An Odyssey Down Under: Australia and New Zealand Day 18

Sunday, February 23

Our morning started with a lecture giving us an introduction and overview of Sydney. Then we boarded our motorcoach that took us down near Sydney Harbour and our site coordinator led us on a walking tour. We were excited to get our first glimpse of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.

On our walk we passed by the Writer’s Walk. There are 60 circular metal plaques along the path. They honor the lives and works of well-known Australian writers and some overseas authors. Each plaque contains quotes from one of the author’s notable works and some information about the author.

From there we strolled to The Rocks which is Sydney’s oldest historic neighborhood of laneways.

Statue of William Bligh- the 4th Governor of New South Wales

The Rocks was the first European colony and was established in 1788 when ships filled with convicts came from England to settle the colony of New South Wales.

“First Impressions”
A sandstone relief created by Bud Dumas in 1979 as a memorial to the convicts, soldiers, and settlers of The Rocks

We also passed through the Nurse’s Walk. The Nurse’s Walk was created in 1979 to honor the nurses that worked in the hospitals in this area in the late 1700s and early 1800s. It runs into Suez Canal which is a laneway that was constructed in 1840 and it was an area where the street gang, Rocks Push, would hang out.

We walked up several flights of stairs and then down a street to the Australian Hotel for lunch. It is one of the oldest pubs in The Rocks.

After lunch we had a cruise on the Sydney Harbour! It was a relaxing afternoon with beautiful scenery.

We had this room and the front of the boat just for our group.

This evening we walked from our hotel to have dinner at a restaurant along Cockle Bay Wharf. On our walk we passed “the nest” building in Darling Square. It is a mixed-use building and was designed by a Japanese architecture firm.