North Sydney

Sunday morning - the sun is burning down. After breakfast with great goods from the bakery nearby, we took the train to The Rocks, a living history museum with historic pubs, hotels and galleries. It was the former harbour district with well preserved old buildings. On Sunday, a market took place under the  Sydney Harbour Bridge - vendors selling artwork, fashion, jewelry, and food.

Below, The Rocks Market, a Bavarian restaurant (!) and a Didgeridoo shop:

The Rocks - the former harbour district with many historic homes of seamen, captains and workers (above).

Since a new, even larger cruise ship (the Celebrity Edge) - see below, in the background behind the ferry - had arrived in the morning, the whole area was packed with tourists, mostly Americans.

Around noon we took the ferry to Taronga  Zoo (around 15 min) from Circular Quai - beautiful views already from the boat (below). We caught a bus from the boat landing to Balmoral, where we were meeting with friends who showed us around for the afternoon. Beautiful beach (where they go swimming every day - what a privilege!) and a historic boathouse (where Obama visited, too).

By car (a sporty Mercedes!) we got to see all the different „Heads“ - Middle Head, North Head (with the Sydney Harbour National Park), South Head and Manly (with another long popular beach) - and, enjoyed great views towards the Pacific Ocean and the skyline of Sydney. We walked different short trails in the National Park, passing  former military installation (now transformed into business space) and admired huge Eucalyptus trees.

Sydney downtown in the background (above)

Eucalyptus forrest

The bays and heads,,,and beaches,,,

Balmoral Beach from the old Boathouse (above)

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More beaches above ,,,

,,, and a view from Taragon Zoo Ferry Landing

It became cloudy in the afternoon and views became a little blurred. Nevertheless, we had a wonderful tour with our friends and got to know a completely different part of Sydney. The day ended with a casual dinner and great conversation (at the same time, a lesson in „Australian English“) in Glebe. 

I'll try to catch up with my report tonight, we had internet problems in the first hotel outside Sydney. In the meantime, I am trying to get used to a car and traffic where everything is the other way around,,, screwed up,,,