Sydney – Travels with Ali

Exploring Sydney’s Queen Victoria Building: Staircases, Windows and Clocks

Just last month we were in Sydney visiting friends and relatives. We had a day out in the city and visited the iconic Queen Victoria Building. It was a win-win for both of us, shops for Anthony and amazing photo opportunities for me. The architecture is stunning and the stained glass windows beautiful. There are many cafes and patisseries to have coffee or lunch, all with excellent service and delicious menus.

The QVB opened in 1898, and was designed by George McRae, it replaced the original Sydney Markets and was named to honour the monarch’s Diamond Jubilee. Its architecture is Romanesque and once housed a concert hall and warehouses. In the 1930s it was remodelled using Art Deco style. In the 60s it faced near demolition but was rescued in time and put back to her former glory.

It’s feels like stepping back in time for a few hours, and it makes a change from the modern malls that are now common place.

The Great Australian Clock

The Great Australian Clock, designed and made by Chris Cook, weighs four tonnes and stands ten metres tall. It features 33 scenes from Australian history. Below are just a few of the ones that I managed to take good shots at.

The scenes depict actual events and are quite distressing. They are quite thought provoking and some of the issues are still being addressed. The Aboriginal hunter above circles the exterior of the clock continuously.

“The hours of folly are measured by the clock; but of wisdom, no clock can measure.” William Blake

The Royal Clock by Neil Glasser

Unfortunately I missed the scenes from English history from the above clock. The clock activates on the hour from 9 am until 9 pm. Each performance begins with the music of the trumpet, and each scene is viewed one at a time. An excuse to revisit next time I am in Sydney.

Looking up at the glassed turrets

The beautiful stained glass arched windows overlooking the street below.

Sydney’s oldest steel spiral staircase, which is 119 years old.

After lunch we took the new Sydney Metro which wasn’t around the last time we were here. It runs through the city centre and to other regions of Sydney. We found it extremely easy to use and so convenient.

Just a few more shots of Sydney City Centre that I found on our walk back to Circular Quay.

I loved the two paintings of Sydney scenes above. They are some of the paintings that have been put on the side of hoarding boards, surrounding another skyscraper about to be built.

The Tank Stream Fountain above shows Australian plants and animals, including frogs, snakes, goannas, echidnas, crabs, birds and tortoises. I spent a while looking and walking around these sculptures as Anthony walked further and further away!

Just a quick glimpse into some of the things Sydney has to offer, amongst an abundance of other delights.

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Sydney, still glorious

After our visit to Melbourne was over, we flew into Sydney for three nights. This was to catch up with relatives and friends that we hadn’t seen for a few years.

We stayed in the Oaks, Goldsbrough Apartments in Darling Harbour. Very well located and within walking distance to the CBD, Darling Harbour and the new Barangaroo wharves.

One of the things we noticed about Sydney after Melbourne was the contact tracing. Everywhere was so much more vigilant than Melbourne, with people outside making sure you checked in or restaurant and bar staff asking before they served you.

Goldsbrough Apartment Complex

It was originally designed as a wool store by William Pritchard in 1883. This building caught fire in 1935 and burned for two weeks, but was rebuilt by Stuart Brothers the original builders. In 1995 the building was converted to apartments. The outside was kept to the original Victorian outlook but the inside is to my mind, something like a prison! Fairly well appointed as a one bed apartment with spectacular views over the city. We were on the 11th floor.

Looking down to the ground floor apartments

My dear husband commented “I wonder when lights out are”

Over the next three days we met up with friends and relatives and also did – for me anyway – large amounts of walking. Compensating for the large amounts of eating and drinking we were also doing.

Our walk from the apartment to Waterfront Park, Pyrmont took around 20 minutes.

Looking over at the new Crown Tower in Barangaroo

Enormous rusted steel spheres, saved from the former CSL Sugar Mill, located on the former site.

The Glittering Lights of Sydney

Walking around Sydney

Crossing over on Sydney Harbour Bridge on the train

Barangaroo harbour and wharves was only in the early stages when we were in Sydney last, now it’s completed and another feather in Sydney’s cap. Sadly the rooftop bar in the Crown Casino is only open from Thursday to Sunday. We found this was the case with many of the restaurants. Also we saw many bars, cafes and restaurants that had closed for good. The places that were open had the minimum of staff, so the wait was long for the food.

Empty boats on the wharves awaiting tourists

I really enjoyed staying in the Pyrmont/Darling Harbour area with the waterfront restaurants and cafes so close by. The harbour front was buzzing and lively during the day and night. I hope business picks up soon for the businesses here.

And then it was back to Perth where we thought we had escaped quarantine, but unfortunately not. I think this will be the last of our interstate trips until they have stopped closing the borders.

After four days of no long walks, the boys had had enough and I came down to this in the morning.

Perth to Brisbane Road Trip – Part Five – Sydney

Day 13 to 16 – Sydney

After leaving Canberra we arrived in Sydney around 5pm. It’s not our first time in Sydney so we’ve done most of the tourist things Sydney has to offer. This time our visit was mainly to visit relatives and friends. Anthony decided he wanted to stay in Chatswood because it has a great shopping centre! We stayed in the wonderful Meriton Suites and had an apartment on the 26th floor with fantastic views. They also have their own carpark conveniently located in the basement. When you walk around Chatswood you can see why it’s called little Hong Kong, which was also why Anthony chose this place having lived most of his life in Hong Kong.

Views from the apartment

I’ve been having fun editing all my photos using Ribbet.com. It’s amazing the difference the editing has made. I thought I would add some frames too, it was too tempting not to. The photos above were taken with my Canon Powershot SX730.

Day 2 in Sydney

The apartment was very near the train and bus station around five minutes walk, and if there’s one thing Anthony likes as much as shopping it’s public transport. So after purchasing our Opal tickets – you need these to travel on public transport – we found the right bus stop to make our way to meet Anthony’s nephews in Crow’s Nest.

Two gorgeous boys – the one on the right is the lead singer with the upcoming band Johnny Hunter

Then it was back to the apartment on the train this time. Hubby a very happy boy using all this public transport.

Later we met my wonderful friend and her hubby in Manly, a favourite place of mine.

We drove to Manly but it’s very easy to reach by ferry from Sydney Harbour. Manly has a laid back holiday feel to it with a great beach. There are many restaurants, bars and cafes lining the Corso. The night we were there people were still swimming at 9pm and many were picnicking on the grass verge by the sea.

Day 3 in Sydney

After breakfast on the balcony again we headed over to Gordon to meet up with Anthony’s aunt and cousin for lunch. Time was soon marching on and we still hadn’t been to the city yet, so we hopped on the train to Wynyard which took us over the bridge and then walked down to The Rocks. We found a great bar in the cruise terminal overlooking the harbour where we had a few cocktails and thought about where to go for dinner.