Sydney - Day 2 - City Centre, Newtown and Barangaroo

My second day in Sydney started with a bus trip to the city, alighting at Bridge Street. 

Across Bridge Street, Macquarie Place park, named in honour of Governor Lachlan 

Macquarie, is a small triangular park, just a block away from Circular Quay. 

Originally the town square, it is together with Hyde Park the oldest public park in Australia, laid out in 1810. Sadly its size has been greatly reduced since then, but is has been heritage listed since 2010, so no more changes.

Statues at Macquarie Place park, at corner of Bridge and Loftus streets

The park includes a few statues - The Obelisk, (left) erected in 1818 and the earliest surviving monument of Australia's colonisation. It functions as the zero point for measurement of early roads in New South Wales, the Sirius anchor and cannon, (right) from the Norfolk Island wreckage of the First Fleet HMS Sirius, and the Walter Renny drinking fountain, (middle) a Victorian cast iron fountain with a book with words from St John : "whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst".

Then I walked around the city centre taking photos of interesting windows, doors and beautiful old buildings. I found many statues which I'll post later in a post of it's own.

Old buildings around the city centre

On my search for statues I walked past the State Library of New South Wales and noticed that the "World Press Photo" free exhibition was on, so I went in to have a look.

The beautiful building is Australia's oldest library, and the first established in New South Wales in 1826.

State Library of NSW

Interior of the library and lead windows

The grand reading room at the library

The World Press Photo exhibition consisted of about 150 photos which sadly included  many confronting and sad photos from wars and suffering children. I wouldn't like to be the one taking those photos...

                  A photo shoot of African models with locals in the background

Below, the top right photo, believe it or not was taken in the Pasig River in Manila. When we visited in December last year the river was already undergoing a huge clean-up that will last a couple of years, but here you can see a kid lying on a mattress on top of rubbish dumped in the river.

Hard to believe what people do to their sources of water!! 

World Press Photo exhibition

From the library I walked a few blocks down to Circular Quay to catch a train to Newtown, a bohemian neighbourhood just 4km south west of Sydney's CBD.

My Sydney friend had mentioned this area was worth a visit and I'm glad I visited even if just for a short walk around King street (just outside the station).
I discovered beautifully restored Victorian buildings, lots of multicultural eateries, bars, theaters, thrift stores, quirky people, live music and lots of street art. 
A place worth visiting with more time. 

Victorian buildings in Newtown - fire station, court house and police station

                               Street artists, a colourful bench and a dog sculpture in Newtown

It was about 3,30 and I was starving, so sat down for a while in one of the Asian restaurants near the station, eating a pumpkin soup and charging my phone that was almost flat, while I listened to two young men playing and singing (top left).

When my phone had charged to about 50% I caught the train to Wynyard Station and  walked to Barangaroo, where Jose would meet up with me after work.

                           Barangaroo - exiting Wynyard station, Old, modern, bright colours and greenery

Barangaroo, is the new harbour foreshore area next to Darling Harbour -  such a bright, vibrant and green area, really beautiful, I really enjoyed that area!

There's a lot of construction still going on, with the Crown Casino being the main project at the moment, but once it's finished the whole foreshore will be walkable.

You can read about my visit to the Barangaroo Reserve on my last visit in March.

The new Crown Casino under construction (top right)

It was close to 6pm when I met Jose outside the station and we walked along the riverfront admiring the Vivid light displays from Barangaroo to Darling Harbour.

At the Barangaroo foreshore

At Darling Harbour, the Robot Spaceland show was popular, with a 16mt high unit with a couple of cars hanging from its jaws. A few more units scattered around, one in the harbour, the other three around the edges of the harbour, communicated with each other, with the story repeating itself every 20 minutes.

The Robot space show at Darling harbour

While walking we had peeked at the various restaurant menus along the way and at the end returned almost to the beginning to the "Love Fish" restaurant.

I chose the salmon fillet and a wild leaf salad and Jose chose the Peel and eat king prawns with pink sauce and chips.
Then we ordered just 1 dessert to share - a large toasted marshmallow topped with mandarin sorbet and sauce. Divine!!!  Dinner was delicious, service was great and the atmosphere was relaxing.

Love fish restaurant and our delicious dessert

After dinner I convinced Jose that even though the trip would take longer than the train, we should take a ferry so we could see the light show from the river. 

The ferry departed 10 minutes later and we climbed to the top floor outdoor deck so we could get a better view for the photos.

It was a bit cold out there, but I thought the views were worth it!

Leaving Barangaroo (top left), Harbour Bridge, Opera House, Luna Park and Museum of Contemporary Art & city

From the Circular Quay wharf we walked up a block to Bridge street to catch the bus home, but we still had time to stop and watch the whole projection show at the heritage listed 1845 Customs House building, just behind Circular Quay station. 

Customs House projections

And that was the end of a very busy but wonderful day for me!
Hope you enjoyed the trip too 😉.