The Kirribilli House is the Australian Prime Minister’s official residence in Sydney. his is where the Indian Prime Minister had stayed when he toured Australia. It is one of the highlights in a cruise that took us around some of the most iconic places abutting Sydney. T
Some of the sights to behold were the view of the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge – a modern picture postcard. We went past national parks, forest reserves, the place where the Sydney Harbour Regatta is hosted and we soaked in how an unknown aboriginal land was fast-tracked into a modern society.
We saw the place where the Kangaroo route originated.
If one were to fly from London to Sydney today, it takes about 22-25 hours via Singapore or Dubai.
What was the scene in 1947? Onboard were ten crew, including three pilots, one navigator, one radio operator, two flight engineers, and three cabin crew. They looked after just 29 passengers who paid the equivalent of US$26,000 to fly from Sydney to London. Travel time was around 58 hours, with stops at Darwin, Singapore, Calcutta, Karachi, Cairo, Castel Benito, and Rome. This hopping route was aptly named after the national animal of Australia.
While there was a lot to admire, the cruel, gore-filled story of whaling was disturbing. The rapid industrialization of the 1800s and 1900s demanded oil and hardened material for lighting, lubrication, umbrellas, corsets, etc. Whales were mercilessly hunted off the Australian coast (much like in Avatar: The Way of water where they drill the whale’s brain to get a fluid that stops aging)– in all, close to 2,00,000 whales were killed till commercial activity was stopped as the world realized that the whales were on the verge of extinction.
While this numbed us, the coastal walk from Coogee to Bondi Beach pumped us up. Imagine a walk where you are walking adjacent to the most pristine beaches to your right and some well-manicured parks, lawns and cafes with exciting food to your left. The 6 KM walk that takes between 2 and 3 hours is a must-do if one remotely likes adventure or scenic beauty. Most interesting is the concept of icebergs. No, we are not referring to what sank the Titanic. Many of us have experienced infinity pools – where the swimming pool optically merges with the sea.
Now, replace that swimming pool in the hotel with a pool that is adjacent to the sea – a pool formed naturally where the waves don’t disturb you -that is an iceberg and we saw plenty of them on the walk.
The other noticeable thing – the surfers. From a distance, the sea seemed filled with a lot of black specs, bobbing up and down with the waves. Go closer and you saw hundreds of surfers enjoying a fantastic water sport.
If the beaches were hot (in all ways possible), a place about 60 KM from Sydney, called the Blue Mountains was freezing cold and a mist-laden mountain (one of the three sisters- the name given to the peaks) gave us a feeling of seeing the floating mountains of Avatar.
How do you make an already beautiful city even more gorgeous? By lighting it up.
Every year in May/ June, Sydney decks itself in various lights that make the city radiant and beautiful. Every iconic building – (the harbor bridge, opera house, and Grand Central Railway station are examples) looks astoundingly beautiful. As you walk on the walkways around the harbour, you are awash with lights and mesmerized by its beauty.
Hope the photos give an idea of the beauty, but they don’t do justice to what it really feels like on the ground.
This is the penultimate part of the Australia 2023 travelogue. Hope you are enjoying this journey.
