Sydney - Barangaroo

 Last year during the pandemic, many domestic flights in Australia were cancelled, including the direct flight from Sydney to Hervey Bay. The flight was reinstated in late May and to celebrate, we flew to Sydney for a few days. Believe it or not, it costs less to fly to Sydney which is about 800 miles away than to fly to Brisbane which is less than 200 miles.

We took a ferry ride out to the western region of Sydney Harbour and on the way back, decided to get off the ferry at Darling Harbour and revisit the scene of our quarantine at the Park Royal. It's at the lower center of the map.

Barangaroo is the name of an Aboriginal woman who was the wife of Bennelong who worked with the newly arrived colonists in 1788. The link is worth reading.

Darling Harbour is now dominated by this hotel/casino. It has 75 floors and is the 4th tallest building in Australia.

The building was constructed on land that was supposed to become parkland, but money talks, and talks very loud in Sydney. Curiously, the casino was aimed at high-rollers from China and not the local punters. The casino has not opened because an investigation into the company that built the tower has revealed extensive money laundering occurring in other casinos operated by the company. No doubt, further donations will be made to the NSW government and the casino will eventually open. You no doubt will be surprised, perhaps even shocked, to know that casinos run by the same company in other capital cities have also been found to be laundering money.

And for those of you who know their Casablanca, here is the famous scene.

Some of the buildings that line the wharf at Darling Harbour.

Prior to the pandemic, the wharf would have been teeming with tourists.

A ferry terminal.

The local wharves are the departure point for many boats that tour Sydney Harbour. It's much cheaper to take a public ferry. By the way, since we are seniors and applied for and received a Senior Opal card, we can travel all over Sydney for $2.50 per day. That includes trains, trams, buses and ferries.

Many of these tour boats are set up for lunches and dinners.

HMAS Vampire, a decommissioned destroyer. It's part of the Maritime Museum.

Back in 1970, I lived in Sydney for nine months and I used to cross this bridge every day on the way to work in a bus. I found the Sydney winter was too cold and returned to Brisbane. The bridge is now for pedestrians only.

Curiously shaped building, still under construction.

The Pyrmont Bridge was built in 1902 and part of it could swing open to allow ships to pass.

Another Ferris Wheel for me to avoid.

Finally, we saw the sign for our quarantine hotel, the Park Royal.

Because of various freeways, it took a torturous route to find the lane we overlooked from our hotel room. It's still a quarantine hotel and there are guards outside each emergency exit door in the lane. It's quite cold in the lane so it's not a wonderful job.

It was interesting to look at the building at the end of the lane where some bloke would emerge on to his balcony every morning smoking a cigarette and sniffing the air.

Looking up at our room. I have no idea which window we looked out of.