A Tour Around Sydney

Wednesday 29 November

Another early morning alarm, and breakfast, as we were being picked up by the coach, at 07.50 about ten minutes away on Bayswater Road! (feels like home again). Most mornings, breakfast here is not before 07.15, but luckily some other people were leaving early to catch a plane, so we joined them to eat our breakfast.

We met the pick-up coach (everyone was there on time, except one lady – there’s always one – who we eventually found wandering the streets half a mile away, at the end of the road, lost, not knowing which way to go!) which took us to Star City, where we had started our marathon journey round Australia more than a month ago. We were directed to the right coach, and our names were on the manifest – which was just as well as we had no tickets for the tour. We were given stickers to show for our lunch. We waited for all the pick-up coaches to arrive with the remaining passengers – the coach was full – before setting off on a tour of Sydney, north of the harbour. Getting across the bridge was a major feat – we wove in and out of the streets, trying to find one not blocked by other traffic. It was early morning “rush hour” which had been exacerbated by it being too foggy for most of the ferries to run. We eventually crossed the bridge just as the sun was trying to burn its way through and make an appearance. The bridge was built between 1923 and 1932, and when it was completed there was only one motor car to cross the bridge. Nowadays, 160,000 cross every day, and a further 90,000 use the tunnel. The road is 65 metres above the river. When it was opened, the ribbon was in place, and someone from the crowd jumped over the cordon and cut it just before the Governor arrived for the ceremony! They arrested the culprit and tied the ribbon back together and got on with the celebrations – typical Australian. (Apparently Paul Hogan of Crocodile Dundee fame, used to be a painter on this bridge before fame caught up with him.) The toll booths charge all vehicles A$3.00 to use the bridge.

As we crossed over the bridge we could see shoreline stretching in both directions. When James Cook viewed this inlet from his position out at sea, while he was charting the coastline, he described the inlet as small, with an access gap only about a mile across – he didn’t realize that there was 268 kms or 180 miles of coastline behind the opening, stretching far inland. It was not until Arthur Philip was looking for a suitable base for the penal colony, that he investigated this inlet, and found out just how large it was. At the time a French navigator was looking for land to colonize for France, but he arrived a few days after the British fleet had stepped out on land and proclaimed it British.

Sydney has 700 suburbs today, but in the first years after the first fleet arrived, expansion was slow. There was only one convict with farming skills aboard, James Puse, who was put in charge of trying to grow wheat, and he harvested his first small crop after just six months. He was immediately given a pardon and 30 acres of land for himself. In return he agreed to teach others about farming and free families were also given tracts of land to farm – 30 acres for the man, 20 more acres if he had or took a wife, and a further 10 acres for each child. Some convicts had building and architectural skills and these were put to work to design and build towns and outlying villages, many of which still remain today (pubs, houses, town halls and offices) – all now listed buildings. Francis Greenway was one of these – sent here for forgery – and put in charge of designing the town of Sydney and received a pardon for his efforts – 150 years later he was depicted on the A$10 note (the one that is forged the most). Arthur Phillip set up military look-out posts, on the high points around the harbour to watch for incoming ships and raiders. Settlements grew here whose names still reflect their original purpose today – Beacon Point, Military Point.

We drove through many of the shoreline suburbs, with smart houses and gardens clinging to the hillside, sometimes with car parking on their roofs. Several of the houses had “inclinators’ to take them up to their front door, as the steps were incredibly steep – they looked like stair lifts, but outside, and if any buildings have more than three storeys, they have to install an elevator, so the houses were mostly low build. We crossed over another bridge – called Spur Bridge – that marked the entry to Middle Harbour, before making our way round to Manley,built on a spur at the mouth of the harbour, (so named because Arthur Phillip thought the local people stood tall and proud – manly!). The esplanade was lined with Norfolk Island pines (Norfolk Island was where the convicts who reoffended once here, were sent, for years of hard labour, about 1,000 kms off the coast) before meeting a large sweeping bay of sand. We stopped here for coffee, and I had some delicious home-made banana bread with strawberry jam (my tastes are definitely changing) while Colin had a soft and crumbly muffin. We sat in the sun and watched as groups of school children were having surfing lessons. The waves were large white foaming rollers crashing in to the beach, and even the more practiced surfers were having difficulty keeping on their boards. But it looked great fun.

On the way back into Sydney we passed through even more satellite settlements, all very pleasant, and had a photo stop at Arabanoo Point, named after an Aborigine whose origins were in Indonesia. Arthur Philip captured Arabanoo when he first landed in 1788 and used him for communication with other indigenous peoples. Unfortunately the white people brought sickness with them, and Arabanoo contracted smallpox in 1789 and died – the local peoples had no immunity to white man’s diseases. Arthur Philip named this point, looking out beyond Manley towards the Tasman Sea, after the man who had helped him with communication so much in the early days.

Every year Sydney undertakes a census, which has found that people over the last ten years have increased their average working week to 46 hours. Our driver told us he married ten years ago and wanted to buy a property in Bondi which would have cost about A$250,000 but which he and his wife could not afford, so they brought a new house about 40 kms from the city centre, costing A$160,000, and he commutes each day. The suburb has shops, cinema, schools, etc, and the residential area consists of one main road, with lots of cul-de-sacs off, each containing about 16 houses (a bit like the close I used to live in). His property is now worth about A$350,000 while a similar Bondi property would fetch almost A$1 million. As in London many of the young people cannot afford to buy a property, so they are moving out to Brisbane in Queensland to find work and accommodation.

We arrived back at Kings Wharf in plenty of time to catch a Magistic boat which would cruise the harbour while we ate lunch – another buffet, of course, but with lots of prawns, oysters and salads. There were hot selections but not so appetizing to me. We sat next to a group of three ladies who were out from work celebrating their annual Christmas lunch. Whilst chatting, it transpired that one of the ladies was born in Bromley and still had a sister living in Sidcup (just a stone’s throw away from us). One lady had been here since 1970, but the other two had followed their children from England and settled happily into Australian life.

After lunch it was back on the coach again to tour the southern side of Sydney. We were surprised to hear that from 2012 Sydney will no longer be a working harbour, and saw that many of the old warehouses and trading centres are being converted in apartments – which will be ultra expensive, of course. One of these warehouses, already converted, jutted out into the sound, and apparently Russell Crowe lives in the penthouse for which he paid A$13.75 million.

As we drove out of town, we passed through Kings Cross (near our hotel) where many hotels have closed to make way for studio apartments serving the backpackers. We saw the entrance to Rushcutters Tunnel, taking a new route south out of town – we didn’t use it but a few cars did. This was built by private enterprise following Government statistics about the expected amount of traffic that would use it and the projected money raised in tolls. Unfortunately, the toll charges were quite high, around A$12 per journey, and so only about one fifth of the expected numbers used it – causing a major loss to the company. The Government decreed a reduction in the charges to A$5 and he company are now suing the Government for A$100 million!

We dropped down into Edgecliff, which has Knox Street, Australia’s equivalent to Rodeo Drive in America, hosts the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, and is home to Nicole Kidman – right on the beach. The most expensive home in this area was recently bought for A$28 million – of course it had views al round the sound. The next bay along was Rose Bay, which is the largest bay within the harbour. Seaplanes used to land here after crossing from England - 12 days and 30 stops. At many of the small coves houses have been built right into the cliff face, and all materials have to be craned over other houses, if any alterations or extensions are made – which makes it very costly. We saw many Federation houses – built in the early 1900’s for miners and service industry employees. Balconies were decorated with lots of wrought ironwork, and had lots of chimneys on the many apexes of the roofs. Today, these are all being snapped up by developers, refurbished and sold for a fortune. We noticed that petrol prices were higher than those we had seen this morning - A$1.07 to A$1.23 per litre – the driver explained that historically pay days were on a Thursday, so on Wednesday afternoons the petrol prices were put up and they would go down again on Saturday, or maybe not until Monday!

We crested a hill and took a twisty road down into Bondi Beach – I had always thought this would be a wide sweeping arc of sand, with white rolling waves full of people surfing in the sun. Well nearly – it’s a small sweeping bay, with rocks either end where the waves crash and send up huge plumes of spray. The waves in the bay are massive – real curls crashing on the beach, like you see in pictures. The wind was blowing so hard it was lifting the sand from the beach and blowing in along the esplanade. It stung any exposed parts of your body, and it was very hard to walk against. The temperature was also much cooler – when we got on the coach this afternoon, it had been another scorching afternoon, but now it was positively cool – we heard later on the weather forecast that the temperature had dropped ten degrees in as many minutes – apparently not a rare occurrence out here. But there were a few hardy surfers (you would need to be very experienced on a day like today), and some people just playing in the waves. I had a quick paddle – and got soaked – the waves catch each other up and become strong and deep as they approach at a fast speed across the sand – I hadn’t calculated right, and splash – my shorts were dripping! We spent the rest our half hour stopping time snapping the waves at either end of the beach – trying to catch the spray on film, and trying to escape the wind. On a calm day, I can understand that this would be a very busy seaside resort, with all the usual souvenir shops and cafes, a bit like Broadstairs in the sun.

On the way back to Kings Cross we passed through Paddington (an area that was once home to military officers), and Woolwich. The coach dropped us off at the top of Victoria Road, and we made our way back to the hotel to repack once more for our journey to Melbourne tomorrow. We had dinner at Chelsea’s again, just chicken Caesar and chicken stir fry, as we were still full from the buffet at lunch. The restaurant was full, with all the twinkly candlelabras lit as well as tea lights on the tables. The atmosphere was very relaxing and prices so cheap – starters A$5 and mains A$9, desserts A$3 – less than 10 GBP for three courses, beautifully presented and tasting wonderful.

As we have an early morning start tomorrow, we had an earlyish night. We have really enjoyed our short time in Sydney and would love to come back to explore more of the museums and places of interest, take some the walks John talks so loving about around the coves and just discover more of the city itself. This city has a real laid-back feel, no one rushes, and although there are traffic jams in the “rush hour” (I am sure they don’t last as long as an hour), there is a feeling of space, its easy to get around and you feel ‘safe’. The people are so friendly and helpful, and always singing the praises of their city. I was amazed at the numbers of back-packers here, thousands of people just stopping by on their way around the country or the world – to pick fruit, work for a few months in the city and move on, or just see more of the world – but I can understand why people come for a visit to Australia and stay forever.