We spent last weekend in Sydney. On Saturday, John took the girls into the city and they went to Sydney Wildlife World. They saw lots of animals, like spiders, ants, lizards, koalas, kangaroos and wallabies. They had lots of fun. (this portion courtesy of Natalie). Afterwards, they went to their favourite place in Sydney - Dymock's bookstore on George Street. John's sister and myself, however, took ourselves out to Manley and up past the northern beaches to Palm Beach. At Manley, on the North Head, we got out and had a look across the mouth of the harbour to the South Head. The entrance to Sydney Harbour is not very wide, you can see why Captain Cook thought is was a great harb our, because there are spectacular cliffs at the entrance to the harbour, and once you are in, it is very big.
Palm Beach is just beautiful - I felt like if someone just dropped me there I would be happy for the rest of my days! It was a cool, windy day, so the surf and waves were awesome to look at, and I'm still amazed at the amount of waterfront in Sydney and area - there are little inlets and marinas all over the place, and because it is so hilly, there is a view from many places.
We met John and the girls downtown, and drove over to the Sydney Cricket Groud where we took in an AFL (Australian Football League) game, in celebration of John's big birthday! The Sydney Swans played St. Kilda, and we had seats on the first deck, right behind the goal posts. During warm-up, there was a large net keeping most of the balls within the field, but many were kicked beyond the net and sailed up into the stands - so we really had to watch ourselves. We had a good laugh just before the game started, when these nets were removed; we were picturing balls flying at us from everywhere, but of course, there is only one ball in play (not dozens like in warm-up) and depending on the teams, not many balls may get even near the goal posts. It was a good game, we had to bundle up to keep warm (this is winter after all), and the Swans beat St. Kilda's 102-67.
We took a detour on our way home past the Sea Cliff Bridge just north of Wollongong. We've done this drive before, from south to north (going to Sydney), but it was far better in the opposite direction, and with the weather, the coastal drive was spectacular.
Most beaches in the Sydney area have a man-made rock pool at one end of the beach, and it's just a concrete swimming pool at the edge of the beach, and it fills with sea water. Inside the Sydney Harbour itself, there are a few. Here is one at Stanwell:
The Sea Cliff Bridge was built in 2005 and replaced a road that simply wound around the cliff, but was in the habit of crumbling away in spots, and was subject to rock falls from above. In August 2003, a large 'embankment slip' caused complete road closure. The road remained closed for 2 1/2 years to avoid more rock falls and slippage and while the new bridge was being built. The Sea Cliff Bridge is built out from the cliff face away from the risks of rock falls and slippages. The road was reopened in December 2005.
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