Sydney Bridge, Blue Mountains, Aquarium

Australia's indigenous or 'bammi' people arrived in this country over 53,000 years ago. While the Italian and Dutch explorers passed by in the 1600s it wasn't until the 1770s that Captain James Cook discovered the Great Barrier Reef and laid claim for England. The 'Rocks' area of Sydney designates the first real settlement of convicts. The idea of of convict settlement became more pressing for the British when the American revolution shut down transport of convicts to the American colonies. There were over 1400 men, women and children who arrived in January 1788. They started in Botany Bay, but realized Sydney was a much better location. The Rocks neighourhood was a rough and ready harbour area with lot's of pubs and a street markets. A few of the original buildings survived.

The early convicts had a difficult time surviving. The farming had to be moved to another area (Paramatta) and plants they brought didn't survive partly because the seasons were reversed. The Blue Mountains to the west served as a natural barrier against escape. It took until 1813 before an explorer was able to cross the mountain on top of the ridges. Among the original convicts sent to work in this land were 100 Frenchmen from Quebec conquest. While free settlers started to arrive in the 1790s, it continued to primarily worked and populated by convicts. These men and women may even have been sentenced to death for stealing food in England and were sent to the colony as a solution to their penal problems. It took 1.5 years to arrive.

Captain Bligh of the 'Mutiny on the Bounty' fame was one of the first governors sent in 1806 to quash the trading in 'rum' which they used as currency. This led to the 'Rum Rebellion' and Captain Bligh being held under house arrest for 18 months by the NSW Corps.

Sydney has come a long way from the struggling convict community. The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a landmark that people climb to get the quintessentially perfect shot of the city and the opera house. We walked across the bridge, but left the climbing to those more adventurous. Instead we visited the Sydney Aquarium which had the most incredible array of aquatic life in huge tanks that swim all around you. You feel like you are in the fish tank because all four ceiling, walls and floor are water with sharks and stingrays moving around you.

The trip to the Blue Mountains was interesting. The mountains were cool relief to the sticky heat of Sydney. The mountains are blue because the air is full of euculyptus oil from the trees. It is very beautiful in the mountains. Jim our guide was originally from a tea plantation in Sri Lanka and had some interesting stories about the age of British imperialism and life in another colony.

Well, we were sad to leave Sydney on Australia Day (we didn't realize at the time that it was a national holiday). The party certainly started the night before when we went out for dinner at the Cockle Wharf area and saw them practicing for the next night;s party. It would have been fun to stay, but we are off to another interesting, but very different country - New Zealand.