The South Steyne Floating Restaurant
South Steyne floating restaurant, Darling Harbour, Sydney
The South Steyne is one of Sydney’s old ferries. We passed it while walking through Darling Harbour on our recent holiday in Sydney. It is permanently moored there now and is used as a floating restaurant and function centre. It has a long an interesting history. The following is taken from its website:
The S.S. South Steyne is a 224′ (70 metre)
long steamship making it the world’s largest operational steam ferry. Built in Leith, Scotland for the Port Jackson and Manly Steamship Company, the South Steyne was launched on April 1st, 1938 and on July 7th 1938, it steamed the 22,000 kilometres to Australia arriving on September 19th the same year. The South Steyne has been an icon of Sydney since 1938. As the famous Manly ferry, it crossed between Circular Quay and Manly over 100,000 times over its 36 years, carrying well in excess of 92 million passengers.
You can read more about this ferry on its website here.
Sydney Mono Rail
Mono Rail, Darling Harbour, Sydney
A few years ago while on a holiday in Sydney my wife and I took a ride on the mono rail. We didn’t go on it on our most recent trip to Sydney. Instead we walked under it so I was able to get several good shots of this transport system.
The Sydney Mono Rail takes passengers through some of the CBD and links with several railway stations on the subway system. It also links with both trains and light rail trams at Central Station.
This is an excellent way of seeing some of the highlights of the city, with stops at some of the main features of interest, such as Darling Harbour where I took these photos.
Mono rail, Darling Harbour, Sydney
Sydney Harbour Water Taxis
Water taxi on Darling Harbour, Sydney
One of the fascinating things about places like Sydney Harbour is the constantly moving water traffic. There are boats of all sizes, from great sleek cruise ships with several thousand passengers through to small dinghies with one passenger out fishing. And everything in between. All shapes and sizes, colours and purposes.
One of the common types on Sydney Harbour are the water taxis, like the one shown above. This morning I checked out some websites because I knew very little about them. The few companies I checked out claimed that they will pick up passengers almost anywhere, including beaches. They will likewise take you almost anywhere on the harbour much faster than public transport or even driving there yourself.
That’s probably true and they do look very convenient. There’s only one catch: you need a very deep pocket as they are relatively expensive. Yes – they might be quick, but it will cost you. Mind you, it would be a great way to have a private cruise of the harbour if you had a large group of people, say 20-30 to share the cost.
Birds at the Sydney Fish Markets
Silver Gull, Sydney Fish Markets
Australians a quite used to having Silver Gulls watching them as they eat picnic lunches, especially if any seafood is on the menu. While we were eating our lunch in the picnic area on the wharf at the Sydney Fish Markets, several Silver Gulls kept a close eye on our food, especially the individual shown in the photo above.
He went hungry.
At least we didn’t feed him anything. Others in the vast crowd may have been more compassionate and shared their lunch.
A very bold White Ibis patrolled the footpath between the rows of tables where hundreds of people were eating. This species has become a pest in many picnic areas. They are not afraid of people and frequently hop on to picnic tables and grab food off your plate. Cheeky blighters.
Some people might think this behaviour as cute, or amusing. For a little child it can be very intimidating and downright frightening.
More docile were several hopeful Australian Pelicans cruising near the wharf.
Silver Gull, Sydney Fish Markets
Lunch at the Sydney Fish Markets
Picnic tables at the Sydney Fish Markets
After exploring the various parts of the Sydney Fish Markets we all settled on one outlet where we could buy our lunch. Hundreds of other people had the same idea even though it was getting on in the afternoon. I guess a place like this is very popular at all times. It took us nearly a hour to get our food – but the wait was really worth it.
Another problem was finding a place to sit down to eat. While the ladies of our party ordered and paid for our lunch, my son and I “patrolled” the picnic area on the wharf. There must have been well over a hundred picnic tables, each seating 6-8 but all were occupied. The lawn area adjacent was also very crowded.
Eventually we decided to “hover” next to a group of people who had almost finished, and “swooped” on the seats faster than a seagull grabbing a hot chip when the table was vacated. It was just in time – our lunch arrived five minutes later.
Naturally we all had seafood. The general feeling was that the food was well worth waiting for. There is nothing like Australian seafood freshly caught and cooked well.
Delicious.
My daughter taking a photo of me, Sydney Fish Markets