothing like that in the Sydney Mint. I even asked the guide if there was one in the Reserve Bank of Australia across the road. She wasn’t aware of it but now I know there is one. I’ll have to visit it if I ever go back to Sydney.
The front of the mint buildings faces the modern central bank on Macquarie Street
From the Mint I walked up to the Botanical Gardens. It was just after midday but the preparations for the New Year’s Eve celebrations were already well underway. All bar one of the park’s entrances and exits were closed. Still, the gardens were a nice place for a sit down and a rest on a rather sunny and hot day. I had planned to visit the Opera House but it was already closed off for a New Year’s Eve party. Only ticket holders could get in. Instead I walked across to the Sydney Observatory just to the west of the harbour bridge. On the way I had an ice-cream from an ice-cream van, just like in England.
I reached the park surrounding the observatory around 2 o’clock. Some people were already claiming their places for the evenings entertainment. It would be a great place to watch the fireworks. The observatory is on a hill overlooking both of Sydney’s harbours. It was placed here to give a time signal to ships. Exact time was necessary for accurate navigation. The observatory could determine the precisely when it was noon by observing the passage of the sun. Other astronomical observations were carried out until the 1970’s when light and air pollution forced the observatory to close. It was then converted into a museum.
It’s a really great place to visit if you’ve got the slightest interest in astronomy. There are many interesting displays and you can go right up inside the dome that still houses a large telescope. There’s a nice exhibition on the Transit of Venus which Captain Cook was ordered to observe on his voyage of exploration to Australia and New Zealand.
The Sydney Observatory on a lovely sunny afternoon
From the observatory I walked back to the hotel to rejoin my friends. We had booked an evening cruise of the harbour with dinner and a view of the midnight fireworks. We boarded our boat in Darling Harbour. Although it was a catamaran (“one of the largest sailing cats in the southern hemisphere”) it motored everywhere during the night as the sails would have spoiled the views of the fireworks. We cast off at just after 7pm and cruised north up Darling Harbour, past the National Maritime Museum which we were to visit tomorrow. Turning east, we went under the harbour bridge getting a great view of its underside and construction. There were incredible crowds by the bridge and I was so glad that we’d decided to take a boat cruise. We passed by the Opera House and circled Fort Denison where a luxury party was underway. From the outer harbour we got a superb view of the sun setting over the city.
Our cruise boat, the “Aussie One” seen coming into the Matilda cruises berth the next day while we were at the National Maritime Museum
Approaching the harbour bridge from the west. Note the “glitter ball” suspended on the bridge
The glitter ball was supposed to send reflected laser light across the harbour but at midnight it was obscured by smoke from the fireworks
The Opera House with a replica of “HMS Bounty”
The “James Craig”, also out from the National Maritime Museum on a New Year’s Eve cruise
I wondered why this barge was being towed out but later I realised that it was one of the fireworks launch platforms. In the background is Fort Denison
Sunset over Sydney
As the sun went down we were invited into the dining area of the ship for dinner. Sensibly they had preallocated the seating so there wasn’t a mad scramble. It was a nice meal with a buffet dessert and cheese course. What surprised me was the unlimited alcoholic drinks available. I stuck to the soft drinks and coffee as I don’t think that booze and boats mix well. I’m sure that some people managed to drink the cost of their ticket. After sunset the cruise boats took part in a Light Parade. All had been lit up to some extent, some with very artful creations.
The ships in the Light Parade looked great but my camera struggled to take good, steady pictures in the low light. Fortunately, it worked fine for the later fireworks
There are actually two firework displays in Sydney, one at nine o’clock and the famous one at midnight. There’s a certain amount of jockeying for position between the cruise boat captains and I feel that we lost out to an extent on the first one. We were just to the west of the harbour bridge so that and the ships rigging blocked the view a bit.
Some of the nine o’clock fireworks. The lights at the top are on the harbour bridge
After the nine o’clock display we again cruised up and down the harbour. I’d not thought to bring a jacket with me and there was a bit of a chill in the air although it wasn’t too bad. I stayed on deck for most of the time between the two fireworks displays as the harbour was well lit up and the views were great. The captain got the boat into a great position for the midnight display, east of the harbour bridge near Fort Denison island. The display was a fantastic quarter of an hour extravaganza of many thousands of fireworks.
Ooooo
Ahhhhh
I put my camera on auto and just pointed it at the sky while I watched the display. I caught this nice sequence
There were four firework barges along the harbour, all launching at the same time so with the right angle you could see four explosions at once
You can see the Harbour Bridge silhouetted by the distant fireworks
The finale begins
The last hurrah
Once the smoke had cleared you could see the moon
Once the fireworks had finished there was a bit of a race between the cruise boats to get back to their berths in Darling Harbour. After disembarking we back up the our hotel through the crowds that had watched the fireworks from the shore. At the hotel the doormen were checking people in using a list, I guess they didn’t want any non-paying guests staying!
The evening had cost roughly £130 and I feel that it was worth every penny. The view was far better than on shore and there were no crowds. If you’re ever in Sydney for New Year’s Eve do yourself a favour and book a harbour cruise!
