It was Governor Lachlan Macquarie who established a 'Governor's Domain' in the centre of Sydney in 1810 as an area which was free from development and able to be used for recreation by the citizens of the city.

This development, emerging from a society in transition, growing from a penal colony into an independent settlement, enabled a collection of, now, historic buildings and open spaces to be created in prime land between Sydney Cove, where the First Fleet landed and the developing Woolloomooloo district.

Today, we spend much of the morning and early afternoon exploring this part of the City, but before we go into the details of that. Here's how our morning began.

Morning

I wake up at the somewhat late time of 5.30am, though to be fair it was Midnight before we got to bed last night. I edit and title the photos from last night's amazing meal and upload them to Flickr.

Drew wakes at 6.30am, I make an espresso for each of us and after our ablutions we go down to breakfast at 8am. As well as our regular salad for Drew and fruit for me, we today make use of the Omelette Station in the hotel.

Drew's Salad

Haydn's Fruit and Nuts

Drew opts for a cheese, onion and chilli Omelette, which is firm and well cooked.

Drew's Omelette

Haydn's fried meat

I opt for a cheese, ham, onion, spinach and chilli Omelette and it was very, very tasty.

Haydn's Omelette

Breakfast concluded we had back up to room for 9am, so that as midnight passes in the UK I can wish my brother in law, Martin, a happy birthday.

Into the Governor's Domain

At 9.15am we leave the hotel and follow the route outlined in the map below:

We walked from our hotel at Potts Point to the edge of the area of the Governor's Domain. We walk through Cook and Philip Park through to the Cathedral of St. Mary.

We arrive at 9.35am and leave at 10.20am - but manage to take a great number of photos in that time. As usual they are all on Flickr - but these are a sample of them in the video below.

Our next destination in the Governor's Domain is Hyde Park, famed as Australia's oldest park. There is so much to see here, including:

Archibald Memorial Fountain – A fountain featuring water pouring down 4 tiers of shallow, pebbled surfaces, surrounded by ferns. The fountain is flanked on both sides by pedestrian walkways with stairs, and it is in a park in the city.
John Baptist Fountain – A large, circular, shallow, orange pool with 20 jets of water rising from it is in a circular lawn surrounded by amphitheatre-like steps, some of which are planted with flowers. At the top of the steps are walkways covered in pergolas supporting vines, and beyond that are tall trees.
The Emden Gun - A large, granite and sandstone memorial drinking fountain stands on a street corner. It has decorative elements including Tuscan columns, a Greek key relief, carved drapery above an inscription, and a geometric domed roof. Behind it are several skyscrapers.
Yininmadyemi – Four enormous bullets stand beside three enormous shells, which lie fallen, in Hyde Park. The ground around the sculpture is marked with a circular shape filled with a wavy pattern, and there are trees and buildings in the background – this is called in the native tongue Yininmadyemi meaning ‘Thou didst let fall’
Anzac Memorial - A war memorial, museum and monument located in Hyde Park South near Liverpool Street in the CBD of Sydney, Australia. The Art Deco monument was designed by C. Bruce Dellit, with the exterior adorned with monumental figural reliefs and sculptures by Rayner Hoff, and built from 1932 to 1934 by Kell & Rigby.

All of which are depicted in the Video below:

Queen Victoria Building

From Hyde Park we walked past the Sydney Town Hall

and on to the QVB, as the locals call it, the Queen Victoria Building. First a market, then a police court, it was restored to its grandeur in 1986. It is a mall, but a mall with a high ceiling and old furnishings. An excellent mix of the old and the new. With a statue of Queen Victoria, that the Irish Government was happy to give away to Sydney!

We enjoyed the walk around the QVB, but Drew noted that perhaps our sister-in-law didn't know us well enough as we are more likely to be seen buying clothes and shoes from Primark and Shoe Zone, not from boutique places. That being said, there was an ASICS store, which is Drew's preferred running show provider - so, Elaine clearly does know his taste.

We stopped at 11.45 on floor two for a delicious and decorus cup of tea, they were both served in china cups and had enough tea for two cups. It was Chai Indian Spice Black Tea for me

and Dragon Pearls White Tea for Drew

We left at 12.30pm with our next destination being away from the Governor's Domain across the Pyrmont Bridge to the part of the City known as Darling Harbour.

Darling Harbour

Darling Harbour and its environs are a very distinctive part of the City. It has a lively, some might say buzzing waterside, but still retains its small, intimate feel.

We hadn't realised when we got to the entrance to Darling Harbour, the Pyrmont Bridge, that it opened to let vessels into the upper harbour - called Cockle Bay. We soon found out, as we were half way across bells started ringing and hooters started blaring. As we stepped off the bridge the security guys closed the gates and the bridge began to move.

It was good fun to watch, it has been years since I have been on a bridge which opens for vassals.

Maritime Museum

Sydney's Maritime Museum is in this area and while we didn't visit it in detail, we were very impressed by the well maintained ship from the sailing era called the HMS John Louis.

And another which is a replica of a ship of an earlier era, the HMB Endeavour.

We leave Darling Harbour from the North, coming to an area called Paddy's Markets, where we buy our Sydney Postcards and catch the Light Railway (L) 1, this is a tram to you and me