Having enough rest from the other night, I was absolutely in great spirit and shape and couldn’t wait to see more of Sydney. I had a plan visiting more places and therefore I got up earlier at 5 am and having a breakfast at White Rabbit Charcuterie at O’Connel Street. I had an “egg your way” and it was pretty good dish. The place was also comfy and warm. The only thing I regret now is not having a bigger breakfast meal, perhaps a do-over some other time?
Here’s my itinerary on day-2 exploring Sydney:
Museum of Contemporary Art
After gaining much needed energy from the breakfast, I went to Museum of Contemporary Art. But since the Museum didn’t open until it was 10 am, I walked along the west side of circular quay and watched cruise ship embarked and disembarked its passengers. The walks ended around Campbell’s cove jetty, a perfect spot to see one side of Sydney’s harbour bridge. Though the weather was gloomy all day long, it didn’t rain and it was a nice walk after all.
around 10 am I went back to the MCA and so excited to see what’s the museum has. Contemporary Art Museum has been my interest everywhere I go and It didn’t disappoint at all. The collections vary from traditional to modern art collections, from painting, sculptures and abstracts.
I didn’t take as much picture as I would like, but here’s some of the exhibition piece that I took picture of. These are not my favourite piece of art from MCA and i didn’t know why i didn’t get any of my fave, but probably i was busy ogling it and forget taking picture of it.
Tips: It’s a must visit if you’re a fan of a contemporary Art and it’s Free! Allocate 2-3 hours if you are a contemporary art fans
Pylon Lookout
When I did a research about pylon lookout, I meant to go the lower spot or in the ground level. I didn’t know that it involves walking up the stairs to the top of the Sydney’s Bridge. Well to be fair, my search was only looking at the 2D google map of any spot that overlooking Sydney’s Opera House, and there I found Pylon lookout.
Back to that day, I found myself weighing whether to just passing the bridge, or should I climb towards “Pylon Lookout” and pay $19. I decided to give It a try and it was worth it.
The lookout is from on top of the eastern side of Sydney’s Harbour Bridge. I actually didn’t how I ended up there on the first place since I just follow the path and going up. To get there, go to the Cumberland Street, just before the Argyle’s Cut. There’s a stair to the upper level namely Bridge Stair. From there, keep walking on the direction to the bridge until you see the entrance to the South Pylon Museum. Pylon lookout is on top on that tower/museum, similar to tower bridge in London. The walk to the top is about 200 stairs with no lift. Along the way to the top, there are displays of the bridge’s history including its constructions detail and if you keep climbing, you will reach the top, where the lookout is.
As the tower given, the lookout is 360 degrees circling the square of the tower’s top. From there, Sydney landscape spread before you. I can see Sydney Opera’s House, The Rocks, circular quay with a giant Cruise ship docked at one of its piers, busy Sydney’s main highways, area around Campbell’s cove points, and Walsh Bay. But, what’s more interesting was I got to see some people who climbed the bridge. Yes, there’s the opportunity to climb the Harbour bridge with the only operator that is authorized to guide the climbed. It costs from $268-403 (Depends on how long do you want to explore the bridge). I was intrigued to try it, but decided to pass since I wouldn’t be able to take any picture anyway during the climb.
Pylon Lookout is such a great place if you want to get a 360 degrees views of the Sydney especially around the Circular Quay and Walsh Bay area. And it’s perfect to take a picture of Sydney’s Opera House from afar. I use Canon lens 18-135 and it perfectly capture the Opera House from the lookout. It was one of many highlights on that day.
Tips: It’s a good lookout point around The Rocks and Circular Quay. The access to the lookout is a paid access including entrance to the museum at $ 19 (on February 2020). Spend 1-2 hours to enjoy the view of Sydney
Barangaroo Reserve
What intrigued me about Barangaroo Reserve is the “rocky outcrop” and its overlooking Sydney’s Harbour bridge. Barangaroo Reserve is a new developed area and used to be a container terminal. Some part of the area is still under development till 2021 and it will include 5-stars-hotel and casino. But, the specific area that I visited is the park where the 75,000 native trees and thousands of sandstone blocks lay. On the right spot, you will get both picture of the sandstone block with the background of Sydney’s Harbour Bridge. It such a great place to have a morning walk or afternoon walk.
Tips: Great lookout point from Sydney Harbour Bridge and a great place for a leisure walk
Dawes Point
I continued walking toward northeast and arrived at Dawes Point, which is basically a perfect spot to get up close and personal with Harbour Bridge on its South side. It covers the area below the bridge until Campbell Cove Jetty. I didn’t go to Milsons Point (the area below the bridge on the opposite side). But, from the Dawes point, you can also see the Sydney Opera House
The Rocks Market
My initial plan was to have a sunset pic at the observatory hill, but turns out the sunset didn’t happen until 7 pm and it was gloomy all day, so I decided to take a quick look at the market on my way to Observatory hill. The market was very lively, so many vendors out in the street from Argyle st to George St. The goods sold are ranging from street foods, clothes, paintings, arts, crafts, souvenir, all made by locals. The street was packed and such a nice place to Hang out.
I had a dinner in Zia Pina Restaurant. It’s a small Italian restaurant on George Street which offering various of Italian menus including great pasta. I had Spinach and ricotta ravioli and it was soo delicious.
Sydney Observatory Hill
After dinner I managed to go back to Hotel for a while, fetching my tripod as i geared to take some night photoshoot. Then i went to Sydney observatory Hill. The hill offers unique view of Sydney Harbour Bridge. The park was quite packed with some couples shot wedding photos, while others just had a chill and a walk with their dogs. It was such a great place to relax with the view of Harbour bridge.
After some nice quiet time at Observatory hill, i went back to Dawes point reserve to get some night pics of Sydney Opera House.
It seems a lot of places to visit in one day i know, but all of those places are nearby and basically in the area of The Rocks and Circular Quay (as this post’s title indicates). It is why i sort of group these places in one day.
That’s all for day 2, see you at Day-3! if you have any questions just drop it in comments column.
