The fabulous autumn weather and a few days off were the perfect excuses for an overnight stay in beautiful Sydney. On Easter Monday, Corina and I headed to the city to stay at Rydges Sydney Harbour at The Rocks.
The hotel was lovely with fabulous views from the roof. Better when there is no cruise ship at the passenger terminal. Somehow we managed to pick the first day the ban on cruise ships was lifted which spoiled the view. The P&0 cruise ship docked in Sydney about the time we were looking for a parking spot. It arrived with 250 staff on board and no passengers. The next morning it sailed to Lavender Bay where it will dock until it cruises in May with the first passengers to leave Sydney since the pandemic. For me I could think of little worse to do but many will be excited that cruises are back.
After dropping our bags and parking the car we grabbed our cameras and headed off to explore. There were lots of people about being a public holiday and the weather was excellent. Everyone seemed happy to finally see some sun and get out and have some fun. We had a leisurely walk and then some lunch before returning to our room for a rest and to make a plan for sunset.
Sandstone Carving at the Rocks near Sydney Harbour
While we were out, we had scoped out a nice spot to capture the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, depending on the colour in the sky at sunset. Sunset was a bit of a fizzer with a heavy cloud layer. The best was a sliver of colour on the northern side of the harbour.
We had missed the full moon by one day, but my TPE app showed us that the moon would rise behind the Opera House about two and a half hours after sunset. After finding a good spot, we went back to our hotel to get ready for dinner.
thanks for the photo Corina
While we waited for the moon to rise, we chatted to other hopefuls with their cameras. Corina gave some tips for posing to some friendly strangers, and another asked her advice on how to get the camera to get the colour balance right because the subject was coming out too dark. It was fun chatting as the light faded.
Disappointingly the cloud layer remained to obscure a clear view of the moon.
The harbour and the Opera House are pretty at night with the lights shimmering on the water and the lights on the ferries.
Once we had watched the moon rise, we said goodbye to our new friends and headed back to our hotel to order some dinner to eat on our roof and relax, taking in the night view. After a lovely relaxing dinner chatting to yet more new friends, we headed back to our room to edit and make a plan for the next day.
Making the most of our overnight stay, we headed to Pitt St to do some shopping the following day. It was only short but a refreshing break.