SydneyNightLights

SydneyNightLights
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001-Jackaranda a beautiful jacaranda tree in the front lawn at the Ayling's house in suburban Sydney 002-JackarandaBlossoms Jacaranda blossoms 003-JackarandaGarden Fallen jacaranda petals littered amongst the white stones of the garden 004-JackarandaTree There were heaps of jacaranda trees like this throughout Sydney, and they only bloom for a couple weeks, so I managed to hit Sydney at the right time ... there weren't any trees like this down in Melbourne, that's for sure 005-Jackaranda Jacaranda 006-JackarandaDandelions Jacaranda petals and dandelions 007-BlueMtns Early in the afternoon I decided to take a drive out to Katoomba, about an hour west of Sydney in the Blue Mountains 008-WhiteFlowers White flowers 009-Katoomba A eucalyptus tree in the fog 010-FoggyLookout I came to Katoomba to see the Three Sisters rock formation, but by the time I got up to Katoomba it was so foggy you couldn't see 10 meters in front of you ... this placard contains an etching and description of what should be visible out there, but is instead shrouded in dense fog 011-EchoPoint Echo Point in Katoomba, where the Three Sisters viewing platform is 012-AnzacBridge Anzac Bridge in Sydney 013-OperaHouse My first glimpse of the Opera House from the ground ... Ben and a bunch of his buddies took me into Sydney that night to see the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge and all that, but we were driving around for an hour or so looking for a parking spot 014-SydneyOperaHouse Sydney Opera House 015-OperaHouse-Bridge Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge, viewed from Mrs Macquarie's Chair in the Sydney Botanic Gardens 016-OperaHouse-Bridge The Opera House and Harbour Bridge 020a-Pan Opera House 020b-Pan Opera House & Harbour Bridge 020c-Pan Harbour Bridge 017-Bridge Sydney Harbour Bridge 020d-Pan Sydney 018-OperaHouse-Bridge Awesome view from Mrs Macquarie's Chair 019-DowntownSydney Downtown Sydney 020-Leaves-Harbour Leaves framing the Opera House and Harbour Bridge 021-SydneyOperaHouse Sydney Opera House 022-SydneyHarbourBridge Sydney Harbour Bridge, or 023-HarbourBridge Harbour Bridge 024-OperaHouse Opera House 025-City Sydney 026-Tiles Tiles of the Opera House 027-Bridge Old Coat Hangar ... I didn't climb the bridge, partly because I was only in Sydney for three nights (and thus decided to spend my scant time doing other things), and partly because it costs A$165 to climb 028-OperaHouse Opera House 029-Shadows Shadows on the Opera House roof 030-Tiles Tiles 031-OperaHouse Opera House 032-Bridge-OperaHouse Harbour Bridge & the Opera House 033-OperaHouse Sydney Opera House ... inside one of the sections of the Opera House there was a wedding reception going on that night ... now *that* had to cost a pretty penny! 034-City Sydney 035-SydneyHarbourBridge Sydney Harbour Bridge 036-SydneyOperaHouse Sydney Opera House 037-Dock A dock next to the Opera House 038-Bridge Viewing the Bridge from beside the Opera House 039-Jared-SydneyHarbourBridge Proof that I was actually there! 040-Bridge-Lights Bridge and some nice lamps 041-City-Lights Sydney, as viewed from the walkway next to the Opera House 042-Jared-Sydney It was so awesome actually being in Sydney at night seeing all this stuff :-) 043-Jared-HarbourBridge Me in front of the Harbour Bridge 043-Jared-Bench Me, admiring the Harbour Bridge 044-Bridge-1sec A snapshot of the Sydney Harbour Bridge with my camera set to a 1 second exposure time ... compare it to the next picture, which has a 4 second exposure time 045-Bridge-4sec What a difference a 4-second exposure makes! 046-HarbourBridge Sydney Harbour Bridge, in all its resplendence 047-OperaHouse Opera House 048-OperaHouse Sydney Opera House, with some outdoor cafes on the harbourfront in the foreground 049-SydneyOperaHouse Sydney Opera House 050-Harbour Harbour 051-NorthShore North shore of the harbour 052-HarbourBridge Harbour Bridge 053-Pylon A pylon for the bridge 054-CircularQuay Circular Quay 055-HarbourBridge Sydney Harbour Bridge 056-OperaHouse Sydney Opera House 057-OperaHouse Opera House 058-Harbour Sydney Harbour 059-Bridge Sydney Harbour Bridge ... I know I took a lot of pictures of just the Bridge or just the Opera House, but I couldn't take my eyes off them :-) 063-Fireworks-good We were starting to leave around 10pm, when all of a sudden we heard the boom of fireworks!  So I dashed over to a railing and started taking tons of photos on the 3.2-second exposure setting 065-Fireworks Fireworks at Sydney Harbour! 070-Fireworks-good As you can see from this picture fairly well, they were launching the fireworks from a couple of barges out in the harbour 071-Fireworks-good I had strongly considered staying Down Under until early January, just so that I could see the fireworks at Sydney Harbour on New Year's Eve, which I've always thought is the world's most beautiful fireworks display, but I realized that I didn't have the money to stay an extra two weeks (my plane tickets were to return to the States from New Zealand on Dec 20th) ... as soon as the fireworks I got tears in my eyes and started saying 073-Fireworks-good I was later told that seeing fireworks there is exceedingly rare, that they usually only have them for Australia Day and Anzac Day, but we also found out later that it was a practice run for the fireworks show that was set to take place the following night for the Australian Idol Grand Final, which was to be held at the Sydney Opera House 074-Fireworks-good Fireworks at the Sydney Harbour Bridge! 075-Fireworks-good Fireworks 076-Fireworks-good Fireworks 078-Fireworks-good Fireworks over Sydney Harbour! 079-Fireworks-good Fireworks! 080-Fireworks-good Fireworks 081-Fireworks-good Fireworks at Sydney Harbour Bridge 082-Fireworks-good I did take quite a few more fireworks pictures than this (the display went on for at least 10 minutes!), but these were the ones that didn't turn out blurry 083-HarbourBridge-Palms Sydney Harbour Bridge and some palm trees ... Sydney really is spectacular at night!