Sydney by Day

Sydney is a great metropolitan city, the largest in Australia, with active harbors, lively urban scenes, beaches, the arts, food galore, music, and you name it. Although I did see cyclists riding the streets, it is not a bike friendly city like Melbourne. We arrived on a Friday and stayed through the weekend which included the annual "Mardi Gra" Parade with countless thousands of people, mostly the young, roaming the streets late into night.


Harbor view from the south shore.


Sydney Harbor features a cruise ship


Sydney Harbor Street Markets


Sydney Harbor Bridge


Harbor view


Downtown shopping





Hyde Park with St. Mary's Cathedral in the background


There's a wedding in St. Mary's Cathedral


In Hyde Park


There's shopping and more shopping in Sydney. Below are two highlight features of Queen Victoria Building








Cycling the northside, Milsons Point. Sydney is not known for its great cycling.








Above are harbor views from Milsons Point


The Sydney Opera House











Unfortunately, the main concert hall was closed due to rehearsals.

Hanging in Cairns

Kay and I decided to hang in Cairns for a needed rest day while most of the others headed out to the mountains (rainforest) for a day tour. Cairns is tropical and humid like Hawaii, but the main attraction is the Great Barrier Reef, an hour plus off shore. Highlights of my day was some local birding and finding the Cairns Flying Foxes, aka Fruit Bats.


Sunrise in Cairns





There are plenty of shops and eateries in the downtown area.


Harbor views





The beaches of Cairns are actually mudflats, not conducive for recreational actives, especially since there may be crocodiles. Below is a man made pool by the oceanfront.


Finding the Flying Foxes (Fruit Bats) in the banyan trees in the downtown area.





They are constantly cleaning themselves as they hang during the day. At night, they fly.


Cairns at night. This is where the tourists hang if they're not out on the reef.

Visiting the Great Barrier Reef

I'll start by saying all the pictures in this post are not mine. They were taken from the Internet since I did not shoot any pictures during our time out on the Great Barrier Reef. Instead, I was in the water snorkeling all day except for a lunch break. I used these pictures from the Internet because I wanted to show something of our experience. Highlight of the day was an hour long guided snorkeling adventure beyond the barriers surrounding the platform. Great fun!


The ferry ride from Cairns to the platform out on the reef took one and a half hours.


Platform on the reef


Staging area and lunch dining room on the platform run by Reef Magic Cruises.


It was as beautiful as these pictures which represents only a fraction of what I saw.

Kata Tjuta Formations

Visiting the Kata Tjuta rock formations and cultural center near Uluru before flying to Cairns for the Great Barrier Reefs. Pictures not allowed of indigenous people, sacred places, and the cultural center.


The Kata Tjuta Rock Formations





Most of the tour group


Look closely and you'll see the annoying flies. It can be much worst.


Short walk into the formation


Rock wall patterns








Anja talks about the formation of the landscape.