We really enjoyed the 24km ferry trip both ways and the river side art walk but our available time was way too short.   Two days for Sydney, what were we thinking?   We headed for the ferry back to Sydney Cove where the first Australian settlement, a penal colony was established in Jan 1778, had lunch at the bustling Circular Quay, then on to the next ferry

Aboriginals for thousands of years built shell middens here, naming it Tumbalong,  'place where the seafood is found'.   Settlers called it Cockle Bay.  The convict ship Scarborough arrived in 1788 carrying bricks and moulds.  With the clay, fresh water and lime needed to make more bricks,  it was ideal

Pyrmont Bridge opened in 1902.  It closed to vehicular traffic in 1981. From 1988 and 2013 it carried a monorail.  The track was designed to allow the monorail to operate even when the bridge was open, since it's closure the bridge has returned to it's original specification.  It remains the oldest electrically powered swing bridge in the world

 Shipyards of Scotland and Ireland contributed South Steyne the largest steam ferry in the world.   Sailing the 22.000 km  from Scotland in 64 days.   She crossed Sydney Harbour from Circular Key to Manley over 100,000 times with some 92 million passengers over 36 years.  She ultimately became a floating restaurant in Cockle Bay

Sydney already had a wonderful harbour and another at Manley so it hardly seems fair that it should also have the attractive and vibrant Darling Harbour too.  But it wasn't always this way.  1826 The Harbour was known as Cockle Bay until NSW Governor Ralph Darling named it in honour of himself.  The headwaters area of the harbour has restored it's original name

For many many years it was the commercial port area of the city, an area of transportation, shipping and industry.  The industrial revolution added even more ships and warehouses.  By the early 1900 the small businesses had been replaced by wharves and warehouses.  Trade was big business, steamers constantly arriving and departing, much new trade came through this port

Then came the depression and Darling was hit hard.  Labourers found little work unloading vessels and the shoreline became known as 'The Hungry Mile'

WW11 brought some relief but the port was still in decline.  Trade was moving out of the city center and the wharves were in danger of collapsing into the ocean

In 1984 the Darling Harbour Authority was set up to plan for redevelopment.  What we saw was a Darling Harbour created as a bicentenary gift to the people of NSW

The new Darling Harbour was formally opened on May 4th  1988 by HRH Queen Elizabeth ll.  The Sydney Aquarium was the first attraction to open and was quickly followed by a host of others, museums, shops, restaurants, hotels and bars and a whole new Sydney was up and running and eager to host the Sydney Summer Olympic Games the first of the New Millennium

We returned to Balmain for an excellent dinner with Australian members of the Travelzine at the Balmain Bowling Club.    Fortunately our marvelous hosts let us stay another night so we could see the Maritime Museum.  Thanks to Dianne for the photographic evidence of the good time had by all

Isn't this wonderful?

Any Australian can have the names of family and friends, past and present, carved on the wall at the Maritime Museum and contribute a short story about the person being added, where they came from, when they arrived, why they came and how they fared

 Only the name is on the wall which is updated with ceremony twice a year.  The stories can be seen at the museum or online 

In 2006 there were 23,800 honourees from 150 countries.  As of 2019, the walls 20th anniversary, there are 29,000 names from over 200 countries  

I think the first thing which strikes one when you step aboard excluding the wonderful attention to detail, is how small she is

Construction of the replica began in 1988 and she was launched 5 years later.  Since then she has sailed over 170,000 nautical miles, twice around the world, visited 29 countries,  opened a museum in 116 ports, including a three year visit to the UK and to Whitby the home port of the original ship and one time home of Cpt. James Cook

She was originally built in 1764 as a 'Whitby Cat', designed to haul coal and purchased by the Royal Navy as a research vessel, James Cook set sail in her from Plymouth in 1768, arriving in New Zealand in 1769 and at Botany Bay in 1770 

Most days she stands on the wharves of the Maritime Museum welcoming visitors.  She is however a fully functioning sea-going ship and you can sail as a crew member or supernumerary on 5 to 10 day voyages, thank goodness Tony didn't know this before we came.  Best check before you plan a visit, she may be off sailing

Endeavour renamed The  Lord Sandwich a contracted troop transport and prison ship came to a somewhat ignominious end and lies in the depths of Rhode Islands Outer Harbour

She had been scuttled by her crew during the Revolutionary War along with a dozen other ships to block the entrance to the harbour from the French.  Rhode Island had already successfully claimed ownership of all wrecks and wreckages in the harbour by invoking a old salvage law twenty years ahead of their discovery