Monday 13th November

This morning, after breakfast, we caught a bus to Neutral Bay, had a coffee & went on a ferry back to Circular Quay. From there we took another ferry west to Cockatoo Island, a unique part of Sydney's history. It is the largest island in the harbour & has been a convict prison, a sandstone quarry, girls home, a huge naval dockyard for the construction & repair of ships & is now a campsite with holiday accommodation & an open air museum .

It is an amazing place & is truly a 'Must see' place to visit when in Sydney. We hired a couple of audio guides & spent the next 3 plus hours wandering around the site.

The original convict prison, from 1839, on the top of the hill, must have been an appalling place to live in, where they worked in chain gangs on the quarrying of sandstone to build their home & for the construction of some early Sydney buildings. The convicts also excavated & built the first dry dock in Australia. When they were moved to Darlinghurst in 1869 the government moved in girls who were convicted or orphans & another brutal regime lasted until 1871.

In 1911 the first naval ship was built & the shipyard operated until 1991 with 2 dry docks & a slipway. Some of the old buildings were modified & re used as workshops whilst huge sheds were built for other tasks. In a few there are still the giant machines used in ship building & some are being restored. All in all it was a marvellous place to see although there is much still to do.

We returned & had another Thai meal in Cremorne before walking back home exhausted, as it seemed a lot further than we had anticipated.

Tuesday 14th November

Took a bus again to Neutral Bay then a ferry & train to Central Station to try the light rail which was more a train than a tram as it runs mainly on disused rail tracks. Returning by rail to Town Hall we walked to the Great Synagogue but as it was closed, we moved on to the NSW Art Gallery to see an exhibition of Dutch Masters from Amsterdam.

This was magnificent, as we had an audio guides & also an hour long, guided tour of the exhibition. The workmanship was terrific & a wide range of works by various artists including Rembrandt were on display. Although we had seen many similar works in galleries before, this exhibition was quite outstanding.

We walked back to Circular Quay, caught a ferry & a bus, bought some food & returned home to eat it & watch TV.

Wednesday 15th November

After a slow start we took 2 ferries out westwards to Parramatta which took about 80 minutes. After lunch we went on a shopping spree in a huge shopping centre before returning on a couple of trains & the ferry back to Cremorne.

Parramatta was developed early in the 19th century by the colonists as the ground was fertile & easy to cultivate. It has been extensively redeveloped in the last 20 years with tall office blocks & units which have somewhat overwhelmed the few retained, early buildings.

Upon our return we went up to Cremorne & ate at Radio Cairo, an African restaurant with a huge & varied menu. We had a couple of entrees & a salad with great whitebait & skewered lamb, all excellent.

Back home we saw the end of the Australia/Honduras, soccer match & then, across the harbour, watched a short but spectacular firework display, presumably to celebrate Australia's win.

Thursday 16th November

Today, after walking along the footpath along the west side of the Cremorne peninsula above the inlet, we saw a pair of bush turkeys in the bush. The path runs past a small, beautifully situated, salt water pool. We took a bus up to the junction & after a well earned coffee, another bus into Sydney to see the Great Synagogue, at midday.

This was well worth the wait as we were ushered in & shown a video by a former rabbi explaining Judaism & the features of the history of Jewish people in Australia since some arrived as convicts on the first fleet. Following this our guide talked about her time as a member of the congregation since childhood. It was fascinating to hear about how other synagogues in Sydney work & how this one had a choir, formerly of both sexes but now male voice only.

The synagogue, built in 1879, is the oldest in the city & holds up to 2000 people, most of whom lease their seats in the Schule.

Leaving the Great Synagogue we walked across to the Queen Victoria Arcade, a magnificent example of a 3 storey, late 19th century shopping arcade. The shops, all around an atrium are aimed mainly at high net worth buyers but with fine open air cafes. We had some lunch, admired the jewellers & clothing shops & Jane found a fine alpaca scarf. From there we walked back to Circular Quay, which is almost cut off from the city by a massive light rail building project. This is also creating havoc in Pitt St but presumably, will all be worth the effort when it is completed.

Friday 17th November

Off to see the Sydney Jewish Museum, in Darlinghurst, this morning & very remarkable it is. The museum was recently refurbished & the interior is built around a Star of David configuration. On the ground floor there was an explanation of Judaism & its history in Australia & then as one ascends there is a very moving & comprehensive, Holocaust Museum.

The exhibition uses exhibits & fascinating audio visual items to illustrate how Hitler moved towards the 'Final Solution' & much of the material is very thought provoking. Interviews with survivors are quite tragic to hear & the shear callousness of the Nazis & their fellow travellers is terrifying to see.

One hopes that we will all learn from the experience but it seems we find it difficult to learn from history.

We left the museum & walked around a high sandstone walled area which is now the Art School but was formerly Darlinghurst Gaol. Built in the mid 1800s as a panopticon prison it had a very tough reputation where many were executed & died from disease & hard labour.

After the compulsory coffee break we returned to Circular Quay & visited the Museum of Contemporary Art in the Rocks. This proved to be less than overwhelming to us & after seeing a couple of galleries we gave it away & took the ferry back to Cremorne.