Four Bocks in Australia: Sunday, 1/10/10: Ferry hopping, Sydney Harbor

Today we went ferry hopping in Sydney Harbor. On Sundays, you can ride public transportation in Sydney (trains, ferries, busses) all day for just AU$2.50 (a little over US$2.00). What great way to see the city, and probably the best bargain in a city where most things are anything but cheap.

Bill dropped us (i.e. the four Bocks) off at Greenwich, the same place where we took the Cockatoo Island ferry yesterday. In fact, the island you see in the first photo is Cockatoo Island. From Greenwich the ferry headed toward the city center, and we had million-dollar views wherever we looked. The 2nd photo below is of the downtown skyline.

Here is the Harbor Bridge, Sydney’s most famous landmark after the Opera House.

From Circular Quay, the big train and ferry hub in the Central Business District, we took the ferry to Watsons Bay, a beautiful beach suburb about 8 miles from downtown.

Watsons Bay is at the end of the South Head peninsula and boasts a spectacular beach. We didn’t have our bathing stuff with us so we didn’t stay too long, but it would be nice to come back during the week when it’s not so crowded.

The ferry to Watsons Bay (and back again to Circular Quay) goes right by the Opera House. It was fantastic getting an up-close view of what has to be one of the best-known buildings anywhere in the world. I can remember looking at coffee-table books of faraway places when I was young, and the Sydney Opera House has been something I’ve wanted to see ever since then. I felt a bit choked up when I saw I so close today. It really is as beautiful as you think!

The Opera House is located right around the corner from Circular Quay, and after we got back from Watsons Bay, we spent a good hour taking photos of the Opera House. I took a look of architectural abstracts that most people would find boring so I won’t post them here, but those were the images the Opera House “offered” to me, and that’s how I responded. Fellow photographers will understand what I mean.

Instead, here are a couple of cute pictures of Laura (with herself on the display of Heather’s camera), and Laura and Elena hamming it up.

After the Opera House, we strolled through the open-air market at The Rocks, a historic precinct of narrow streets very close to the Harbor Bridge. We saw a lot of kitsch offered for sale, but also some nicer stuff, including bowls and platters from native Australian woods. We also dashed into a few stores and saw stunning opal jewelry and aboriginal art. Would have loved to buy a few pieces but the prices were STEEEEP. One pair of opal earrings that Heather really liked was AU$1,600, and a small (maybe 11x14”) aboriginal painting on rag paper was AU$800. Yikes!

Also stumbled across the gallery of Australian landscape photographer Ken Duncan. Check out his website; his work is impressive and inspiring. Out of the many we saw, this one and this one were my favorites. In hindsight, I wish I’d bought one of this books.

After what seemed like hours of walking, our feet were tired and our throats parched, so we took one last ferry, from Circular Quay to Milsons Point right across the Harbor Bridge, and then the train from Milsons Point to the suburb of Artarmon where Bill picked us up.