Sailing a Tall Ship

To take in the full Sydney experience, we booked ourselves onto the wooden sailing ship Soren Larsen. She was built in 1949 as one the last cargo carrying wooden ships Soren Larsen & Sons in Denmark. She was chosen to be the flagship for the First fleet re-enactment for Australia Day in 1988 (200th anniversary).

Lounging about the Eastwood Market

We took another turn about the local market area to buy a couple things and exercise little Fox. No visit to a place filled with asian food would be complete without a vide of duck and chickens hanging in the window.

Fox

Its been a while since I brought you photos of one of little charges, so I thought it time to introduce you to Fox the little doggie we are caring for while in Sydney.

Blue Mountains

Sydney has a wonderful light rail system and great regional connections. We took advantage of this to ride out to Katoomba to see the Blue Mountains.

Eastwood Market

A short shopping trip closer to home took us past a few places here in Eastwood that were interesting. Above is the local fish market filled with fresh fish. I know they were (mostly) fresh since the smell was much less than I expected.

A Night at the Opera

We splurged and bought some good seats to see The Merry Widow at the Sydney Opera House. It just so happens that our visit coincided with Elizabeth's birthday. Imagine that happening!

Hop-on Hop-off Tour of Sydney

On a warm summer's day, we took the train to the Circular Quay and bought ourselves tickets for the Hop-on Hop-off bus tour. There are two routes visiting different parts of the city. By changing buses a couple times, we rode the entire route and simply watched the city scroll past us.

Queen Victoria Building

Our latest trip into the city took us the the Art Gallery of New South Wales to see a traveling exhibition from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Lots of really great paintings on display. I must say it was way better than the MONA in Hobart. That was just weird.

Afterwards, we headed to the Queen Victoria Building. On the way we passed the Unknown Street Performer.

St. Mary's Catholic Church

After leaving the shopping district, we headed down toward St. Mary's Catholic Church. Along the way we passed the old mint building. This is the oldest public building in Sydney. Clearly, it is no the mint today but you can tell it is old from the wooden shingle roof.

Shopping

Our trip into the city took us again to the Central Train Station. The main hallway above seems to be the main exit to the street. Perhaps this used to be the waiting room in days of steam trains.

Haymarket and Chinatown

Not far from the Central Train station is the Haymarket market. This large covered market is a combination of produce, T-shirt, and junk sellers and a multi-story mall. Very interesting.

Sydney

Once back in New South Wales and settled into our house sit in the Sydney suburb of Eastwood, we bought a couple train passes and headed into the city.

Not far from the Central Quay train station is the famous opera house and the cruise ship port. up the hill a bit from the water is George Street and the oldest pub in Sydney, the Fortune of War.

Goodby to Ms. Poppins

P.L. Travers lived as a child in Allora, QLD, not far from Toowoomba. Hence, when we bought our ute, we named here "Ms. Poppins". Today we said goodby. A very nice fellow bought it and we are one step closer to being untethered from Australia.

She's been a great companion on our travels across this vast country. We wish her well.

Sydney

We arrived in Sydney yesterday after our short trip to Cairns and Port Douglas in far northern Queensland. This is our last house sit in Australia (on this trip). When we finish here, we are headed for Seattle!

I'm still working on the last of the photos from Tasmania and our northern excursion. According to the schedule of queued posts, these will appear in early March. So, all you followers out there, be patient, the story will unfold in the order in which it happened.

Just for our northern hemisphere friends, it is bloody hot here. Yesterday was the hottest day in Sydney in 80 years. Parts of the western suburbs hit the upper 40's C. Y'all would probably be happy to hit the lower 40's F in most of America. The fun part is the apartment we are sitting contains a great Pomeranian and no air conditioning. Today we bought a couple fans to make things a little more bearable. So far, so good.

Stay tuned as the story of our travels continues to unfold.

Broken Hill's Night Sky

No visit to the outback would be complete without a trip out of town at night to see the sky. We drove maybe three minutes out of Broken Hill (north, toward the Living Desert State Park for those of you with a map in your hand). In about 40 minutes, here's what I got.

The Palace Hotel

Our visit to the Palace Hotel in Broken Hill was like stepping back in time to a movie set. The walls all painted with landscapes and the definite gay overtone.

The Living Desert State Park

We've now made two trips to the Living Desert State Park. This is just outside Broken Hill and easy to get to. In fact, you can see Broken Hill from the top
of the hill in the park. The first time we went it was about to rain.

Railway Mineral and Train Museum

A visit to the Railway Mineral and Train Museum reveals lots of interest to see. There was several nicely maintained trains from the history of the area and wide range of other items.

Silverton and the Outback

Another day of cool weather and we headed back toward Silverton. A few kilometers on the other side of town are the Mundi Mundi plains. This is the outback for real. Here is one of the original sheep stations in this part of Australia. And the history continues.

Silverton

About 25 km outside of Broken Hill is the original mining town of Silverton. The town was built here and when they figured out that the main lode was at the site o Broken Hill, they literally moved the town. With camels and the train, the buildings were moved to Broken Hill. There is not much left.