Tourists For A Day

As today was a public holiday we thought we would be tourists for a day and go over to the city and have a walk around the Rocks area, which was the first part of Sydney to be inhabited by the white man over 200 years ago.

We started by walking over the harbour bridge ... you can walk over the arches of the bridge but that costs a lot of money plus you can't take the dogs with you!  (In actual fact you cannot take anything whatsoever with you just in case you drop it onto the roadway below)!

So along the free and dog-friendly walkway we went.

The bridge consists of, from left to right ... a cycleway, 2 railway tracks, 8 lanes of traffic and 1 walkway.

You get a fantastic view from the bridge deck.  You look east over the harbour, Circular Quay and, of course, the Opera House.

Just imagine this chap cruising along the the canals...now that's what I call a WAKE!  The bloggers would go into meltdown.

Looking back towards the city is Circular Quay and the Passenger Terminal for the cruise ships. The green and cream boats are the harbour ferries with the larger one being the Manly Ferry, which is classed as a outer harbour ferry. The cruise ship was the Volendam out of Rotterdam. I doubt if there are many cruise terminals in the world where the ships are moored right in the middle of the city. 

You get a nice view of the Opera House from the bridge

The Manly ferry sporting the Go Manly banner from yesterdays Grand Final, which of course Manly won, woohoo !!

We walked back across the bridge and down to the passenger terminal and checked out the Volendam - I think she is based down here for our summer, doing Pacific cruises. Nice looking ship.

We then headed off to walk under the bridge - there are always lots of groups walking over the top of the bridge - they are all tethered on to a continuous cable, so if you have suicidal tendencies forget the bridge climb, you are wasting your money. They also have to wear grey overalls so they blend into the bridge!

We stopped for an ice cream whilst Bombo rolled around in "Bat Shit" - he was in doggy ecstasy !

mmmmm deodorant!

Had to take some pics of the dogs and yours truly with interesting back grounds. 

I see no bridge!

Wot's that stickin' out of my ear !

 
 There was a nice tall ship passing under the bridge (it was built in 1922 in Denmark of danish oak frames.  Its original name was 'Svanen' and she traded as a grain carrier between Denmark and Greenland for the Tuborg beer company until 1969.  She was then purchased in 1969 as a private vessel and extensively refitted to make extensive ocean voyages and charters on Sydney harbour. She first came to Sydney in 1988 for the bicentennial...I think. She is now called Southern Swan).

We only spotted 2 brides today, mind you it is Monday, on a normal Sunday there are shed loads of brides grazing under the harbour bridge and its environs. A few years ago we counted them for a laugh, we got up to 17 groups all looking for that different special shot. Can't really blame them as it is easily the most beautiful harbour in the world! 

Nice day for a white wedding yea

Lastly we went right under the bridge - this is a pic. of the concrete bases and bearings that hold up the bridge - 4 altogether, 2 either side; the bridge weighs approx 60,000 tons.  The pylons either end are purely there for aesthetics.

Last bit of useless information.....Paul Hogan used to work as a rigger on the bridge!