It was time to say farewell to Will and to have a few days in Sydney before leaving Australia. The train is an easy way to avoid the traffic and a long drive so I headed off to Central Station and found my way to my big American chain hotel right on Hyde Park.
In my previous visits to Sydney I spent more time on the waterfront, so Hyde Park and St Mary’s Cathedral were new areas to explore. Hyde Park is the oldest public parkland in Australia and is 40-acres of well-kept gardens and pathways. I did wonder about the signs that suggested not visiting the park after a rain in case of “tree failure”. Must be an Aussie thing. At one end is the ANZAC memorial and a reflecting pool, and a tree-lined path to the Archibald Fountain and the Nagoya gardens and life-size chess set. To the east is St Mary’s Cathedral.
Designed by William Wilkinson Wardell, the Cathedral is among the most elegant architecture of the mid 19th Century. It is heavily influenced by the Gothic Revival design prevalent at that time in Catholic churches all over Europe. It is highly ornate with flying buttresses which flank the eastern and western facades with intricately carved pinnacles throughout. Although the style had European origins, Wardell used Australian native flora throughout as decorative elements and to link it to its surroundings, and used the local yellow-block sandstone. It was officially opened in 1900.
And that’s it for the first half day in Sydney.
