Thursday 25th March

Our first day in Sydney was spent in the area local to our hotel, which is in easy walking distance of Darling Harbour. This is an area buzzing with waterside cafes and all sorts of boats. We started by going to the aquarium, which was one of Ben’s ‘must do’ list. It was quite a relief to be inside in the air conditioning as it was hot and humid outside. Here, with lots of schoolchildren milling around, we saw every kind of fish and water animal to be found in Australia. Of particular interest was the shark area, where not only sharks, but other types of large fish are swimming all around you as you walk through a glass tunnel. Unfortunately the platypus was hiding somewhere so we were unable to see it. Hopefully we will get a chance to see one at another time.
Next door to the aquarium is the Wildlife World which has every conceivable kind of Australian animal. Here we found spiders, snakes (one of which is on Liz’s arm), a huge crocodile, kangaroos, a kookaburra, a cassowary and koala bears.
After doing 2 circuits on the monorail we walked around the harbour area. One of the striking ships is a replica of Captain Cook’s ship - the Endeavour, which is outside the maritime museum.