Aquarium with Carrie, Daniel and Linnhe
On Monday, Carrie and her kids and I went to the Sydney Aquarium, located in Darling Harbour. The first pic is one that I took on an earlier trip to Darling Harbour at dusk.
We entered through the big shark teeth, "look at the big teeth mummy"
Can we really touch this?
The aquarium is very child friendly, and has amazing underwater viewing tanks for the seals and one for the sharks.
This is a mother shark with a baby swimming along underneath her.
We got to touch the star fish, too!
Terry with Daniel and Linnhe
Daniel looks like the center of attention! No, we did not throw him in, he is up against the glass of one of the wall size viewing tanks.
To Maroubra
One of our first walking trips here in Sydney was the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk, which we enjoyed very much. However, by the time we got to Coogee, we didn't have energy to explore Coogee. So this past Sat. We decided to take the bus to Coogee beach and spend the afternoon looking around and enjoy the beach. It had been raining of and on in the morning, but it looked like it was clearing up. When we got to Coogee, we were fascinated with the rock and cliffs on the south end. So we decided to explore.
Looking south, see the rocks!!!
On the trail to the rocks, looking back toward the north of the beach.
Terry out on one of the rocks close to the water.
Tom standing on the edge! The water was so beautiful!!
It took us three tries to get us both with the time delay on the camera!! I wasn't as quick jumping down the rocks to join Tom, so he then tried it. He was much quicker!
One of the expansive rock "beaches" along the trail. By the time we got to this point, we realized that we were fairly far along and that the trail would end up in Maroubra. So we decided to press on. Some parts of the trail looped up through a neighborhood.
Look closely, between the two center houses is a set of steps leading down to the rocks. Wouldn't it be fun to live in one of those houses? We almost didn't see the path, as from the front it looked like a private way, but there was a small post with an arrow and the coastal walk symbol which we finally noticed.
Cloud reflection in a tidal pool.
Ocean swimming pool on the north end of Maroubra Beach.
Maroubra Beach in the distance. Just as we got to the place where we could see the beach, it started to sprinkle. The wind was blowing and the sun was also shining. Very amazing sight. As we got closer to the beach, we saw a spectacular rainbow, which lengthened as the clouds changed the amount of sunshine.
The rain actually stopped and we did get to walk in the water and read on the beach. We were there about an hour, then more sprinkles. So we went across the street to a little Thai place for dinner.
Sunset
Wanderings
These are some pictures from a couple of different short walks around the area.
The first two of the buildings are row houses in our neighborhood near the university. I thought that they were very cool.
On Monday evening, we took a bus out to the Balmain area of town, it is one of many peninsulas and also has a ferry wharf. There is a long, narrow park along the eastern side facing Darling Harbor. We found an interesting, large anchor.
Tom, with the Anzac Bridge in the background.
Terry with the buildings and docks on the outermost parts of Darling Harbor.
A week ago, on a Sunday afternoon, we bussed out to the Botanical Gardens to enjoy the water, foliage and read under the trees.
Pyramid shaped green house, unique...also the theme is unique if you can read the green foliage edging at the bottom.
Fruit bats up in the trees, we did not sit under this tree. We chose one that had very noisy cockatoos, that were flying and squawking. Flying to fast for pictures!
Castle buildings at one of the entrances.
Another view of the Sydney Opera House, with the bridge in background.
Spit Bridge to Manley
On Sat. Mar. 18 we decided to take the highly recommended hike from Spit Bridge to Manley. Of course we could have gone Manley to Spit, but were told that most of the arduous part was near Spit so better to start there. We were so glad for the tip. Some of the walk/hike aka in Australia "bushwalking" was along the waterfront, but most was through the bush. Beautiful, lots of streams and tropical foliage. This first picture is the Spit Bridge.
Tom standing along side of the map. Fortunately, it was color coded for difficulty. The walk took about four hours(about 11 kilometers). Good thing that we found an ice cream truck about half way, conveniently park close to the trail. It was bright pink, so hard to miss.
The map indicated a refreshment stand near the Grotto Point Lighthouse, we only found a lizard who was alarmingly friendly. He boldly demanded lunch. I shared... no questions. (There was no sign of there ever being a refreshment stand)
From different vantage points along the walk, there were many great views of sailing boats, hang gliders, steamers and ferrys.
This is the Manly Ferry terminal with the ferry coming to port. That was our goal.
The North Head on the left and the South Head on the right ( where we earlier walked out to the Hornby Lighthouse on our Watson's Bay walk)
Area near to the Manly, one of the pools built along side the ocean/bay.
Terry with the Manley port in back ground. We actually made it.
As usual, we took the ferry back to the city, Circular Quay.
Taronga Zoo
Taronga Zoo is north across the harbour, north and a little east of Sydney, in the town of Mossman. To get there, we took the ferry from Circular Quay. We went with Tom's cousin Aqua (on the Kolodinski side from Lithuania). She lives in one of the towns just outside Sydney and works at the hospital. We have enjoyed getting to know her and seeing some of the sights with her. The day started out overcast but brightened up as it went along.
On the ferry going out past the Sydney Opera House, Aqua and Tom.
The Zoo is on the side of a hill and the ferry arrives at the bottom, so we took the "Sky Safari" cable car ride up to the main entrance. Great view of the city and the harbor.
Tom and Terry on the ride up the hill to the Zoo entrance.
Tom and Aqua on the trail.
We were able to catch the seal show, cleverly trained animals!
We also saw an amazing free flight bird show with several different owls, eagles and numerous other birds that flew over people's heads. After the show, Aqua went down to get a closer look and have her photo taken with one of the birds. Great backdrop, eh?
Tom and Terry at the photo op rock.
Of course the monkeys put on a good show, they were very entertaining.
I hope the giraffes appreciate the great view they have!
Tom and Aqua on the trail back to the beginning.
Back at the bottom at closing time, the place closed at 5pm!! So early any way, this is the ferry terminal. And we had a pleasant ride back to the Circular Quay.
