Early start for the boys today as they wanted to be in Sydney Centre before the other tourists would arrive.
Like with every other big City the drive into the city centre is always hectic and quiet nerve wrecking even with the huge assistance of a navigation system. One wrong turn and it sets the team back for some time and a few U-turns become unavoidable.
Sydney is big and was actually established by prisoners…
Captain Philip led the First Fleet of 11 ships and about 850 convicts into Botany Bay on 18 January 1788, though deemed the location unsuitable due to poor soil and a lack of fresh water.
He travelled a short way further north and arrived at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788.
This was to be the location for the new colony. Phillip described Port Jackson as being “without exception the finest harbour in the world”.
The colony was at first to be titled “New Albion” (after Albion, another name for Great Britain), but Phillip decided on “Sydney”.
The official proclamation and naming of the colony happened on 7 February 1788. Lieutenant William Dawes produced a town plan in 1790 but it was ignored by the colony’s leaders. Sydney’s layout today reflects this lack of planning.
Between 1788 and 1792, 3,546 male and 766 female convicts were landed at Sydney—many “professional criminals” with few of the skills required for the establishment of a colony.
The food situation reached crisis point in 1790. Early efforts at agriculture were fraught and supplies from overseas were scarce. From 1791 on, however, the more regular arrival of ships and the beginnings of trade lessened the feeling of isolation and improved supplies.
Today Sydney, capital of New South Wales and one of Australia’s largest cities, is best known for its harbourfront Sydney Opera House, with a distinctive sail–like design. Massive Darling Harbour and the smaller Circular Quay port are hubs of waterside life, with the arched Harbour Bridge
The biggest problem was to find parking for Lipstick,and it took almost 45 minutes before a suitable undercover parking close to the opera house could be found whereafter the boys proceeded to book a harbour tour with one of the many tourist boats.
Unfortunately, Lipstick was not allowed to park in front of the Opera house but had to find suitable undercover parking (2.35m min height) in close proximity.
Here some interesting facts about The Sydney Opera house
- Sydney Opera House sits on Bennelong Point. Bennelong Point was named after Woollarawarre Bennelong, a senior Eora man at the time of the arrival of British colonisers in Australia in 1788.
- The original cost estimate to build Sydney Opera House was $7 million. The final cost was $102 million, and it was largely paid for by a State Lottery.
- 233 designs were submitted for the Opera House international design competition held in 1956. Jørn Utzon from Denmark was announced the winner, receiving ₤5000 for his design.
- Construction was expected to take four years. It took 14 years. Work commenced in 1959 and involved 10,000 construction workers.
- Paul Robeson was the first person to perform at Sydney Opera House. In 1960, he climbed the scaffolding and sang Ol’ Man River to the construction workers as they ate lunch.
- Sydney Opera House was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2007
- There are more than 1 million roof tiles covering approximately 1.62 hectares sitting over the structure. They were made in Sweden.
- Seven A380s could sit wing-to-wing on the site.
- Sydney Opera House was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 20th October 1973. She has since visited four times, most recently in 2006.
- When the Sydney Symphony Orchestra is on stage in the Concert Hall, the temperature must be 22.5 degrees to ensure the instruments stay in tune. Temperature and humidity are critical to musical instruments.
And the other icon of Sydney – the harbour bridge is so close by
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a heritage-listed steel through arch bridge across Sydney Harbour that carries rail, vehicular, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic between the Sydney central business district (CBD) and the North Shore.
The dramatic view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is an iconic image of Sydney, and Australia itself. The bridge is nicknamed “The Coat hanger” because of its arch-based design.
Under the direction of Dr John Bradfield of the NSW Department of Public Works, the bridge was designed and built by British firm Dorman Long and Co Ltd of Middlesbrough and opened in 1932.
The bridge’s design was influenced by the Hell Gate Bridge in New York City. It is the sixth longest spanning-arch bridge in the world and the tallest steel arch bridge, measuring 134 m from top to water level. It was also the world’s widest long-span bridge, at 48.8 wide, until construction of the new Port Mann Bridge in Vancouver was completed in 2012
Team Lipstick is proud to have driven over the famous bridges in San Francisco, Vancouver and now Sydney. Not many cars have accomplished this task.
The shoreline of Sydney is lined with the most expensive property Australia has to offer and even the prime minister’s official home can be seen opposite the opera house.
Cannon-Brookes, the co-founder of software company Atlassian, has reportedly paid $100m for the historic 1.12 hectare estate on Sydney harbour in 2018
After a great meal on Sydney’s shoreline and another hectic drive out of the city Team Lipstick hit the Pacific Highway.
The Pacific Highway is a 790-kilometre-long national highway and major transport route along the central east coast of Australia, with the majority of it being part of Australia’s national route 1.
The highway and its adjoining Pacific Motorway between Brisbane and Brunswick Heads and Newcastleinks the state capitals of Sydney in New South Wales with Brisbane in Queensland, approximately paralleling the Tasman Sea of the South Pacific Ocean coast, via Gosford, Newcastle, Taree, Port Macquarie, Kempsey, Coffs Harbour, Grafton, and Ballina.
The highway stops short of the Queensland Gold Coast where the highway has been diverted as a motorway and the former highway subsequently renamed as the Gold Coast Highway.
Late afternoon the boys arrived in Newcastlea harbour city in the Australian state of New South Wales. Its plentiful beaches are linked by the Bathers Way, a coastal walk stretching between Nobbys Beach and Merewether Beach.
