Harboured in Sydney

Hi everybody! We hope everyone is well at home, and staying warm! We have been keeping busy and have taken a vacation from the blog. So we are doing a bit of catch up. We arrived at the beautiful city of Sydney a couple of weeks ago, and have had a fantastic time exploring this wonderful place.  It feels weird that fall has not come and it is spring here in the mountains and feels like summer in the city, although we are definitely not complaining.

We arrived in the city after a 12 hour bus ride, and were relieved to find a comprehensive and easy-to-navigate train system here to take us to our hostel.  Getting to pretty much anywhere in the city by train definitely made us wish for more efficient public transit back home.  We found that despite a sprawling city similar to Toronto, it was quick to get to the harbour where many of the sights are.  Sydney has a beautiful natural harbour and it is designed to be a recreational and usable space for both locals and tourists.  It made us think how our waterfronts back home could be improved to make it an even better place to enjoy.

    

We also took in some of the free museums and art galleries in the city.  We were glad to find that similar to the Brisbane museums, they portrayed Australia’s colonial history and its effects on the aborigine people in an honest fashion. We also found some some optimistic messages and signs of resiliency and unity among Aborigine communities.  In one of the most poignant exhibits, we heard about children who were taken away from their families to work on farms and to go to residential schools.  They were so lonely and sought comfort by collecting rocks and wrapping them in blankets to hug at night.  Through coming together to share stories, offer support, and create something positive to acknowledge their shared experiences the work displayed was very precious. People of many generations affected made dolls that looked like themselves or loved ones.  It was beautiful to see dolls that represent the Aborigine people. Again this made us think of the similarities in the Australian aborigine’s experience to First Nations people in Canada, and made us feel hopeful that healing and positive change through sharing of traditional knowledge and mutual support back home is occurring too and will continue.

We also found a beautiful city botanical garden, which seems to be the standard in the metropolitan centres of Australia.  We were surprised to find eels swimming in the pond instead of the typical koi fish. Just a ferry ride away was also the city beaches where we took in some sunshine.  Luckily we caught a show of the musical, South Pacific, at the Sydney Opera House, and was treated to a great show (the Arkansas accent of the Australian actress was quite an interesting experience as well).

After a 2 hour train ride, we also visited the Blue Mountains near the city.  It was difficult to find the mountains when we arrived though, as the area is actually a large canyon carved out by water flow.  We scratched our heads thinking why this place looked so familiar, until we realized this looked like a bigger and prettier version of the Niagara escarpment.  Some of the walks, though, were quite a treat.  Trails carved into the side of the cliff, 75 degree inclines with stone steps, and giant waterfalls were just some of the wonderful scenery we saw.  The wildlife there wasn’t too bad, either.

Wentworth Falls   The Three Sisters   Cockatoos, Crimson Rosellas & Galahs

Seeing such beautiful landscape made us wonder what Hamilton might have looked like before urban development. But we were still grateful for the nostalgic feel of the cliffs. After a few days rest we headed to Adelaide to visit a friend, and continued our search for wild (and alive) kangaroos.  We hope everyone is well at home, and thanks again for your comments.  Until next time!