Nous quittons l’appartement à 8h, direction l’aéroport. Tout se passe bien malgré l’heure de pointe. Nous arrivons à 11h35 après 2h de vol.

L’île Hamilton fait partie de l’archipel des Whitsundays, un groupe d’îles dans le Queensland, à 900 km au nord-est de Brisbane. C’est une destination très touristique qui accueille 700000 touristes par an. C’est la porte d’entrée sud de la Grande Barrière de Corail. La plupart des installations sur l’île sont la propriété d’une et même famille, qui loue toute l’île à l’état. La grande majorité des batiments ont été construits dans les années 80.

Nous voici à nouveau dans un petit aéroport sous les tropiques. Pas de tourniquet, les bagages sont apportés dans des charriots. Et il fait CHAUD! 28 degrés, qui paraissent comme 35 avec l’humidité.

Presque tout le transport de passagers se fait par Buggy ici. On croirait que tout le monde s’est mis au golf… C’est rigolo, silencieux, ca ne pollue pas, les distances sont courtes. C’est parfait. Notre buggy est compris dans notre location.

Voici la résidence où se trouve notre location:

Nous nous installons dans notre appartement pour la semaine.

Les cacaduas nous accueillent. Ils se plaisent sur notre terrasse. Ils sont de partout dans les arbres, nous aurons l’occasion de les entendre aussi.

La plage est à deux pas…

La nuit tombe tôt sous les tropiques, à 18h environ. En soirée, nous allons faire un petit tour dans le coin et découvrons plusieurs belles piscines, la plage et les alentours. Demain, nous verrons cela de plus près.

We started our last day in Sydney by crossing the harbor bridge on foot

Approaching the other side we arrived at one of the two concrete pylons. Iseline really wanted to see what it was like on the top, so we entered and climbed the stairs:

There is a museum on the inside telling the story about the bridge.

The idea of building a bridge was born early in the 1800s, and many suggestions were made during that century. It was not until 1912 that things got serious, when a certain J.J.C. Bradfield (His name was John Job Crew Bradfield, perfect middle names for someone planning such a gigantic project) was appointed “Chief Engineer of Sydney Harbour Bridge and Metropolitan Railway Construction.” It would take him 20 years to get the bridge in place.

After a world war had slowed the project down a bit, he travelled around the world in 1921 to study different large bridges and get inspiration. In 1924 the contract to build the bridge was given by the government to Dorman Long and Co Ltd. of Middlesbrough at a quoted price of 4 217 721 Australian Pounds, 11 shilling and 10 pence. Bradfield managed the building process and the construction took until 1932. During the first years of the depression the bridge was called the iron lung, since it was one of the few places where it was possible to get a job.

Around 469 buildings had to be demolished to make room for the bridge. Most of them were homes and the people living there were not given any compensation. Pretty unthinkable today, and something that speaks loudly about how society has changed.

Interestingly enough the concrete pylons of the bridge serve no other purpose than aesthetic ones. They made the bridge look nicer, so they were included, at immense cost. That also probably hadn’t been done today and tells a different story about how society has changed.

When the bridge was opened in 1932 the world was in a period of stark political contrasts. Fascism and communism were making inroads in many societies. In Australia a fascist paramilitry group called the New Guard was gaining traction and probably had more than 50 000 members in Sydney alone. This group made serious plans of staging a coup and putting New South Wales under martial law. Even the mayor of North Sydney at the time, Alderman Primrose, was a member of the New Guard.

One of New Guard´s prominent members, Francis de Groot, forever wrote himself into the history books on March 19, 1932, when he stole the opening of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Just as the Premier, Jack Lang, was getting ready to cut the ribbon to officially open the bridge, Francis rode forward on his horse, cut the ribbon with his sword, and declared the bridge open “in the name of the decent and respectable people of New South Wales.”

He was promptly arrested and brought to a mental institution(!), but was soon released as the doctors found him sane. Charges were made, but it soon became a problem to figure out what he was arrested for. The New Guard had made sure that no laws had been broken.

He was first charged for carying a cutting weapon, but when he could prove that he was an officer in the millitary reserve and had the right to carry arms, that had to be dropped.

Then he was charged with offensive behavior, but that was only a crime on public land. Now, if an unopened bridge was considered private land, then he had committed no offense. If it was considered public property, and I love this one, then the bridge had to be considered part of the King´s highway. And by law, anyone then had the right to remove any obstacles, such as ribbons, blocking free passage on the highway. Francis´s lawyer must have had a field day.

In the end he was fined 5 pounds for trespassing. He sued the police back for wrongful arrest and 5000 pounds in compensation. An out-of-court settlement was reached and Francis got a 68 pound compensation and his confiscated ceremonial sword back.

Interestingly enough historians believe that Francis little show was such a symbolic blow to the establishment that it calmed the more radical elements of the New Guard and possibly stopped them from pressing for an immediate coup d’etat. It seems very remote today, but Australia was probably just an hour away from civil war between fascists and labor party supporters in May 1932.

The location of the sword was unknown for many years until, in 2004, historian Andrew Moore held a lecture in Dublin about Irish-Australian history, where he mentioned that the sword’s location was uknown. After the lecture a member of the audience came up to him and said “I think I can solve the mystery of the sword. I have it.” The man was Francis de Groot’s nephew. The sword was then snapped up by Paul Cave, the founder of the BridgeClimb company, for an undisclosed sum, right in front of the Australian National Museum (they had offered $10 000).

The company Paul Cave founded organizes climbs up to the top of the bridge. It is THE thing to do in Sydney and Helene and I did it when we were in Sydney almost 2 years ago. We could see people on the way up from the view point at the top of the pylon:

They were heading all the way up here:

Afterwards we walked through the district called “the Rocks” and stopped for some petits fours:

before we made our way into the central business district of Sydney.

By St. Mary’s cathedral there was a man making giant bubbles.

He even shared his recipe with us. Mix 1dl (3.4 fl. oz) of dishwashing liquid with 9dl (3.8 cups) of water. Add 1 tablespoon of glycerine and you are ready to go.

Cathedral without bubbles:

We continued walking and headed for the botanical gardens. We were getting tired by now, after about 5 km of city walking and needed some rest:

There were some great climbing trees:

Naïvely we didn’t even think that this might be a problem, until we spotted this sign on our way out of the gardens:

Oooops. Sorry.

Large bats were dangling from many of the treetops (are these OK, Gwen?)

We strolled down to the Opera and searched for new angles from which we could photograph this iconic building:

We took the ferry back home, full of impressions.

In the evening the boys and I took the ferry over to Darling Harbor. The bridge at night was an impressive sight:

I was in Sydney with Helene for just a couple of days almost 2 years ago. The new Star Trek movie was showing in the IMAX theater here, but there was just no way I could fit it into our schedule, since she was not interested in joining me. Awwwhhh.

This time, however, I made sure to include the IMAX theater. The only thing showing was the new TRON movie. Why not, at least it was sci-fi, and it was in 3D. The boys were thrilled to be able to go to the world’s largest IMAX theater:

For those of you who are ignorant non-geeks (ooops, sorry, I guess you are not supposed to insult your readers. Oh, what the heck, I’ll make an exception) I can explain that IMAX is a movie experience on a different level. The screen is more or less dome-shaped and the image is all around you. Coupled with out-of-this-world sound it is a movie freaks wet dream.

Eirik

—–

Beach day!

Beautiful Sydney morning mood as seen from our balcony:

Routinely we strolled down to the ferry stop. Sharon, Warwick et.al. were driving over to Manly, since they were leaving at around noon. Self portrait (and the Sydney central business district waterfront):

We chugged over to Circular Key to change ferry and take “the Manly fast ferry” (very creative name) to Manly. Finding out where it left was a challenge, the web site said wharf 6, but there was no information there. After inquiring with the locals we found out that it left just west of wharf 6, outside the whole ferry stop system, from a spot with no markings or information whatsoever. Strange, especially since the ferry only stops here briefly, en route from Darling Harbor to Manly.

The ferry arrived and people started getting off, and off, and off. After a couple of thousand people had gotten off the relatively small ferry, the boys and I started speculating that they had attached a large plastic tube to the boat on the other side, where people could enter the boat from a tunnel arriving under the water. Maybe we were on candid camera and the flow of people would never stop?

Finally on board, the catamaran ferry accelerated and after a short while we were flying along Syndey bay. We got some great views of the Opera from “the other side”:

and then the classic triple: Sydney central business district, the opera and the harbor bridge:

Manly is a suburb of Sydney, but really seems like a small town of its own. It is located 17 km (10.5 miles) from the center of Sydney and we covered the distance in a little over 15 minutes in this thing:

We strolled through the streets of Manly, with abundant shopping possibilities, until we reached the beach where we found our friends:

It was here that a certain William Henry Gocher claimed his 15 minutes of fame when he in 1902 swam in the middle of the day in defiance of local government regulations. In 1902 it was forbidden to swim during daylight hours for decency reasons. William wore a neck-to-knee suit, he was wise enough to not provoke more than necessary.

Man, the world has certainly changed over the past 100 years. It is simply mind-boggling how much social rules and ideas about decency have changed in some parts of the world the past century.

William must have been a PR pioneer, he staged the stunt to create buzz for his newly started paper “The Manly and North Sydney News.” Since the police did not stop him he repeated the stunt. Still no reaction, so he accused the authorities of being chickens. On the third attempt he was questioned by the police, but no charges were made. A year later the Manly council decided to allow all-day bathing, as the first place in Australia, provided that bathers wore a neck-to-knee costume, of course.

William didn’t seem to be successful in many other political or business aspects. His paper closed after a short time and his second paper started in Sydney a few years later suffered the same fate. He ran for a seat in the senate in 1901 and  ended up in 49th place, of 50 candidates.

But he did do this one thing which made him searchable on Google, remembered and written about on a blog 109 years after his stunt.

During the first full bathing season in 1903, the year after the ban was lifted, 17 people drowned on Manly beach. A year later a surf life saving club was formed to safeguard the public. Sounds like a good idea. This was possibly the first such club in the world.

The kids lived in the water all morning (Warwick and I count as kids), while the grownups suffered on the beach:

Us kids then built sandcastles

Peter demonstrates that very active children can also master the art of pure relaxation:

The buoyncy of the water made it possible for our teenager to sit on my shoulders one last time:

While we were building the sandcastles Peter came up from the water to show us what he had found. It was a bluebootle jellyfish. By chance he was holding it on the jelly part, which was only about 6-7 cm (3 inches) long, and he hadn’t touched any of the tentacles. Shame on me for not photographing it.

These cute looking jellyfish are known as Portuguese Man-of-War in other parts of the world. They can have tentacles up to 10 meters long. The tentacles are full of a nasty stinging venom that causes severe pain and causes red “whip” marks on your skin which lasts for 2-3 days. The tentacles are used by the bluebottle to kill small fish, shrimp etc.

Interestingly enough they are not one organism, but a whole colony of many small individuals of 4 different species. They live together in symbiosis and are so specialized none of them could survive alone. Nature is full of fantastic wonders.

They are very common here and more than 10 000 people are stung in Australia each summer.

Soon after a sign was set up by the lifeguard:

People continued bathing like nothing special was going on.

We said good-bye to Warwick, Sharon, Brooke, Harry and Peter. We will see them again in Brisbane.

After a good dose of ice-cream

we headed back to our apartment and some schooling.

Eirik

—–

Nous démarrons la journée en ferry, destination Darling Harbour cette fois. La baie de Sydney est magnifique sous le soleil.

Vue du ferry en direction de Lavender Bay.

Le centre d’affaires de Sydney:

Nous visitons tout d’abord Wildlife World et rencontrons plein de créatures plus ou moins sympathiques, mais bien australiennes.

Wildlife World et l’aquarium abritent une serie de modèles d’animaux et de personnages constuits en lego. Voici un “drover”, l’equivalent australien du cow-boy.

Les fourmis Red Bull peuvent mesurer jusqu’à 3 cm et sont équipées d’un venin pouvant causer des douleurs intenses pendant plusieurs jours.

Voici un dragon d’Australie (ou lézard à collerette). Il possède un large repli de peau qu’il déploie lorsqu’il se sent en danger. Il mesure jusqu’à 90 cm de long et sa collerette peut mesurer 30 cm de diamètre.

Le crocodile marin est avec le crocodile du Nil le plus grand et le plus puissant reptile actuel. Les plus gros spécimens atteignent jusqu’à 7m de long et peuvent peser une tonne. Ils vivent dans les marais et rivières à la saison des pluies et se déplacent vers les côtes à la saison sèche.

Un animal bien plus sympathique, le koala, était au rendez-vous, et il nous a fait le plaisir d’être réveillé.

Et bien-sûr, les kangourous:

Une jolie grenouille:

Le casoar à casque mesure 1,70m de haut et pèse jusqu’à 70 kg.

L’ornithorynque (platypus en anglais) est un drôle d’animal: c’est un mammifère semi-aquatique, qui pond des oeufs. Il a une bouche en forme de bec de canard, une queue et de la fourrure comme celles d’un castor et des pattes de loutre aux pieds palmés. C’est un animal nocturne et farouche.

Après Wildlife World, nous mangeons dans le port, les enfants jouent un peu et on termine par une bonne glace, avant d’attaquer la deuxième attraction du jour: l’aquarium.

Pas besoin d’aller au zoo pour voir cet oiseau, il y en a plein les parcs…

L’aquarium est trés beau, tout le monde se régale.

Iseline a trouvé Nemo. Si seulement il arrêtait de bouger…

Ca y est, je l’ais!

Les dugongs sont des mammifères marins herbivores, surnommés vaches marines, de la même famille que les lamantins. Ils peuvent mesurer entre 3 et 4 mètres de long et peser jusqu’à 900 kilos. Ils sont une espèce menacée et protégée.

Une plante ou un hippocampe? Joli camouflage… Saviez-vous que c’est une des rares espèces animales où le mâle porte les oeufs dans une poche ventrale?

Deux petites sirènes, une bien vivante, l’autre en lego.

Les dents de la mer…

Viktor en scaphandrier:

Une fois sortis de l’aquarium, nous prenons le monorail pour faire le tour du centre de Sydney sans se fatiguer, puis nous passons devant l’hôtel de ville…

et gagnons la Sydney Tower:

L’entrée est un peu cachée dans le centre commercial au pied de la tour. Ouverte au public en 1981, elle permet d’observer la ville à 250 m au dessus du niveau de la rue.

Vue sur Milsons Point, Lavender Bay et le nord de Sydney:

Une fois rentrés à Milsons point, nous savourons la vue de notre balcon en regardant passer les bateaux dans le port.

Encore une journée bien remplie. Demain, nous irons à la plage à Manly et misons sur le soleil.

Nous logeons dans un immeuble moderne à Milsons Point, tout près du pont, sur la côte nord du port. C’est un quartier très sympa où il reste encore quelques vieilles maison victoriennes.

Le fameux Luna Park de Sydney est sous nos fenêtres. Il a été construit en 1935 sur un site utilisé pour la construction du pont qui a été achevé en 1932. Le parc a été fermé et rénové plusieurs fois à la suite d’accidents et pour des raisons de sécurité. Il fonctionne toujours pendant les week-ends. Il est un des deux parcs d’attraction au monde à être enregistré aux Monuments Historiques. L’autre, vous l’aurez peut-être deviné, est le Tivoli Garden de Copenhague, où nous avons déjeuné pour notre mariage en 1992. Ca rappelle des souvenirs…

Nous prenons le ferry pour rejoindre Circular Quay, le quai principal pour les ferries de Sydney.

Les ferries de Sydney font partie du paysage dans la baie de Sydney avec leur 31 bateaux qui sillonent le port, depuis Manly à l’est jusqu’à Parramatta à l’ouest. Les passagers sont pour 50% des habitants de Sydney allant travailler, et pour 50% des touristes. C’est un moyen de transport très pratique même s’il existe des ferries express beaucoup plus rapides. La baie de Sydney est le plus grand port naturel au monde. Il y a plus de 70 plages dans la zone urbaine, y compris les célèbres plages de Bondi et Manly. La baie peut accueillir jusq’à 10000 bateaux.

Les touristes prêts pour leur journée.

Une première vue de l’opéra de Sydney. Il a été concu par l’architecte danois Jørn Utzon et inauguré en 1973. Il aura coûté 102 milllions de dollars australiens contre 7 millions prévus en 1957. Léger dépassement de budget…

Le centre de Sydney, avec Circular Quay au fond, au pied des buildings.

Circular Quay est l’emplacement même où les immigrants britanniques débarquèrent en 1788 pour fonder la première colonie européenne en Australie. L’endroit avait été découvert par James Cook (encore lui…) en 1770 et nommé Port Jackson. Il y avait alors entre 4000 et 8000 aborigènes vivant dans la région de Sydney. Les premiers habitants britanniques étaient des bagnards, puis vinrent des colons libres de plus en plus nombreux au fur et à mesure que l’on découvrait les richesses du pays. En 1920, la ville comptait déjà un million d’habitants.

A droite de la photo on appercoit The Rocks, le quartier le plus ancien de Sydney. Le grès des premiers bâtiments construits en 1788 donna son nom à ce quartier. C’était un quartier populaire fréquenté successivement par les marins, les prostituées et des gangs. Après plusieurs tentatives d’assainissement et de modernisation, des bâtiments anciens ont heureusement pu être conservés et restaurés. C’est aujourd’hui un lieu très touristique.

Le Sydney Harbour Bridge a été inauguré en 1932. Il est le 4ème pont à une arche le plus large du monde (504m).

La photo inévitable: la famille devant l’opéra de Sydney.

Sharon, Warwick, Brooke (10), Harry (7) et Peter (5).

Nous prenons un deuxième ferry pour aller au Zoo de Taronga, pour voir de près la faune australienne, et d’autres animaux.

Un koala dans son activité préférée: dormir! Il passe en moyenne 20h par jour à dormir, le reste du temps servant principalement à manger des feuilles d’eucalyptus.

Un wallaby n’est autre qu’un kangourou de petite taille. Anecdote: Il existe en France des wallabys à l’etat sauvage. Ils se trouvent dans la forêt de Rambouillet, qu’ils colonisent depuis qu’ils se sont échappés d’un zoo de la région parisienne dans les années 1970. Qui l’eut cru?

Le diable de Tasmanie est le plus gros marsupial carnivore encore vivant, et on ne le trouve plus qu’en Tasmanie. Il a la taille d’un petit chien, sait chasser mais se nourrit essentiellement de charogne.

“Laissez-moi manger ma salade tranquille, je suis de mauvaise humeur”,  dit le gorille…

Maman et bébé chimpanzé

Vous voyez le lynx?

Les dames giraffes:

“Ah, excusez-moi, je dois aller poudrer mon nez…”

Cet amphithéâtre sert pour les spectacles de rapaces. Le décor n’est pas mal.

Le plus gros ours brun, l’ours Kodiak, se trouve en Alaska. Sa taille est à peu près équivalente à celle d’un ours polaire. Il se nourrit principalement de saumon et de végétaux. Le mâle peut peser jusqu’à 750 kg.

Iseline fait un bien joli petit fennec…

Adrian et Viktor ont l’air féroce…

Timon le suricate, compère de Pumbaa dans le dessin animé Le Roi Lion.

Un joli lézard dragon:

Un pélican

Nous avons vu un beau spectacle de phoques et d’otaries. Les enfants ont évidemment adoré :o)

Et voici les petits manchots bleus, ou manchots pygmées, que nous n’avons pas vus en Nouvelle-Zélande. Ils ne mesurent qu’environ 35 à 40 cm et pèsent 1 kg.

Nous reprenons ensuite le ferry pour Circular Quay et Milsons Point. Petits et grands sont fatigués et prêts á se relaxer pendant le reste de la journée. Les enfants ont bien fait connaissance et s’entendent bien.