Sydney, Australia Day Two

Sunday in Sydney 

Rain fell on us as we made our way up empty George Street early Sunday morning on our way to meet Sylvia at her hotel. After retiring so she could write, she moved from Sydney to Tasmania, which is an Australian island off the southeast coast. On our previous visit to Australia, our ship stopped in Tasmania, but unfortunately, not this time. Sylvia flew into Sydney to see us during our stop there.

From the hotel, we walked the short distance to the New South Wales ANZAC War Memorial. ANZAC is an acronym for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, which was a short cut reference given to the troops from those countries during WWI. Each state in Australia has an ANZAC memorial, all of them quite impressive. As former members of the military ourselves, with fathers and uncles who fought in WWII, and a daughter and son-in-law in the Army, we have a great interest in military memorials and made it a point to see the ones in each Australian state we’ve visited. A volunteer at the Sydney memorial helped to put the impressive sizes of the monuments into perspective for us.

During WWI, ten percent of the population of Australia served in the military—without a draft. Their patriotism for Britain and the Commonwealth motivated them to serve without any form of conscription. Over 60,000 ANZAC troops perished in WWI, which was sixty-five percent of their troops, compared to 59 percent of the British forces and 10 percent of the U.S. forces. This large country with a very small population made tremendous sacrifices, especially at Gallipoli. The inscription on the monument said so much:

Designed to express with dignity and simplicity neither the glory nor the glamour of war, but those noble attributes of human nature which the war of 1914-1918 so vividly brought forth - courage, endurance, and sacrifice.

Inside the dome over the Sydney memorial, 120,000 gold stars are embedded in the ceiling, representing the number of people from New South Wales (only one of the states in Australia) who served in WWI.

After a very somber tour of the memorial and the photo gallery in the lower level, we crossed Hyde Park to St. Mary’s Cathedral and attended the 10:30 solemn high mass, sung in Latin by the boys’ and men’s choirs. We’ve heard recordings of choirs and seen them televised, but nothing compares to hearing them in a cathedral with vast ceilings and acoustics that help their voices resonate.

St. Mary’s Cathedral on a Gray Day in Sydney

At noon we said a reluctant farewell to Sylvia who had to catch her flight back to Tasmania. She is quite busy holding seminars and doing research for a second book. We are hoping that she’ll be able to come to the States to introduce American readers to her book.  

During the afternoon, we walked through the shopping and business areas of Sydney, stopping for lunch and a peek at more of the Victorian arcades that Australia is famous for.

The sun had come out and was quite intense. It turned out to be a very hot day—a far cry from the cool, rainy morning we had started our day with. Tree-covered parks abound in Sydney, and we were thankful to locate a park bench under a tree to get a respite from the sun. It is no wonder that Australians have some of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world. To promote better skin care, they have a saying something like, Slip, slap, dab, which is a reminder to slip on a covering from the sun, slap on a hat, and dab on some sun block. I may not have gotten the exact saying, but it’s close enough to get the message across.

I should have put up the umbrella I had been carrying in my bag, as we saw other people doing. In Australia, an umbrella comes in handy as protection from the rain and sun. Only now while writing this did that occur to me. In the park, we saw a pick-up game of cricket. It appears that in Australia, it is never too hot or sunny to play cricket.

In the distance, we could see the ANZAC Bridge, which the people of Sydney have nicknamed Madonna’s Bra because of its two pointy support towers. Darling Harbor, another gathering place in Sydney, which we visited before, was within walking distance. Ferries also go between Circular Quay and Darling Harbor every 20 minutes. Unfortunately, we just didn’t have time to get there this trip.

Making our way back to the ship, we stopped along Circular Quay (pronounced key) and the Overseas Passenger Terminal to do some people watching, including the people who were embarking on the Queen Elizabeth for the next segment of our voyage. Families were coming out in droves to look at the ship and to just have a Sunday afternoon walk around the harbor. It definitely is a fun place to gather.

Queen Elizabeth Docked in Circular Quay

A paved pedestrian walk extends from the Sydney Opera House around to the end of Circular Quay and the Overseas Passenger Terminal. Along the path, large bronze plaques, about the size of manhole covers, are embedded in the pavement. You have to love this city. While other places have plaques honoring explorers, politicians, and film stars, Sydney honors writers. Each plaque included the name of a writer, the title of at least one of their works, and a brief quote from the writer. Among the ones we saw were James Michener, Mark Twain, Douglas Stewart, Jack London, and Neville Shute. The plaque for Dorothea Mackelar was the only one we saw for a woman writer. We didn’t get to see all of the plaques, so there may have been plaques for other women writers. It makes you wonder who got to select the writers to be honored.

Just before sailing time, we returned to the ship and had dinner in the Lido (Deck 9), high overlooking the harbor and the Sydney Opera House. The lights of the Sydney skyline made an impressive backdrop. It was a fabulous setting, made even more spectacular by the fireworks that began exploding above the Opera House (apparently something that happens every Sunday evening). A Hollywood production couldn’t have created a setting that was more breathtaking.

Moon Over the Sydney Opera House

Shortly after 9:00 p.m., the Queen Elizabeth pulled out of Circular Quay and began sailing through Sydney Harbor. We stood on the top deck, with a band playing in the background, looking back as the lights of the vibrant city slowly faded.

Sydney at Night

Looking Back at Sydney