The Ultimate Journey

Sydney tour

Saturday 23rd May - Sydney Julia: In Sydney and we are staying right on the harbour with a fantastic view and can see all the ferries tooing and froing in the harbour and the bustling life going by. Today, we were met by our guide Les (a keen golfer, which made for More... Saturday 23rd May - Sydney Julia: In Sydney and we are staying right on the harbour with a fantastic view and can see all the ferries tooing and froing in the harbour and the bustling life going by. Today, we were met by our guide Les (a keen golfer, which made for some good chatting!) for a city tour of Sydney. The weather was slightly better today, although the winds were very strong and there were a few showers around. We drove around the harbour area first, looking at many of the houses that were built by the convicts. These houses were very English cottage looking and were mostly made of granite blocks. There are different scored marks on these blocks which at the time would show the employers how many blocks had been cut by each man so none could be seen slacking in their work. We saw many different views of the Sydney bridge and the Opera House. The Opera House has 1,056,006 tiles on the roof and the bridge is basically held up by 4 huge steel pins. We also drove around some more of the exclusive areas that had larger and very costly homes and smart boutique shops where it is good to ‘be seen’ sitting in one of the coffee shops having a coffee. I must say that seeing the wider area of Sydney showed us a different Sydney than we had seen on our previous visit and all in all I was quite impressed this time. It was lovely to hear the history stories of how the convicts arrived here and the type of lives that they lived and that wasn’t an easy life for them. We stopped for a fish and chip picnic down in Rose Bay next to the yacht club which was most enjoyable. After lunch we drove around some more residential areas and then on to Bondi Beach where the waves were huge today. There were many surfers there braving the rough cold waters. It’s not something I would fancy doing with such a huge swell on the ocean. We were due to have a sail around the harbour, but it was far too rough, so we declined that option and instead went to visit our jewellers, Rafael, in The Strand Arcade where we had had my engagement ring designed and made 11 years ago. They had some eternity rings waiting for me there that we had discussed and ordered before our trip so I was quite excited about this visit. We also needed to leave my ring there for them to repair as I had chipped the emerald in it some time ago. Although Jules had been back there to visit a few years ago it was my first return and it hadn’t really changed and it was a nostalgic treat. In the evening we got a baby sitter for Jamilah and went out for a tapas supper with Dave, one of Jules ex business associates. ***** Julian: In the morning and early afternoon we had a driving tour around the main parts of Sydney. Despite having stayed in Sydney three times before, I was amazed at how little I knew of the city. We started by visiting the historical Rocks area, with its excellent views of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House, the observatory at the top of the hill, the many, many old houses and historical buildings. From there we went via the shopping precinct and Macquarrie Street, visited the Botanic Gardens (more views of the Bridge and Opera House - these being visible from so many different locations which is why they are so photographed I think) and Mrs MacQuarrie’s chair, the Eastern suburbs, Watson’s Bay, where we had lunch by the Vaucluse sailing club, South Head (the entrance to the harbour area) and finally round to Bondi Beach. The sea was quite choppy today with a lot of spray by South Head - same hardy souls were sailing, keeled right over in the winds. The winds created a good swell in Bondi Beach leading to some impressive waves - though there were a few expert surfers out there we didn’t get to see any doing anything spectacular, so it was left to a group of surfing students to show us how it is done. We finished the afternoon by a visit to our favourite jewellers, Rafael in the Strand Arcade. The brothers here made Julia’s engagement/wedding ring on our last joint visit to Sydney back in early 1999, and also made a necklace for Julia when I visited a few years back. As we knew we were going to be in Sydney again we have arranged for some eternity rings to go either side of the wedding ring to be produced. We went and saw them and they have done an excellent job - so skilful and artful. It is great to have jewellers that one can go to like Rafael - just such a shame they are on the other side of the world.Back