Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney

The Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney is located between Mrs Macquaries Point and Bennelong Point (Sydney Opera House). At its southern end it joins the Domain and Hyde park, producing a green strip of park land running from the harbor to almost the center of the city.

The Royal Botanic Gardens was originally the land of Cadigal Aboriginal people. In the late 1700's Governor Phillip used the land as his personal farm, thus the aptly named cove - between Mrs Macquaries Point and Bennelong Poit - Farm Cove. 

 

Walking into the Botanic Gardens from Sydney, one immediately notices the change in sound from the street noise, to the birds. Everywhere there are birds; and their calls are as hard to escape as car honks and crowds of the bordering metropolis.  Some of the endemic Australian birds at the garden include the White Ibis, Sulfur-crested Cockatoos and the Grey-headed Flying Foxes. 

White Ibis

Sulfur-crested Cockatoos

Grey-headed Flying Foxes

 The Grey-headed Flying Foxes are in fact bats. They sleep during the day, hanging in their coffin-like wings from the gum trees in the Garden. At dusk they awake from their slumber in a mass migration across the city and into to the coming night. I've seen this a few times, it's pretty cool. The Flying Foxes are found nowhere other than Australia. They are a threatened species of less than 50,000. 

My favorite of the birds at the garden are also the loudest. The Sulfur-crested Cockatoos amass here, bickering and squabbling amongst themselves, fighting over bits of food left by tourists. They are also the friendliest of the Garden animals. Give them a few crumbs and they'll crawl all over you for more! 

Besides the awesome Aussie Wildlife, the views are second great thing about the Royal Botanic Gardens. Walking along farm Cove to Mrs Macquaries Point, you get the best views of the Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge. Now I know where those sneaky post-card photographers get their good angles from! 

 But this spot was prized long before the post-card photographers found it, even before the opera House and the Harbor Bridge were even built. Back in 1810 a bench shaped seat was carved out of limestone here by convicts for Elizabeth, the wife of Governor Macquarie. Supposedly, she liked to sit here, waiting for the ships from England to enter the harbor. I had to try it myself. Unfortunately, no nineteenth-century English ships were to be seen, but I was entertained with a nice view of the harbor.

A day in the life

Currently, I live in the suburb of Stanmore, 6 kilometers (3.5 miles) from the center of the city of Sydney in the stae of New South Wales (NSW), Australia.

My days start here, in the quit neighborhood of Cavendish Street:

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 My room is located on the second floor of the building. For the first two months here in Sydney I've been living in a single room. Forgive the uncleanliness of the following photos:

My weekdays usually start with an early morning train ride to the city for classes at teh University of Technology, Sydney. Luckily, the Stanmore train station is very close to my house. 

From Stanmore it's about a 15 minute train ride to Central, the hub of the transport system in Sydney. Most trains going to the Blue Mountains and up and down the coast depart from here. Also, the main bus terminal is located outside the train station. 

Central from the outside

My school is very close to Central Station. Note the building in the background of the next photo taken at central: 

Walking to the university, I pass the hostel I stayed at for my first week here in Sydney, "Wake Up! Hostel". My room was a 10 bed, mixed room with 5 bunks, but it was very clean. There's a good bar in the basement of the hostel called side bar; every night of the week it's packed with backpackers partying:

Wake Up! Hostel

On my walk I also pass my favorite, and most frequented, cheap Thai restaurant -- Satang Thai; a very small building is cramped with 4 or 5 Thai cooks and waitresses and a few tables. It's almost faster than fast food orders here; even around lunch time they manage to whip up great meals fast. Chicken Pad Thai is my dish of choice.

The University of Technology, Sydney is the only University in the city to have its main campus in the central business district, or CBD. There is actually no campus, but rather, a string of buildings spread over a few blocks in the city. It is here that I am studying on exchange and spend most of my weekdays. I have class from Tuesday to Friday here, about three hours each day.

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Hyde Park Barracks

The Hyde Park Barracks, a world heritage listed site, is located at the end of Macquarie Street and Hyde Park in the city of Sydney. 

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 For the first 30 years of the convict colony of Sydney, the criminals were provided no housing and were left to fend for themselves after their mandatory work shifts. This led to the authorities having to roundup the prisoners to work, and a loss of productivity for the colony. In 1819 the fifth governor, Lachlan Macquarie -- a name inescapable in current street names, monuments and markers -- commissioned the building of a barracks to house the prisoners. 

Hyde Park Barracks

The old Sydney juxtaposed with the new Sydney

 The Hyde Park Barracks also has the oldest working clock in Australia! 

Interior working of the clock from inside the barracks

This impressive brick building was designed by convict architect, Francis Greenway who also built the St. James church around the same time, which is right across the street from the barracks -- the oldest continually used church in Australia.

ST. James Church

View of St. James church from inside the barracks

Outside the barracks, the deputy superintendent and guard house archeological sites are also on display:

Deputy Superintendent site

Guard House

 Inside the barracks, I joined a tour through the building. It only cost me five bucks because i'm a student: normal fee is ten dollars. 

1828 census of convicts at the barracks

Maybe my relatives were there?

 The barracks were renovated to represent what they would have been like during different periods in its history. The third floor was the convict level:

 One display had cardboard cutouts of convicts with the offenses they committed written on them. 

Tour guide showing us how many times this man was flogged

Lash for whipping

Iron shackles

 The second floor displayed the second stage of the Hyde Park Barracks. From 1848 until the end of the nineteenth century, the barracks was used to house women. The colony was mostly men for the first 50 years. In an effort to balance the sexes, the English government gave free passage to young Irish women left homeless from the Potato Famine and single English girls. The Hyde Park Barracks was the first home to many of these girls in the mid to late 1800's. 

Bonnet

A women inmate and a dentist in the 1800's

 In the 1970's the barracks underwent a massive renovation and archeological dig. A room full of small artifacts found litter a room full of cases:

Clay Pipes

Cloth

The final stop on the tour was the convict Sydney exhibit:

Panorama of old Sydney

Convict Sydney

The convict Hyde Park Barracks