I arrived in Sydney on the morning of 20 October. The following day, I started exploring around Sydney. Since it was a Sunday, I decided to check out St Mary's Cathedral at Hyde Park. The church is every bit what I imagined an old-fashioned church will be. The exterior is in the Gothic architecture and the interior has beautiful stained glass windows and altars. If I have a church like that here, I would not mind going to mass everyday!
St Mary's Cathedral from Hyde Park
The steeples of St Mary's Cathedral
Statue of St Mary of the Cross at one of the entrances
Interior of the Church
St Mary's Cathedral itself is situated at one end of Hyde Park. Hyde Park stretches across two Cityrail train stations, St James Station, which is next to St James Church (an Anglican church), and consisting of the Archibald Fountain leading to St Mary's Cathedral on one side, and towards the end of the Central Business District where Sydney Tower is on the other side. Incidentally, St James Station is in the style of an old London Underground.
Hyde Park entrance of St James Station (Sydney Tower is directly opposite this)
St James Church, next to St James Station
That same stretch also consist of the Hyde Park Barracks, which is just next to St Mary's Cathedral, opposite St James Church. There is a statue of Prince Albert outside Hyde Park, and a statue of Queen Victoria in front of St James Church.
Hyde Park Barracks
Statue of Prince Albert in front of Hyde Park
Statue of Queen Victoria in front of St James Church
Entering Hyde Park from St James Station
Archibald Fountain wtih St Mary's Cathedral in the background
I actually managed to capture a rainbow!
One end of Hyde Park leading to the Central Business District
This leads to the other half of Hyde Park
From one side of St Mary's Cathedral, it leads down to the Royal Botanic Gardens, with a large open space called The Domain. This was the "playground" of the first governor of Sydney, Governor Macquarie. He and his wife used to go to one of the hilltops of the Domain (now called Mrs Macquarie's Point), where his wife would sit on a rock looking at the ships sailing by into Sydney Harbour. He then had a seat carved out of the rock which is now known as Mrs Macquarie's Chair. But more on that later.
After mass, I walked down towards the Botanic Gardens, where I had breakfast at the Domain, before going into the Art Gallery of New South Wales, which is situated at the entrance of the Domain.
Entrance of the Domain leading the the Art Gallery and Royal Botanic Gardens
The Domain
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Entrance of Royal Botanic Gardens
The Royal Botanic Gardens has quite a lot of variety of plants, flowers and trees, as well as drinking fountains for people to drink or take the water.
One of the drinking fountains
A bottle tree
View of the two famous icons from the Botanic Gardens and Domain.
Incidentally, this stretch where I took the photos happens to be a very popular place for weddings, especially during the late afternoon towards sunset. I can just imagine saying wedding vows flanked by such a great view!
These are the Fleet Stairs, where a fleet ship ever stopped at the point in the middle and the Royal Navy came out and climed up the steps to the top.
Close up view of the Fleet Stairs
I continued walking along the strech of the top of the Fleet Stairs, and finally came to the end point of Mrs Macquarie's Road, where Mrs Macquarie's Point and Mrs Macquarie's Chair is. Trust me, it is a very spectacular view indeed, although of course, I believe the view in the nineteenth century is definitely somewhat different from now.
Waterfront from Mrs Macquerie's Point
Fort Denison from Mrs Macquerie's Point
Royal Naval Base at Garden Island from Mrs Macquerie's Point
And this is the famous Mrs Macquerie's Chair!
This rock happens to be situated just on top of the hill, with no blockage. I have no idea if any blockage was being removed, but when I went there, there was no blockage. So one can just imagine what a view the old governor and his wife must have!
After exiting from Mrs Macquerie's Chair, I decided to go back to Circular Quay from the waterfront, so I climbed down Fleet Stairs and started walking by the waterfront. The waterfront at the bottom leads all the way back to the Opera House, where it is just next to Circular Quay and The Rocks.
To get the geography right, if one is facing the harbour, Circular Quay is in the middle facing the Harbour, The Rocks is on the left, and the stretch leading to the Opera House is on the right. Behind Circular Quay is the whole stretch of the Sydney Central Business District. Behind the Rocks is the stretch leading to the Harbour Bridge. Behind the Opera House is the Royal Botanic Gardens and the Domain, which leads to the stretch of Hyde Park, which in turn leads to the other end of the Central Business District.
So the whole of the Sydney city centre is inter-connected. One can really just walk around and not get lost as it will somehow lead to somewhere familiar. And they are all within walking distance, although if you really have to walk from one end to the other end without stopping, it takes over an hour or thereabouts. For me, I did the combination of walking, train rides and bus rides and managed to go places, but that is also to be elaborated on later.
Bottom of Fleet Stairs
View of the city centre from the waterfront at the bottom of the Domain
While walking along the waterfront, I came across this memorial dedicated to those who perished in the September 11 attacks.
This is the Memorial Tree
I even saw a pea hen!
After walking the whole stretch I came to the other side facing the Fleet Stairs.
Recognise this place? The stairs in the middle are the Fleet Stairs where I was on earlier, and the top of the stairs leads to Mrs Macquarie's Point.
Sydney Opera House, the end of the stretch of Royal Botanic Gardens and The Domain
Man of War Jetty next to the Opera House
That day itself, I have walked for close to four hours. I decided to go to Circular Quay and have lunch, then go back to continue my adventures for the following day, which I will cover in a later post.
To conclude, if you are ever in Sydney and have only two days to spare, consider spending half a day at the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain, all the way to Mrs Macquarie's Chair. The place is really beautiful, there is greenery, water view, and nice plants and trees all around. This is one place where I can go again and again!
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