Sydney Day Three

This morning our fearless tour leader Darrin took a small group of us on an excursion to downtown to catch a train and travel across the Sydney Harbour Bridge so we could walk back across the bridge. 

We took a stroll through the Queen Victoria Building. It opened in 1898 and was built as a market place for the city. Outside the building is a statue of Queen Victoria.

A small statue of the Queen's favorite dog, Islay, with a wishing well is also just outside the building. The dog talks to you as you approach and states he has been given the power of speech to ask for donations. The money collected benefits the deaf and blind children of the area.

The building is very ornate inside. Guess it had to be fit for a queen.

The Great Australian Clock. It depicts over 30 historical scenes from both the Aborigines and the British.

We went down into the basement and proceeded to the train station to go across the bridge.

Our fearless leader Darrin taking us out of the station to begin our walk back across the bridge.

Had to climb the stairs to get up to the walking track.

There were some great views from the bridge.

The $3 - $5 million homes. 

We stopped for a group picture.

This is a low-income housing project (Sirius building) that was done back in 1979 to house those families that were forced to move out their Rocks area homes during the 60's and 70's so the government could takeover the properties. It was a move to keep the families a part of their community but the government never tore down the homes and now rent them out for exorbitant rates as the homes are among those valued at over $1 million. As you can imagine it is a point of contention between the tenants and the government.

At the bottom of the bridge back on the South side is the Rocks area where we spent some time yesterday. They were having the weekend market. There was a lot of vendors with a wide selection of hand crafted items. I really enjoyed the festive atmosphere.

A couple more older buildings as I walked back to the hotel.

The Strand Building which is a market place today.

Some little statues.

The hotel is located in Chinatown section and they were having a small festival of sorts this afternoon.

There is a HUGE market place (think at least 20 times larger than the Simpsonville market) just down from the hotel. The lowest floor is like a flea market with all sorts of things for sell at really cheap prices. There is also a fresh food section in the back. It was very busy this afternoon. The upper 3 floors are more of the traditional mall.

Well this wraps up my visit to Australia. We leave early in the morning (6:45) for the airport to fly to Queensland, New Zealand. I will do a summary post later of my visit to this great country.