Sydney Getaway November 2022

I’ll probably do 2 or 3 blogs for this trip and they will involve quite a few photos due to so many sights to see in Sydney & it is still the gateway to Australia. Enjoy the pics.

With being a Wyndham Owner (timeshare), I had some 2022 credits to use and with this dreaded COVID crap from our governments Australian travel is quite difficult in using your points. If 95% of Australians are not travelling overseas then that means they are booking every resort within Australia, so to gain an actual resort is like winning the lottery and I had to use my credits somehow. Scanning the website, I was surprised to first gain Kirra in Queensland for a week which is basically impossible due to its peak season rating all year and I managed to meet up with my family who all live near the border.

The next win was to gain 5 nights in Sydney CBD just over a week later where I could wander around and have a good break and also get to catchup with a young Vietnamese student, Yen, I met over in Hanoi and mentored for a while and now she is out here for a degree. More on this later.

I decided to go by train seeing how I also get a pension discount plus it was cheaper to do this than pay for 5 days of airport car parking, plus fuel there & to pay a higher airplane ticket. My whole train transport cost including return came to a frugal $122AUD. Catching the bus from my hometown, Yamba to Grafton to catch the train cost a huge $2.90 (discount again) for the 1hour travel. With time to spare in Grafton I was able to have dinner in the CBD before the 9pm train departure. Again, with plenty of time I booked a taxi through the popular Clocktower Pub but for some 40mins I’m left stranded on the side of the road looking for this phantom taxi. The pub chased it up again only to be promised again they are coming fast due to my now clear emergency. It was only by pure chance I saw a taxi in the dark & I had to virtually jump out in front of it before the lady driver saw me & hit the anchors. She was so obliging she raced towards the station & confirmed to me my taxi was still 3 trips away from reaching me. Not happy when people lie to customers.

The taxi had me at the station with just 1 minute to departure time. Racing up onto the platform the staff became so apologetic in saying “It’s OK, we’re running late waiting on the bus from Casino”. Whew!!!! There was plenty of time to find my 1^st Class seat and settle in for the 10.5hrs trip. It was not the trip I had envisaged though .. the air con system was so noisy & rattling and the passenger beside me was of Sri Lankan appearance and quite large and not in a healthy condition. He kept coughing in his mask & wouldn’t stop moving around. The train attendant wouldn’t allow either one of us to move seating arrangements either so you guessed it .. virtually no sleep at all & the trip felt like 18hrs. So much for 1^st class.

Arriving in Sydney CBD at 7.30am I had to fill in my day as my Wyndham Resort in Surrey Hills check-in time was strictly 4pm. It was pure relief when I was given the room a few hours earlier to crash. I hope you enjoy some of my photos I took through my meandering with the first photos being of the Central Station (Sydney’s prime railway station), its huge platform board and the front Northern elevation from the adjacent Belmore Park.

I believe it is many years, even decades since I really looked at the Sydney CBD. My brothers & I would travel down for 3 days each year to see our beloved Uncle Don so we rarely saw anything other than the airport, hotel & the Randwick racetrack. I’m expecting quite some changes as Sydney CBD has a new Light Rail Network linking many of the inner suburbs in addition to the underground rail loop.

Crossing through Belmore Park (heading North from Central Station front entrance) and then heading some 10mins West along Goulburn St you end up venturing past Chinatown and then into the new dockside development of Darling Harbour where vast development has taken place over the decades and is still in redevelopment phases. This part of town has really brought Sydney into life. Hidden behind the International Convention Centre is The Star Casino (western side of the harbour) and looking North the finished Barangaroo Crown Casino Tower hovers over everything with its unique shape. Darling Harbour used to be a myriad of wharves servicing all types of ships & merchandise in its day and it followed on from the ancient wharf area of The Rocks, situated closer to the Harbour Bridge area and was started up by the early settlement & convicts’ era.

CBW is short for the Cockle Bay Wharf where the location remembers this past wharf along with King St Wharf 1 & 3 & Barangaroo Wharf 1 & 2, where others have long been forgotten with redevelopment. Before moving on to Circular Quay I had a late brekky/ lunch at Adria Bar Restaurant right on Cockle Bay Wharf area and you’re never left disappointed here as we have visited this place many times before.

Walking back into the city streets I headed towards George St (Sydney’s main street) which now occupies the main trunk line of the Light Rail Network and runs from South Sydney, through to Town Hall & all the way into Circular Quay & then onto the old Rocks area. I’m not ready to use the Light Rail yet as I hadn’t picked up an Opal Travel card (min spend $20 & can be topped up as needed). For me tap & go can also be done by my credit card knowing I will never spend the $20 on this transport these few days with an Opal Card.

Apart from the Light Rail (terminates here at Circular Quay) there has been very little changes here at Circular Quay. Old & new ferries still services this great harbour for commuters, tourists, etc. Huge cruise ships moor against the International Cruise Terminal & a few of these can still fit under the Harbour Bridge & moor at other wharves out of city ciew.

Thousands of people venture like ants around this area, most in an absolute hurry and very few actually take in the hidden gems and really see what is around them. Along the ferry area large brass dome plates are placed every 20m or so and form The Writer’s Walk where past poets and writers have their walk of fame, I guess mounted for those seeking more in the city walks. I was amazed to look at the forecourt of The Opera House to see the dome benchmark plaque used in its construction survey datum. The more you look at the Opera House the more you can’t fathom how they constructed it. A world marvel.

Sydney Harbour is certainly the best harbour in the world and when you have the backdrop of super cruise ships, The Harbour Bridge and The Opera House all in their glory it is hard to not be impressed. I will be revisiting this area in a later blog so stay tuned.

You will note, in some of the pictures I have my cap in for a selfie. The cap represents my cousin’s micro-brewery “The Wobbly Chook” back in my hometown of Yamba NSW & I promote it by posting “where am I?” for those keen to see where my cap ends up.

Looking at my phone for my walking marathon I had certainly covered some ground (12.28klms) and I had just enough energy to reach my resort for a complete rest catchup. I hope you like my Day 1 blog of Sydney CBD and photos and there is still lots more to show you. Stay tuned & look after you. Cheers.