Sydney-Auckland-Hawaii

We approached Sydney with some trepidation after our experience in Melbourne.It is the largest and most populous city in Australia with a population of just over 4 million, and the state capital of New South Wales.

Once again it was Friday afternoon (we always seem to arrive in cities on Friday afternoons!!!).The traffic was not too bad considering and we managed to find the hotel with only 2 wrong turns on Sydney's one way streets.After quickly unloading and checking into the hotel, Ant set off to return the rental car on his own, only a mile or so away but with the one way system it was over 4 miles in solid traffic.

The hotel is located right on the edge of Chinatown and just a few minutes walk from Darling Harbour - named after Lieutenant-General Ralph Darling, who was Governor of New South Wales from 1825 to 1831, it is now a leisure and entertainment complex with over 40 restaurants and 30 bars and cafes.It is also where all the cruise ships dock and the location for the ferries and water taxis.

We had just one full day in Sydney we had planned several activities (all outdoors) but once again when we woke the next morning it was raining……. again, so we had to revise our plans.

We walked back to DarlingHarbour and after breakfast on the waterfront, we caught a ferry to Circular Quay to begin exploring.We started off at The Rocks which is where Sydney began - The original buildings were made mostly of local sandstone, which is where the area gets its name. From the earliest history of the settlement, the area had a reputation as a slum, often frequented by visiting sailors and prostitutes. During the late nineteenth century, the area was dominated by a gang known as the Rocks Push.On the ferry over we got our firstview of Sydney Harbour Bridge - an Australian icon since it opened in March 1932.

I know this is going to cause some controversy amongst some of my readers and fellow travellers, but the bridge did not seem as big and spectacular to me as I had expected.May be I had built it up to much in my own mind - maybe it was the dark clouds and rain hanging over the harbour!!I had imagined, from all the pictures and images I have seen, that it would be bigger.

After a walk through the market at The Rocks, we set off to walk over the Bridge.Since October 1998, the BridgeClimb has been operating, however, with prices starting at $198 AUD, Ant and I opted to climb the 200 steps of Pylon Lookout at just $9.50 AUD!! - the views are just as good and with the wind and the rain that day, a better option in my opinion!!!!

The SydneyHarbourBridge was opened on March 19th 1932 by Premier Jack Lang after six years of construction. Made of steel the bridge contains 6 million hand driven rivets and the surface area that requires painting is equal to about the surface area of 60 sports fields.It is the world's largest (but not longest) steel arch bridge.Its total length including approach spans is 1149 metres and its arch span is 503 metres. The top of the arch is 134 metres above sea level and the clearance for shipping under the deck is 49 metres. The total steelwork weighs 52,800 tonnes, including 39,000 tonnes in the arch. The Pylon Lookout stands at 87 metres above sea level and not only gave us great views of the city (through the cloud and the rain!) but also of those people mad enough to attempt the BridgeClimb.It also contained a series of exhibits and a short film about the building of the bridge.

Back on dry (!) land, we had dinner at a Spanish restaurant next door to our hotel that did a pretty good paella, before meeting some of the girls we had met on KangarooIsland for a farewell drink.

The next morning we left Sydney in the rain for a 2 night stopover in Auckland before travelling on to our next destination - Hawaii.2 days later we also left Auckland on the rain!!!Unfortunately, our flight to Hawaii was delayed and we arrived at our hotel in Honolulu very late on Monday night (having left Auckland on Tuesday morning!!!) - more about that in the next instalment.