Today was the day we had decided on for my sightseeing trip around the city of Sydney. Despite the disappointment of waking to find the rain bucketing down we knew we had to persevere as my tight travelling schedule meant that this was my only chance. Luckily though, by the time we made it to the train station for the trip into the city the rain had stopped and the sun was trying to shine through, so it looked as though luck was on our side!
Our first stop was in Hyde Park, named after the one in London, and also the home of the Archibald Fountain. The fountain was built following the First World War to commemorate the relationship between Australia and France. It is a popular meeting place in the city and during the hot, summer months you will apparently see people cooling off in it.
Across the road from Hyde Park is St Mary's Cathedral, the seat of the Catholic Church in Australia. The blue boxes getting in the way of the view are Portaloo's (which is Australian for 'portable toilet') which were put here as the City to Surf Marathon was run in Sydney this morning and the starting line was near by.
Here is a much better view of this beautiful building, which is also the largest church in Australia.
Australia's first saint was cannonised last year. Mary MacKillop is now known as Saint Mary of the Cross.
From outside the Cathedral you have a great view of the famous Sydney Tower. I would have liked to have taken a bird's eye view of the city from its observation deck, but my host told me all about the long queues which would have taken up valuable sightseeing time, so I had to give it a miss.
Heading towards the harbour we turned into Macquarie Street, which is home to the first permanent buildings in the colony of Sydney.
The first building we stopped to look at was the Hyde Park Barracks. It was built in 1819 to house convict men and boys and has many different usages since then. It is now a museum teaching about Australia's convict heritage.
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Next to the Barracks is the Sydney Mint, which is the oldest public building in the Sydney CBD. It is no longer a mint that prints money. Now it is home to various government offices.
The next building along the road is the Sydney Hospital, which is the oldest hospital in Australia. As the contractors employed to build a permanent hospital in the colony to replace the tents being used up to that time were payed in rum rather than money it became known as the "Rum Hospital".
Outside the hospital is a statue of Il Porcellino, a bronze copy of the Florentine boar. Donating money to the research done at the hospital while rubbing his nose is supposed to bring you luck, so that is what we did.
We finally reached the last of the notable buildings on Macquarie Street - New South Wales' parliament house; the seat of the state's government, and also the oldest public building in Australia.
One last photo of my tour of Macquarie Street, something that my host found most unusual. Remember at the beginning of this post when I mentioned the City to Surf marathon? Well, besides the odd sight of hundreds of portaloo's outside the Cathedral, it also caused the closure of many city streets, including Macquarie Street, making it almost take on ghost town like properties!
IMG_7883 by becka_kate, on Flickr
