Tag Archives: Sydney

November 3, 2014 · 5:35 am

The Quay to the City — Sydney’s Circular Quay

A look back from the Sydney Opera House Forecourt

Making our way back around Sydney Cove we approach Circular Quay. Let’s face it — our Commonwealth cousins around the world really can’t spell. Never could. Never will. If ‘quay’ (a platform extending into the water used to the loading and unloading of watercraft) were spelled as it is pronounced, it would be ‘key.’ Which reminds me of a little story from my stint in England back in the ’70s. An English gentleman corrected my pronunciation of the word ‘schedule.’ “It’s pronounced, ‘shed-jewel’,” he admonished. To which I replied, “Did you learn that in ‘shoe-well’?”

Looking across Sydney Cove from the Sydney Opera House

Inside Sydney Harbour is Sydney Cove, which is bounded by Bennelong Point to the east and The Rocks area to the west. Bennelong Point is home to the Sydney Opera House, whereas The Rocks serves as the southern anchor for the Sydney Harbour Bridge, a.k.a. “The Coat Hanger Bridge.” At the southernmost portion of Sydney Cove lies Circular Quay it’s five wharfs, numbered 2 through 6. Our Commonwealth cousins aren’t very good at counting either, it would appear.

Along Circular Quay approaching “The Rocks”

Just kidding. There actually is a very small jetty along the eastern edge of Sydney Cove that is used by water taxis, but it’s totally separate from the five main jetties. You can see the smaller “No. 1 Wharf” in this photo. It’s the white and green platform extending out into Sydney Cove just to the right of the gabled orange roof structure and white umbrellas.

Approaching downtown from Bennelong Point

Sydney Cove is a very vibrant and dynamic area teeming with vendors, food stands, ferry traffic, and lots of sights to photograph — not least of which are the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney “Coat Hanger” Harbor Bridge.

Along Circular Quay approaching “The Rocks”

Oh, and did I mention the abundant wildlife?

Feeding Frenzy!

We’ll take a look at some of these sights in this week’s Fun Photo Friday. Until then, here’s a few more shots:

Sydney Harbour Bridge — The “Coat Hanger”

Downtown Sydney

Sydney Cove

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Tagged as Australia, Circular Quay, photography, Sydney, Sydney Cove, travel, travel photography

October 29, 2014 · 5:35 am

Sydney — Home of “The Coat Hanger”

Eight traffic lanes, two rail lines, bicycle and pedestrian lanes covering almost ¾ of a mile!

Remember when I called the Sydney Opera House, “one of Sydney’s most recognizable landmarks?” Well, here’s another one. It’s one of the most recognizable bridges in the world, right up there with the Brooklyn Bridge and the Golden Gate. It’s the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and it’s the tallest as well as the sixth longest spanning-arch bridge on the planet. It also goes by the moniker “Coathanger Bridge,” but only because our Commonwealth cousins are lousy at spelling (more on this shortcoming in a later blog) and tend to run the words ‘coat’ and ‘hanger’ together as one.

Dawes Park view of the Coat Hanger’

The four anchoring pylons alone — one pair at either end of the bridge — are 292 feet/89 meters tall. I use the term “anchoring” in an aesthetic sense, as they really serve no engineering purpose. They were added to the plans as an afterthought to give the bridge a more sturdy appearance. Apparently there were public concerns about the structural integrity of so long and ambitious a span, so the solution was to add a beefier visual feature at either end of the bridge. They do have their purposes now, however. Housed within them are a museum, a tourist center, and lookout platforms.

But why use a lookout platform when you can climb to the top of the span? Don’t believe me? Take a look:

Not for the faint of heart — Climbing the Coat Hanger

And, yes, those tour guides will lead you all the way to the very top, which is 440 feet/134 meters above Sydney Harbor:

Approaching the top

I’ll leave you with two final images of those cosmetic pylons and the view from Dawes Point Park:

Dawes Point Park

Massive Pylons — concrete faced with granite

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Tagged as Australia, Coat Hanger Bridge, photography, R. Doug Wicker, Sydney, Sydney Harbour Bridge, travel, travel photography, Ursula Wicker

October 27, 2014 · 5:35 am

A Night at the Opera without the Marx Brothers — Sydney Opera House

Jutting out onto Bennelong Point

Today we begin our look at Sydney, Australia, with one of Sydney’s most recognizable landmarks — the Sydney Opera House. I’m sure you recognize this iconic structure, but you may not know the protracted and often bitter struggle behind the façade. The Sydney Opera House was under construction for over 14½ years and cost nearly 14.6 times the original budget. That’s almost 11 years beyond the projected completion date and, in today’s currencies, the cost works out to nearly A$900 million/$790 million U.S.

Sydney Opera House up close

For that money the people of Sydney got a Concert Hall, an Opera Theatre, a Drama Theatre, a Playhouse, a Sound Studio for contemporary music, a Recording Studio, the Utzon Room (a party and function venue for rent; named after the designer of the Opera House, Danish architect Jørn Utzon), and the enormous open-air venue known as the Sydney Opera House Forecourt.

Outdoor vendors at the Forecourt

Most of the cost and construction time overruns can be attributed to the complexity of the enormous shells that roof the structure. It wasn’t until two years into the construction project that Mr. Utzon finally figured out how to engineer them. In the end, Mr. Utzon scrapped his original elliptical roof design and went with what basically amounts to fourteen shells that, if pieced together, would form a sphere.