Australia 2016, Day 8 - The North Head, Harbour Views, Vivid Sydney

On Day 8, I woke up to my allergies causing me fits. Bummer! My plan had been to take the ferry to Manly and walk from Manly Beach around to the North Head and the Quarantine Station, and back down to the wharf. I was not about to miss out on a day out in Sydney, but I surely didn't feel like all that walking. So I decided to do an easier version of that plan. I started out on the Manly Ferry, enjoying the beautiful harbour, bridge, and Opera House on the cool and windy ride.

Three Sydney icons in one picture - the Opera House, the bridge, and the Manly ferry

Once in Manly, I took the local bus up to the North Head, where I set out walking around around what is known as the Fairfax Lookouts. Everything was so green, and the walk was really peaceful. I took it easy, stopping for pictures and eating a light picnic lunch along the way. At times it was like bushwalking, and I enjoyed seeing the strange plants and watching for cool birds. I was hoping to see a kookaburra, but no such luck. But the views back to the city were incredible, and the cliffs were spectacular!

The aboriginal people used the stalks of this plant to make their spears.

This plant was used to make brushes.

A grey butcherbird

These cliffs reminded me so much of Scotland!

You can see the Hornby Lighthouse on the South Head at the bottom of this picture.

Doesn't even look real!

Eventually I made my way back to the bus stop, took the bus back to the wharf, grabbed some seasoned chips from Nando's (yum!), and put my feet up to enjoy the ferry ride back to town. 

By this point I was almost worn out - my allergies were really bothering me. But I had plans to meet Stephanie and her coworker after work for a nice dinner, so I decided to push through and just watch the sunset over my two favorite Sydney icons. A Starbucks hot chocolate helped revive me a bit. I sat on the hill in the Botanical Gardens overlooking Circular Quay, read some travel brochures, looked at pictures and played with my camera until the sun set, the headed out to meet Stephanie.

Where are all the people?! I've never seen the Opera House this empty!

Day 8 pic of me with my Opera House

Starbucks, Sunset, and Sydney!

There is simply no such thing as a bad view in this city!

After a yummy steak dinner at The Meat and Wine Company, Stephanie, Beth and I decided to walk around and enjoy the Vivid lights. We only had one more night left in Sydney before leaving for the northern territory, so this was our last real opportunity to see Vivid in the Botanical Gardens. I think most of the people in Sydney decided to join us - it was SO crowded! But we made our way to the Cathedral of Lights, which I had seen during the day but not at night. It was so cool! The individual lights were actually little flowers, but together they formed an arched tunnel of white lights that led from Circular Quay into the gardens. The crowd was moving really slowly, because everyone was taking selfies and group pictures, and of course we joined in! I had seen a picture on instagram of the Opera House through the lights, and I wanted to try to duplicate it, but with the crowds it wasn't possible - I did get something close, though!

This is the instagram picture I was aiming for.

This is my version of the above picture. Not quite right.

I love this picture of Stephanie!

Despite not feeling my best, I was having a blast!

After the Cathedral of Lights, the Vivid walk led up the hill through the gardens to a couple of trees that had been turned into creative displays. The first one, called "Synthesis", featured a constantly moving 3D mapped projection. The second, called "Will o' the Wisps", featured an abundance of tiny lights that continually changed colors and made the gardens look like an enchanted forest.

Synthesis

Will o' the Wisps

And then we rounded the corner to this absolutely incredible sight - moving projections on the trees, spotlights shining up from the ground, and the back of the Opera House aglow. I was in awe!

This might be one of my favorite Sydney pictures this year.

Back in Circular Quay, Stephanie asked me if I wanted to walk up on a bridge to take pictures of the lights. Um, what kind of silly question is that?! Of course I do! I don't know how I didn't know this bridge above the ferry wharf was there, but if I had I certainly would have taken pics from there before that night. Anyway, we spent a good while "playing Barb" (as my friend Amy would say) on the bridge, enjoying the projection on the Opera House and the bridge lights, before returning to the crowds below for one last stop before calling it a night.

Our last stop of the night was around Circular Quay where I watched the Vivid lights on my first night in town. Canon had set up a large photo frame with the Opera House spectacularly displayed behind it. People could wait in line and have up to four photos taken in the frame, which would be emailed directly to you, then walk down to the Canon building and print them for free. Brilliant! You could actually print some of your own Vivid photos in a large format, but the line for that was insane, so we didn't bother with that part. The line to have our pictures taken was about 30 minutes, so we chatted, planned for our upcoming Kakadu trip, decided what we were going to do in the frame, and played with our cameras until it was our turn. After this, we set out for home - we were worn out!

We're cool!

Check out the Opera House behind us!

I HEART SYDNEY!