VIVID Sydney 2023 #1

 

Last week we made the quick hop over to Sydney  for the VIVID festival of lights.   (A quick hop is 2.5 hr flight). We just got back and thought I'd share some of the highlights.  The theme this year is Nature.

We stayed in Darling Harbour which is close to the famous Opera House and harbour bridge and many other amazing things.

On our first day we took the Big Red Bus (hop on-hop off) from a stop near the hotel and did the RED tour of the inner city.  We never got to do the outer reaches and Bondi beach (Blue Tour).  The loop takes over two hours and we had seen The Rocks area and the Chinese Garden on a previous trip.

Darling Harbour is full of hotels, restaurants, attractions and ferries etc.

Since we were here in about 2014 there are some stunning new buildings and more pedestrian/cycle/scooter areas.  We really enjoyed walking, walking and walking.

This is the inside of our hotel lounge area on the night we arrived.  The harbour is the view out the windows!

This is called Cockle Bay and is the innermost part of the harbour.  The yellow globe in the water is one of the displays and will be in a later pic. (taken from the hotel restaurant balcony).

On the Big Bus, Thursday15th.  

This is my favourite building in Sydney.  New, it wasn't here last time we came and is the most stunning design.

A glimpse of the city end of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  Does it remind you of the Brooklyn Bridge in NY?  The buildings on the left are old and gorgeous.

We saw some people walking the top of the bridge;   Not for me thanks!

As you can see we had this beautiful weather the whole time we were there (it was cold and rainy at home).  Usually June is the wettest month in Sydney.

Right: Another amazing piece of architecture, it looks like the layers are going to peel off.

This is the Naval Dock and shore station.  It is three bays along the harbour from where we stayed.

I don't know what kind of ship it is but certainly bigger than NZ's.  There were several ships in port.

Sydney Harbour is huge and full of bays.  In this one, the old dock warehouses have been turned into luxury apartments with restaurants under.

 The famous Sydney Opera House which took 14 years to build and is covered in tiny white ceramic tiles.  Usually photos you see are taken from the water; this is the landward side.  Later I will show you it at night.

Another gorgeous old building which is part of Sydney Hospital.

   H    This is another bay looking out toward the opening of the harbour with that fabulous building standing guard.

This is where our bus started and finished.    A tourist attraction with lots of boats, wrecks  and related things.  Also it has real boats in the bay outside the building including a warship, an old sailing ship, and the Krait (read the book about it's adventures during WW2).  We didn't go in there this time.  Isn't it a clever name?

We then grabbed some lunch and Ian needed a lie down.  More later.