Warning - This is going to be an extremely photo & video heavy post.
For Scooterbobs last trip out I decided that I would offset his first trip which saw him visit some of our natural wonders with a trip to see some of our man made wonders. What better place to visit than Sydney Harbour which holds two of our national icons in the one location. So today we ride around the harbour and there's something very special in here for you all, more on that later.
I know Bob liked Vancouver harbour and thought it was pretty special. So I thought a visit to Sydney harbour would be fitting, I know Bob would have liked it. I believe our harbour is pretty special too, whether by day or night the Sydney Harbour bridge and Opera House are spectacular to behold in person and millions of people from all around the world visit these icons every year. I live here and I'm still impressed every time I get a chance to see these things up close and personal. I hope everyone enjoys these photo's as much as I did taking them.
I got up early to ride into the city to avoid as much traffic as possible and so I could get in some good photo's without too many people blocking the shots. I succeeded on both counts. First stop was underneath the Harbour bridge on the northern side or Kirribilli as it's known as, looking back towards the city.
This is a very popular location for photo's as you can see the front of the opera house and the city in the back ground. When you are in front of the opera house, the thing is so big you can really get a good photo of it. Just nearby is Luna park which is a fun spot to take the kids to enjoy all sorts of rides. Whilst I was here two lovely young ladies were jogging by and laughingly asked was SB one of those 'travelling gnomes or something'. When I told them the story they were captivated by it.
The security guard that was at his post under the bridge also was asking me a million questions about SB. I tell you he is pretty popular. So it was then off to McMahons Point for another lookout point over the harbour. Again spectacular even though the photo's this early were into the sun.
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| Scooterbob at McMahons Point |
Soon I headed back around over the harbour bridge again and headed into the Rocks. The Rocks is one of the oldest parts of the city. It was established not long after the colony's formation in 1788. Most of the buildings were built out of sandstone rock, hence the name the rocks. Some of the streets still have cobblestone streets and you could be forgiven for thinking you have just walked into a time warp back to the early 1800's.The park under the southern pylon of the bridge also contains the remnants of 2 guns battery's that were installed in 1819. There were 5 forty two pounds canons on the upper battery and 15 thirty two pound canons on the lower battery mounted on circular tracks so that they could be turned up to 180°.
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| 32 pound canon |
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| 42 pound canon |
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| Modern Art |
The rocks is a popular tourist area with modern contemporary arts mixed in with historic buildings, the Sydney theatre is in the rocks also with famous restaurants, bars and pubs. The rocks is home to Sydney's oldest pub, the Lord Nelson Hotel. They even brew their own beer. I recommend the 3 sheets pale ale, it's a good drop.
Overlooking the harbour bridge to the north is Observatory hill. This is the home of Sydney Observatory, which is both now a museum and a working observatory. It holds a 40 cm modern schmidt-cassegrain telescope and a historic 29 cm refractor telescope built in 1874, the oldest telescope in Australia in regular use. The views from the rotunda are superb and scooterbob agreed.
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| SB checking out the view to North Sydney |
We mosed on down into the rocks area where the streets become a little more cosy and you can see the old stone work and cobblestone streets. Some of the alley ways are very small and a tight squeeze when there's a crowd. The rocks attracts a weekend market with people selling all sorts of clothes, trinkets, art and food of all types. Try the gozleme here at Dans cafe they are the best I've had anywhere, he also does the best coffee. The outdoor area of the lowenbrau is also a favourite spot especially on a busy night. |
| The Rocks Markets |
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| Lowenbrau at the rocks |
I was getting a little peckish and was in desperate need for a coffee as I had left before even the roosters were up, so we stopped and sat outside to take in the views. I'd ordered a strawberry danish and cappuccino, which came with a complimentary Belgian chocolate. Beautiful.
With my coffee hit out of the way it was time to head around through the city and show scooterbob the main attraction of the harbour, you guessed it the Opera House. One of the most iconic buildings of the 20th century. Passing by circular quay there was a large cruise ship docked in the harbour. These ships come and go just about every second day here.
One of the good things about the city is that they have free parking for motorcycles which made it easy for me to get around and find a parking spot, that combined with the now legal lane filtering made for a good day out in the city.
Here is the video of my tour of the city and harbour where scooterbob makes a surprising appearance. I tell you he has a devilish streak in him. Scooterbob even gets into the action, with him tearing up the streets of Sydney and showing us what he's made of, keep your eye open for that one.
Scooterbob, meet the Sydney Opera House. Yep this building is absolutely amazing. It was designed by danish architect Jorn Utzon. Construction started in 1959 and it was finally finished in 1973(the same year I was born) at a staggering cost back then of $103 million. If that was built today it would probably cost 10 times that amount. It's even more impressive when you are up close to it. The tiles on the sails are very smooth to the touch, like glass.
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| Looking back at the city |
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| Scooterbob taking in the views. |
In June Sydney has the vivid festival which is basically a festival of music and light. They put on a brilliant light show that lasts for nearly an hour by projecting images onto the sails of the opera house. If your ever in Sydney in June you need to get down there at night and check it out. Magic stuff. Here's a picture I took at last years Vivid festival.
I must thank Sonja, David for the chance to host scooterbob. It has been an honour and a pleasure to show him around my neck of the woods and I can't wait to see what adventures that the other bloggers have in store for him. I'd also like to hope that Yvonne and the kids will have some comfort in seeing what scooterbob has been up to on his adventures. This post is dedicated to the memory of Bob Leong.
It's time now that scooterbob moved on to his next stop on his world tour - the land of the long white cloud, New Zealand. I'm sure he's going to have a great time over there. He was packed away in his little black travel case with some extra bubble wrap and is now winging his way to NZ.
Fare thee well little scooterbob. Godspeed.
