Year 2 –19 January 2024 -Sydney – Exploring Sydney
The weather was a bit better when we woke although it was still gusting 20 + kts. We had breakfast and headed ashore as we were determined to see some of Sydney. We caught the ferry from Rose Bay to Circular Quay which is right bang in the middle of town.
This is a busy place with multiple ferries coming and going and spreading out like a cobweb to different areas and districts of Sydney. We found the tourist office which is in an old stone building called the Customs House built in 1844. We needed to work out what to do and a good bookshop to get some guidebooks.
We went sent to Dimmocks a large bookshop about half a mile away and this got us walking through the city. There are a lot of tower blocks and offices and yet every now and then there is an old stone building or block. Once of them looked very similar to Harrods. It was a Sunday and yet still quite busy with people shopping and going about their daily lives. The shops were all open and like many cities there were a lot of constructions sites in operation even on a Sunday.
We found Dimmocks which reminded me of Foyles and Trevor got a guide on Sydney and I got an East coast guide of Australia. We had noticed the Sydney Tower nearby and decided to find it and see if we could go up. We found the entrance which went through a shopping centre and bought tickets. This tower is 305m (1,000ft) in height and cost £26m to build. We went up by lift and there we were at 250m above the streets looking out at a magnificent 360-degree view of Sydney and its surroundings. It felt a bit odd looking down. We could see Botany Bay and the airport and for miles and the picture of the day is one of the views overlooking the city. We enjoyed this spectacle but the Opera House was hidden a bit by the Skyscrapers.
Once down we headed over to Darling Harbour which has various attractions and pleasure boats but also the Maritime Museum which we decided to visit. It had an Oberon Class New Zealand Navy Submarine built in the UK called HMS Onslow which was commissioned in 1968 and last dived in 1999 when it was decommissioned and came to the Museum. It was interesting to go inside and see how cramped it was. It had 6 torpedo tubes at the front and two at the rear.
We also went aboard HMS Vampire. This was a Daring class and was one of the largest destroyers built in Australia. They were strong, light construction and combined high speed with maximum armament.
Vampire served in the Royal Australian Navy from 1959 to 1986. Its arsenal included:
3 twin turrets housing 6 x 4.5-inch guns (still in place) capable of about 19km range.
2 single-gun and 2 twin-gun Bofors anti-aircraft guns (still in place)
5 anti-ship torpedo launchers (removed in 1970)
surface to subsurface anti-submarine mortar (removed in 1980)
Despite its firepower, Vampire had a peaceful career, even while escorting troops to Vietnam in the 1960s. In 1977, Vampire had a brush with royalty as the RAN escort for HMY Britannia during the Queen's Silver Jubilee tour of Australia. In 1980, it was refitted as a RAN training ship.
In addition to this there were a arrange of other boats including a replica of Endeavour -Captain James Cook’s boat whose passage across the Pacific Stormbird has been tracing. There was also the James Craig a restored 19 century 3 masted barque. It was launched in England in 1874 and had a working life of about 50 years taking cargoes around the world. She has rounded Cape Horn 23 times. She was rescued and restored and now sails regularly and was quite a sight.
We moved inside to see the internal museum and there were some good exhibitions including James Cameron’s Ocean Discovery which have details of some of his ocean explorations including the Titanic.
Once we had enough we walked back toward the Harbour Bridge having a drink on the way and then found the office where you can book Bridge Walks which we intend to do tomorrow. We then caught the ferry back to Rose Bay and had a meal at the little Italian which was good.
We returned to Stormbird and watched another film. It had been good to get off and walk and we had seen a good bit of the city today.
Need/Opportunity Year Two
I am in need of more crew from April to September so if of interest do email me at hine.nick9@gmail.com
In year two I will be going from New Zealand to Sydney and hen up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025.
The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com