Some pictures from our wanderings the last couple of days in Sydney.
We walked through the Royal Botanical Gardens on our way to Circular Quay. Australia has very few native succulents; they’re mostly from the Americas and Africa. But they thrive in the succulent garden here.
View of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge from the Royal Botanical Gardens:
We took the ferry to Manly Beach on Thursday. View of the Harbour Bridge. Note that you can see some bridge walkers starting their climb on the left side of the bridge.
View back from the ferry ride.
We stopped by the Sydney Public Library where they run an exhibit of selected photos from the Sydney Morning Herald over the past 12 months. The main library is a beautiful space complete with old-school card catalogs.
Since I’m always hungry we got meat pies from a classic food cart.
On Friday night, we went to the Sydney FC vs Melbourne City FC football (soccer) match. Sydney won the league last year, and is at the top of the table after 10 matches this year. Melbourne was sitting 3rd.
Heading in…
Sydney was strong in possession for the first five minutes, but Melbourne took over and dominated through most of the half. They had the best chances, including a 2-on-0 (!) break where the Sydney keeper made a brilliant save. Melbourne broke through in the 38th minute with a goal that was initially not awarded but given upon replay review. The ball hit the crossbar, deflected down, and hit inside the goal before bouncing back out (due to the spin on the ball).
It looked like Melbourne would take the lead into the half, but Sydney was awarded a free kick from just outside the box in the 45th minute and converted a beautiful shot to level the match. Then, in the closing moments of injury-time, a Melbourne defenser pulled down a Sydney player receiving a pass in the box giving Sydney a PK. They converted and took a 2-1 lead to the half.
Sydney was much stronger in the second half, and a frustrated Melbourne side took a red card in the 71st minute on an elbow to the head. This was also determined via replay. Sydney added a beautiful goal late in stoppage time to seal the 3-1 win.
