Hyde Park BarracksInfo

Hyde Park Barracks

A day out in Sydney - The Natural History Museum, The Government House in the Botanic Gardens, the Sydney Opera House and the Hyde Park Barracks
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Every so often Dale and I head of for a trip to Sydney, each time we try to go somewhere different and see something new. On this particular day we had decided to go to the Natural History Museum with our friends Greg and Julie and their son Kobe.
We got down there reasonably early in the morning as we throught we could have a look at a couple of other attractions that are in the same area.
The museum was great and had displays of animals, bugs, birds, dinosaurs and the like. There is also hands-on displays which were great for the kids. It also has some live exhibits, which put an interesting edge on things. I think Greg was of the illusion that there would be displays of Eygptian and other coutries artifacts and history and was a little disappointed, but he still said he enjoyed it anyway. Oh, don''t get separated from each other, we did and spent half the time trying to locate everyone.
The Museum is on the corner of William Street, opposite Hyde Park and the closest train station is Museum Station.
Our next port of call after exiting the Museum was across the road to Saint James Church which is a magnificent church constructed of sand stone and was erected by the convicts. It features many great stained glass windows and some beautiful wood work.
Further around, on Macquarie Street, there is the Hyde Park Barracks which were also erected by the convicts and where the convicts lived ontheir arrival to Sydney. The barracks have been reconstructed, where necessary, and now houses a very interesting musuem. The museum is all about the lives of the convicts, how they lived and what the barracks were used for after the convicts were no longer housed there. There is also passenger lists of people who were aboard the first ships to Sydney.
We then decided to keep walking down Macquarie Street to the Botanic Gardens and discovered that we were in time to take the last tour around the old Government House. This was Australias first Government House, which is now in Canberra, and has been the home of many of the Governor General''s for Australia. You will view many of their portraits as you are guided around the large mansion. The ballroom/reception room is most spectacular and has windows and doors that open out on to a great view of the harbour.
These doors are where you''ll part from the mansion and from here you can head down the glassed lawns to the Opera House that is situated at the end of the Botanic Gardens. We did not go in the Opera House, but wandered slowly around it''s external walls, taking in the views of the harbour and the harbour bridge. What a great way to end the day.
To get back to our car, parked near the Musuem, we got the train from Circular Quay back around to Museum Station.
By the time we had done all that and had driven the 2 hour drive back home to the coast we were dog tired. If you decided you want to do this make sure you get a early start and wear good walking shoes, as you''ll be doing a lot of the latter.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 100 101 102 | 103 | 104 | 105 | 106 | 107 | 108 | 109 | 110 | 111 | 112 | 113 | 114 | 115 | 116 | 117 | 118 | 119 | 120 | 121 | 122 | 123 | 124 | 125 | 126 | 127 | 128 | 129 | 130 | 131 132 | 133 | 134 | 135 | 136 | 137 | 138 | 139 | 140 | 141 142 | 143 | 144 | 145 | 146 | 147 | 148 | 149 | 150 | 151 152 153 154 | 155 | 156 | 157 | 158 | 159 | 160 | 161 | 162 | 163 | 164 | 165 | 166 | 167 | 168 | 169 | 170 | 171 | 172 | 173 | 174 | 175 | 176 | 177 | 178 | 179 | 180 | 181 | 182 | 183 184 | 185 | 186 | 187 | 188 | 189 | 190 | 191 | 192 | 193 194 | 195 | 196 | 197 | 198 | 199 | 200 | 201 | 202 | 203 204 | 205 | 206 | 207 208 | 209 | 210 | 211 212 | 213 | 214 | 215 216 | 217 | 218 | 219 220 | 221 | 222 | 223 224 | 225 | 226 | 227 228 | 229 | | 231 232 | 233 | 234 | 235 236 | 237 | 238 | 239 240 | 204 | 242 | 204 244 | 245 | 246 | 247 248 | 249 | 250 | 251 252 | 253 | | 255 256 | 257 | 258 | 259 260 | 261 | 262 | 263 264 | 265 | 266 | 267 268 | 269 | 270 | 271 272 | 273 | 274 | 275 276 | 277 | | 279 280 | 282 | 284 | 286 287 | 288 | 289 | 290 291 | 292 | 293 | 294 295 | 296 | 297 |