Sydney's Landmarks

Manda writes:

St Mary's Cathedral is one of those places that we have neglected to visit on our previous two visits to Sydney. We've spotted it from the AMP tower three times and this has always been on our 'places to visit' list. Now that we have more time on our hands, we decided to finally go take a closer look. The cathedral looked beautiful basking in the Sydney sunlight but the sun was also in precisely the worst position for us to get decent photos of the exterior. On the flip side, this worked to our advantage once we were inside - the bright light shone through the stained glass windows and lit up the place, making it easier for us to appreciate the fine craftsmanship.

Inside St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney.

The Botanic Gardens were exactly how I remembered them, only a lot quieter. The last time we were here in 2000, the Olympic Games were on and the whole city was buzzing. We took a walk all the way to the Sydney Opera House. Again, this brought back memories of the Games and how we stood crammed like sardines, trying to catch a glimpse of Pat Cash running with the Olympic torch. It was definitely more tranquil on this occasion. That's not to say that it was quiet. Sydney's best-known landmarks always attract the tourists but the Olympics Games were a different matter and the city saw a multitude of visitors descend upon it.

Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge looked just as spectacular as they did the last few times we've seen them. The wow factor never seems to go away! To get a better view of the CBD, we took a ferry ride over to North Sydney and all the way back to Circular Quay again. It was surprisingly quiet but then again, we were travelling outside of commuter time. The other passengers looked like locals and didn't seem phased by yet more tourists (i.e.us) taking photos of the famous landmarks. It was a fairly long boat trip and we got the photos we wanted within ten minutes of departure, but sometimes you have to go that bit further to achieve the perfect photo! Hey, we weren't in any hurry anyway!

Sydney Opera House, what else?

Manda standing in front of Sydney Harbour Bridge, as if you couldn't guess!