back to sydney

Last sunday I went back to Sydney after Uluru. Spent some more time in the city- also had my last meeting and finished up with my 2nd year medical student group.

This time the weather was great. The sky was blue, and it was warm- 75 F. When I was there I went to the Museum of Sydney- which was ok. But a great museum was the Hyde Park Barracks. This was built my Macquarie- he was the 8th gov (i think) in 1810. He decided Sydney should be a regular colony and not just penal colony. He built a large number of building during his years and is considered the father of the sydney/country. Just so you know, Sydney is named after an English lord in 1787 that arranged for the first fleet, commanded by Adm Phillips in 1787-88.

This museum tells the story of the penal colony- how the prisoners were treated, worked, lived. I also saw Cadman's cottage- one of the fist building in Sydney- right on Circular Quay (pronounced key). It was where the harbor master lived and is named for one of them John Cadman.

Interestingly, Circular Quay used to be known as Sydney Cove, and the shoreline has changed over the years- they have markers for that. The cottage above used to be right next to shore- not its about 200 meters back. Lastly, went to royal bontanic gardern- a ton of sulphur crested cockatoos were about, toured other museums, parts of Sydney, went on a ferry ride to the zoo (red male kangaroos are huge!) and ended up watching my last Sunrise in Australia on the 15th before heading to the airport.

One last point: sit on the left side of the airplane so you have a chance to see Aussie from the air as you depart.

I just want to say- one the elective was great- wrote some interesting tox stuff, will get to publish, and worked in med ed. Two Australia rocks and I need to go back!

I hope anyone who reads this had a good time following me around. I took several hundreds to thousand pictures- if you want to see more email me and I will give you a link to where I store them.

day in Syndey and start at university

the entrance to Port jackson aka Sydney harbor (north and south heads)


me at Mrs macquarie's chair

So yesterday spent the day in Sydney- I started by going up via Bus (it was raining) to Manly. the surf was strong- did not see any do not swim due to shark signs, but did see a shark net. On the way took some nice pictures of the harbor. Also got some history from the driver- apparently the Aborigines and English didn't like each other- who would've thought. One point on the northern side of the harbor and Benalon (not sure if spelled correct- this is where the opera house sits) are named for aborigines.

Next went to the aquarium- see below for a picture of a platypus. It might look like some people's relatives. In the afternoon my tour of Sydney continued. Mrs Macquarie's chair/point has a great picture opportunity of both the opera house and bridge combined. Its named for the wife of the 5th governor. She apparently like watching the ships. The chair is just some carved rock. I also went to Bondi and Kings Cross- the coca cola sign is protected landmark. Many things need to go back to- the garderns, hyde park, a couple great museums and the zoo.

Today started work- everyone has been great so far and really nice. Met 2 working groups- air pollution and tox/disaster and finished the day by a great restaurant in Glebe (oysters rocked).

Sydney

So day 2 in sydney had some up/downs- one down: it poured in the am- and my umbrella broke- but that was the worst. Today started Sunday at 9am with a tour of the opera house. apparently, clubs in sydney stay open till 6a that plus rain allowed me to have a personal opera house tour. took some great pictures of the house- both inside and out.

Then explored the Rocks and Macquarie street- the oldest and first settled area of Sydney. It rained a bit, but learned some cool facts about those convicts- Bligh (of bounty fame was here as a governor). Macquarie was a governor in the early 1800s that built alot of the first infrastructure- I got a picture of the barracks, but hope to get more pictures of those old building (they are by the botanic garden) at another time.

After that it was time for Bridge climb- expensive, and was I glad it stopped raining. The wind was bad enough- the worst part is from the pylon to the main arch. the walk up the arch is not that bad. After that ate some great food at a fish place at circular quay- barimundi anyone? And topped it all off by watching the youtube orchestra. And for the 2nd time ever, the opera house had projections on the side as the music played.

Blue Mountains

Day one I spent recovering from jet lag. but did get some pictures of the queen victoria building.

So I attempted to go to the blue mountains- to give everyone stateside an idea its about 60 miles northwest of Sydney. The easiest way to get there is to join a day tour 24 hours in advance. So that is what I did. Only problem with a tour group- no weather guarantee. And guess what- the weather hit bad- it rained almost all day. There was one point in the am, when it seemed to let up and there were some peaks of blue sky, but alas it didn't make a prolonged appearance. So the negative was I went to a temperate rain forest hoping to see some great scenery, but did not get to see it. I did see some nice, mist covered trees. for comparison, there is a link and my pictures.

http://www.explorerworld.info/2011/02/blue-mountains-sydney.html

Also went to Leura, a quaint Blue mountains artsy village and Feathersdale Wildlife preserve (on the way back). That was interesting. The later is a rescue preserve- they take in only australian animals that can no longer survive in the wild.

sydney arrival