Sydney — the iconic and the unexpected

It was a long time since I had been to Sydney. I was there in a previous life, when the trips were about conferences, meeting people, chatting in pubs and over dinner. This time we were tourists, wandering and meandering through Australia’s oldest and biggest city. Not the the capital city, mind you. That is Canberra, deliberately built half way between Melbourne and Sydney because the leaders at Federation couldn’t decide which should be the capital.

You all know that it is built on the Sydney Harbour, one of the most beautiful harbours in the world. You know that the Sydney Harbour Bridge spans from one side to the other.

The harbour like a glittering jewel (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

The Sydney Harbour Bridge (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

Moody skies (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

The Bridge, with a glimpse of the Opera House (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

The Manly Ferry passing by the tall towers of Sydney (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

Fort Dennison (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

A huge cruise ship almost dwarfs the Bridge (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

You also know that the Sydney Opera House sits grandly on the edge of the harbour.

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

You can see the age of Sydney in its  narrow and higgedly-piggedly roads. We have terrace houses in Melbourne, but not many of them are built on odd triangles of land nor right onto the footpath.

Chippendale street scape (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

Chippendale street scape (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

Chippendale street scape (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

They didn’t anticipate wheelie bins in the early 1800’s! (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

If yard space is small, then take over the footpath!

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

There were other little delights that caught my eye, like these words of the Garigal tribe that owns the land that Sydney is on….

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

….or these charming little sculptures in the rocks near the Manly beach.

A small ocean swimming pool at Manly. (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

View from North Head (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

And look, I even found some artists working outdoors! In a later post I will show you some of the sketches I did on the trip, the first ones outside. So it was great to find some others who were brave enough to work in public!

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)