Before we left the hotel this morning we planned ahead for rain and borrowed an umbrella from the bell desk. This ensured that we would have gloriously clear weather for our last full day in Sydney while we lugged an enormously useless umbrella around town.
We came back up to the Rocks area because we read that there was a Saturday market. We had hoped for some food and produce vendors, but it was mostly crafts and artwork. Still fun to wander through though.
We also visited the Rocks Discovery Museum which had an exhibit about the convicts who were sentenced to “transportation” in Australia. Most of the crimes listed seem fairly minor, like theft or forgery. But the sentences were harsh and long, from seven to fourteen years and even life sentences in some cases.
The Discovery Museum also had an informative exhibit about the Cadigal people who lived in the Sydney area before the British arrived. Due to overuse of the land and sea resources by the colonists, the Aboriginal people were unable to continue their subsistence way of living. They faced starvation as well as suffering from diseases like smallpox brought by the British. Within a year of the establishment of the penal colony, the local population of Cadigal people was decimated by half. Unfortunately over time much of the first inhabitants’ traditions, customs and language was lost. It’s a tragic part of Australia’s history that they are working to reconcile even today. As we've visited important sites around the country, many of them have had plaques or announcements acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land -- this "Acknowledgement of Country" is a small gesture but an important step in the right direction in terms of respecting the Aboriginal peoples' place in Australian history.
In the afternoon we visited the nearby Australia Museum which had an even larger exhibit hall displaying Aboriginal canoes, tools, and weapons (woohoo boomerangs!), as well as some helpful explanations about the First Australians’ beliefs and culture.
Another very helpful exhibit at the Australia Museum was called "Surviving Australia” about the various deadly creatures here and the many painful ways the country will try to kill you. Just to name a few: there are venomous snakes, deadly box jellyfish, at least a dozen lethal spiders, toxic blue-ringed octopi (...octopuses???), man-eating sharks, and of course the notoriously stealthy saltwater crocodiles. One sign noted that the crocs "only" kill one person per year on average, with about four or five very “close calls”. Crikey!
Directly across from the Australia Museum is St. Mary's Cathedral. It's not the oldest church in Sydney, but it is the largest. We saw it from the bus on our first day in town and thought we'd stop inside to check it out. We weren't able to take any photos inside because there was a Mass just getting started. So instead we headed back out into the sunshine and took some exterior shots of the impressive facade.
We continued our walk to the harborfront by meandering through the Royal Botanic Garden. It was a scenic oasis on a warm day. We found plenty of shade, many beautiful flowering plants, and some creative horticultural displays like this one called "Love Your Nature".
Our final stop on our walk was the Sydney Opera House. We'd seen it several times from the harborfront and from the ferry but today we were able to get a little closer. Actually a lot closer -- close enough to touch the glazed white tiles on the sail-like roof.
Designed by Danish architect Jorn Utzon, construction on the opera house began in 1958 but wasn't completed until 1973. Over those fifteen years, there were numerous design changes, construction delays, cost overruns, and a great deal of politicking by the New South Wales government. Controversially, Utzon was still owed $100,000 in fees when he left the project in 1966 -- and he never even returned to Australia to see the completed structure. The government did later reconcile with him and acknowledge his crucial role in creating the world-class design of this instantly recognizable building. It is impossible to imagine the city of Sydney without the pristine white sails of the Opera House.
After a short rest back at the hotel and a late dinner, we headed over to Darling Harbor for the Saturday night fireworks display. I was super impressed with the show, they really went all out and had multiple Pride rainbow-themed barrages (which of course I was too slow to capture with my camera...). But I did get a few decent shots since we had a great viewpoint from the Pyrmont Bridge.
The bayside bars along Cockle Bay Wharf were really lively; Amanda from 20 years ago would've certainly gone down for a pint or two! But 2023 Amanda settled for a peaceful view of the moon illuminating the Sydney skyline and a short walk back to the hotel for an early night in!
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