Sydney

 

After a hair raising ride (Mal could use it) through Sydney traffic to return the campervan, we settled in to our fabulous, historic B&B on Piper Lane in Annandale, a nearby suburb of Sydney.

 

Miller time -- or at least Tooey Old time.

The interior -- great place!

 

 

 

Early the next day, we were off to see the harbour highlights. First up, the Sydney Opera House. Awesome! We took a tour and learned the fascinating story behind its development and construction.

 

The Opera House from the bridge.

The roof is covered in two colours of ceramic tiles.

Then we walked the adjoining Royal Botanical Gardens. With lightning and thunder directly overhead and the heavens opening from time to time, it was a memorable walk.

 

 

Here comes the rain -- keep the lion dry!

Christmas poinsettias are in full bloom outside in the garden.

 

After the storm passed, we toured The Rocks, the original settement of the Sydney area. Lots more history. Man, are we getting educated, but I hope there's no test.

 

 

Interesting street lights.

Mal's hanging out with the larrikins and donnahs, unsavory characters who frequented the Suez Canal, one of the most notorious streets in the Rocks in the 19th century.

Notice any British influence in the house designs?

 

 

On the second full day here, we went back to the harbour to climb one of the bridge pylons. Only 200 steps this time, child's play after The Grand Staircase in Katoomba. When the bridge was constructed back in the 1920's and early 1930's, there were no safety regulations like we have now, so there were guys swinging off cables, throwing white hot rivets to each other to be caught in steel buckets, using jack hammers with no ear protection (hey, what was that???) and so on. One fellow named Vincent Kelly fell from the road deck of the bridge to the water 60 metres below. He was wearing his tool belt at the time and he took it off as he fell and dropped it into the water before him. Apparently this broke the surface tension of the water and saved his life. As it was, the soles of his boots were implanted onto the base if his feet and the tops of his boots were up around his thighs! He broke six ribs and was back to work in six weeks. They gave him a gold medallion.

 

 

 

Affectionately known as "the coat hanger".

If you like heights, you can climb to the top of the bridge.

No safety harness in sight.

 

After a little (ugh, shudder) shopping, during which some Ugg boots were purchased, we headed back to our B&B for meat pies and rock cakes. Yum! Tomorrow we fly to Alice Springs.

 

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