Sydney Visit

The Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge

We have just returend from a three day jaunt to Sydney.  We decided to take advantage of the last public holiday of the year in Queensland (Show Day), and make a long weekend in Sydney.  This was our second trip to Sydney and we absolutely loved it!  We had mixed weather, so we tried to take advantage of the sun when it was shining, and of indoor things when it was raining.

On our first day we visited the NSW Art Gallery to see an exhibit of pre-WWII art.  We had no idea, but there was a huge artists' movement in Germany in the 1920s and early 1930s, that was completely anti-facsist, anti-Nazi and anti-Hitler.  There were posters and sculptures mocking the Nazi movement and portrayals of Hitler and Goebbels as murderers.  The most amazing thing is that the majority of the artists that created these statements knew enough to get out of Germany before 1938, and most of them continued their careers in exile.  It was a fascinating exhibit.

A house as wide as a kayak (yellow kayak in the centre of the photo)

We took advantage of a sunny day and went on a morning "coffee cruise" of the Sydney Harbour.  The cruise took us to the highlights of the harbour, with great views of the bridge and Opera House and into a number of the smaller harbours.  Some of these harbours are where the most expensive real estate in Sydney is located.  There are lots of 1960s condos that don't look like much from the outside, but look out at quite a bit from the inside, making them worth millions of dollars.  Every square metre of land is used and our favourite place was a four story condo, only as wide as a kayak, wedged between two larger developments.  If you have an extra $9 million lying around, you may be able to buy it!

Our favourite discovery on this trip was the statue of Matthew Flinders' cat, Trim!  Matthew Flinders was an explorer in the late 1700s - early 1800s, who circumnavigated Australia.  He had a shipboard cat named Trim, to whom he was devoted.  Trim was a constant companion of Flinders and even stayed with him when Flinders was taken prisoner on the island of Mauritius, where Trim disappeared.  When Matthew Flinders returned to England he wrote a tribute to Trim, which is on a plaque near the Trim statue:

"The best and most illustrious of his race.  The most affectionate of friends, faithful of servants, and best of creatures.  He made the tour of the globe, and a voyage to Australia, which he circumnavigated, and was ever the delight and pleasure of his fellow voyagers."

Trim Statue

That was one beloved cat!