Touring Sydney Feb. 14

Saturday, February 14

We spent the day today with Sheila and Peter Philippsohn who were so amazingly kind to set the whole day aside to show us Sydney.  We began by taking one of the ferries at the harbor to a stop near their home where they picked us up.  Of course there was yet another wonderful view of the opera house as we departed downtown Sydney. 

Our first stop was Vauclose House, the extensive home and gardens of William Charles Wentworth who bought the house in the early 19^th c. and expanded it and created wonderful gardens.  Wentworth was an early explorer and politician and the house and grounds are lovely:

Sydney Harbour is geographically very much like San Francisco Bay, enormous, with a narrow sea opening, so all the water within the bay is protected from the ocean.  We had noted multiple small coves and inlets on our ferry ride and we visited one, Parsley Bay, which is typical of many.  There is a fine sand beach with a park behind it which included a playground.  According to Sheila and Peter there are many small beach parks like this which are well used:

We drove up to Gap, a dramatic cliff over the ocean with a path to the top.  We walked the path which has been bordered by a very tall fence in an attempt to discourage the many suicides which have taken place here. 

From there we went to the headlands, the opening from the bay to the ocean.  This is the view from the South Head looking across to the north:

And then we went to famous Bondi Beach, a true happening place.  Bondi Beach is on the ocean, so there is surf and surfers as well as large numbers of people enjoying the amazingly fine sand. 

After lunch we drove further south to Botany Bay, another enormous bay which was actually the first landing place of Captain Cook.  As there was no fresh water there, he abandoned that site and moved north to what is now Sydney Harbor.  After looking at Botany Bay we went back towards downtown Sydney and walked the lovely Royal Botanic Gardens before resting for a couple of hours at our hotel and then going out again with Sheila and Peter for a delicious Lebanese dinner.

Peter has had a number of prominent leadership roles in the Sydney Jewish community and we drove past a number of Jewish schools and synagogues.  It was sobering to hear of the very large sums of money which have been spent on security for these sites, security which we at home in Rochester don’t feel the need for.  There are huge (and ugly) bomb-proof walls, extensive fencing and video systems, and armed guards at the schools and synagogues when they are in operation.  Often there are multiple armed guards for each facility.  We discussed the contrast between the openness of our Rochester schools, synagogues and our JCC and the intense level of security at similar sites here.  We were unable to conclude whether they’ve overdone things or whether we’re terribly naïve.  But it was a dramatic contrast.