#syd0719

[rorytait]

Coastal views

Within the harbour, looking towards North Sydney

Rose Bay Seaplanes

South Head

Hornby Lighthouse at South Head

Looking out to the Tasman Sea

At the North Bondi Rocks

Bondi itself

The famous Bondi Icebergs Pool

The rocks & bath at Bronte

Waverley Cemetery

Waves hitting the concrete beach at Clovelly

[rorytait]

Blue Mountains

While in Sydney in 2019, I had the pleasure of a little weekend away up in the Blue Mountains with two of my good friends. Here's a handful of photos from then.

[rorytait]

Wandering in Sydney

[rorytait]

Taronga Zoo

Okay, so I'm generally not much of a zoo person because:

1) too many kids, and 

2) too many animals

but I made an exception for Taronga Zoo seeing as it is in such an awesome location, and because I went with two of my good friends, Tomm & Pat. 

You simply cannot deny that some of the best views in Sydney can be found at Taronga Zoo, and then add on the fact I had a brand new 55-210mm lens to play around with – I ended up having the best time I've ever had in a zoo.

We started the day with the Bird Show, which was quite challenging to take photos during seeing as I have very little experience with bird photography. None-the-less I think the first two shots in this post were my favourite. 

Then it wouldn't be an Australian zoo if there weren't a ridiculous number of kangaroos, so we had to take a look at them, just soaking in the run and nibbling on leaves.

Later on,  we found ourselves taking yet more photos of birds – thought I found these ones much easier to take, the main struggle being the relative darkness in the tree-covered aviaries, and the fading afternoon sun. 

This little wallaby was hanging out on the rocks among the birds, and posed perfectly for a portrait.

While the light may have been fading, by the late afternoon the hordes of children had left. And the zoo became a much quieter, more pleasant place, and we were able to get a bit closer to the previously-crowded Koalas, munching on their eucalyptus leaves.

For most of the day I was using my 55-210mm lens, and having only gotten it a few days before, it was the first time I was properly getting to use it, so that was a lot of fun. It was also one of the few times I've taken photos of animals, but I've been relatively chuffed with the results.

Being able to focus on taking photos made the day really enjoyable, and miraculously, it turned out to be one of my favourite days on the trip!

[rorytait]

Planespotting at SYD

Sydney Kingsford-Smith Airport has some of the most accessible planespotting in the world, so naturally I had to check it out while in town.

Our first location was just by the IKEA Tempe car park. This spot has good views of the planes taking off, though unfortunately at the time we were there it was mostly just domestic A320s, B737s and Dash 8s.

Next up, we moved onto the Old Control Tower, located at the other end of the runway, and letting us get a good look at landings. Also, by this time, the arrivals were a bit more exciting – with an Atlas Air B747F, Beijing Capital Airlines A330 and Qantas A380 which just arrived from Dallas. 

Next time, I'd love to check out Millstream Lookout on the other side of the runway by the Port of Botany.

And probably time it better to see some of the more unique arrivals at SYD.