The entry to the park overlooks the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. As you walk along the outer edge of the park you are given the gift of many beautiful views of these majestic city landmarks. The park contained many different gardens, gazebos and statues. On the furthest most point sits Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair. It was here that she sat waiting for her husband’s ship to return. It is simple cut out in the rocks with a lovely view out into the harbor. While I haven’t researched the entire story yet, a tour guide in the park told us she sat there waiting for her husband to return from a trip that he never came back from.
One of the things you see in a park like this is wild life you don’t see less than a few feet away in the city. In the city you have your standard sea gulls and pigeons working the tourists for hand outs. But once you enter the park, a whole new world of birds appears. It was here that we saw a beautiful white cockatoo, black and white Magpie’s, bright green Lorikeet’s and a host of other birds. One of the most interesting inhabitants of the park is the giant fruit bats that hang from the trees in the “rainforest” section of the park. These furry bats were everywhere (literally hundreds of them). They hung from the trees sleeping, flew with huge wing spans and wrestled in the trees for a good place to “hang out”.
As we were leaving the park it became lunch hour and runners of Sydney took to the streets for their lunch hour runs. It seems the loop around the park is a very popular running path. It also appears that the runners think they own the roads. They trot through park like a pack of wildebeests. While we did our best to avoid any undue collisions, the thought of getting in some body checking practice while I am away from the ice was never far from my mind.
Our visit to the park ended with a nice lunch and a visit to Sydney Hospital. No, no one was hurt or sick. The Sydney Hospital is the home to the Australian Porcellino. Yes, the world famous pig has sister replicas around the world. I didn’t realize this when we visited the original in Florence a few years ago. When we were in Florence we rubbed the Porcellino’s nose and hoped for good luck. We got that luck right after that trip when we conceived Siena. As fate would have it, our first big family vacation last year brought us to the Porcellino in Munich, Germany. This year it brought us to the Porcellino in Sydney, Australia. I guess this is quickly becoming a family tradition. Siena already knows just what to do when she sees the wild boar; she reaches out and rubs the nose.
After a beautiful visit to the gardens, we circled back to get an up close visit with the Opera House. It is as impressive as it looks in the pictures. A very unique landmark, it is home to two great concert halls and a restaurant. We spent time at the Opera House but passed on the tour this visit. We did however get to appreciate the great acoustics of the hall as Siena sang to us. We ended our visit to the Opera House with a quick snack and some more ferry boat watching.
For dinner we decided to enjoy the amazing views from our room and brought in some dinner and Australian wine to end our day. A few chocolate macaroons from the Guylian chocolate shop and our day was complete; and completely fun!
