The Sails and Beyond
I first met the renowned Danish architect Jørn Utzon and his trailblazing creation on the glossy pages of a tome stacked in the racks of the huge library of Bengal Engineering College, now IIEST, in Shibpur. If not for the exams, that book would be sepulchred in the shelves, forgotten. Inspite of being a student of architecture, I possessed no desire of exploring the wonder except for claiming an immaculate score in one of the presentations. Those days the internet wasn't at finger tips to know the world virtually or to even dream of seeing such places in reality. The Opera House, hence, piqued no special interest in me; it was like any other page that was to be read, consigned, and be done with after the test. Little did I know then, someday I'd be treading its many steps or seeing it almost everyday while crossing the Harbour Bridge, its giant white sails glimmering in the sun by the sea.
A decade and a half later when I actually scaled the dusty pink stone steps of the Opera House for the first time, I was disheartened. Is this all it is, I thought to myself staring up at the gigantic brown glazed facades, gawping like a giant. It was a brief brush with a world famous edifice, icon of Australia that I didn't find as formidable as The imperial Empire State Building, the uniquely designed scaly spired (read art-deco crowned) Chrysler Building of New York, or the expansive Disney Theme Parks. Nor was my feeling comparable to what the mighty Grand Canyon had imprinted in my mind at its first sight, the sinuous cobalt Colorado traversing the crevasse miles below my glass-bottomed helicopter, a speck in the vastness. For a moment I even felt the fantastic Bellagio and its sorts (including the ostentatious ones) on either side of the glitzy Las Vegas Strip were more interesting.
Then why did I remember only Utzon and not the names behind the other facades?
Well, the answer sort of unfolded gradually as I stepped into a cream-green ferry later while heading towards the popular Manly Beach. Even if I wrote a thousand words, packed with the choicest adjectives, I wouldn't be able to articulate the show of the shimmering white-pink tiles by the wild cerulean waters. It indeed surpassed the mighty skycrapers that were intimidating but in no way as unique. The ferry cut through the water, revealing with every passing moment a different angle of the white marvel adorning the promontory as we sailed past it. I wowed and bowed in my mind to Utzon for his conceptualisation.
Months later, during the magical nights of the highly acclaimed Vivid Sydney, my heart was replete with reverence for all the anonymous artists that illuminated and rendered the white sails of Opera House vibrant.
During Vivid Sydney
Following years, I marvelled at the famed sails from several other vantage points to soak in the magnificence.
From Milsons Point
From Bradfield Park
Then again, New Year celebrations set the mood of the Harbour Bridge and its surroundings with spectacular sparkles. The fiery spheres in sable black over the Opera House and the magical golden waterfall from the Harbour Bridge are world famous wonders to witness when Sydney heralds a new year with grandeur.
From Bradley's Bay, New Year eve evening
Unquestionably, the sculptural structure will bask in its own glory with its legendary designer forever.
The sails might be the zenith in its precincts, but Customs House, The Rocks, Museum of Contemporary Art compete with the grandeur of Park Hyatt, Shangri-La and a slew of stylish new high-rises to deck the Circular Quay premises. The green spread of Royal Botanical Gardens, and the busy wharfs aren't far behind in the race of gravitating attention.
Mrs Macquarie's Chair
That's just one side of the story, one side of the Harbour Bridge. On the other side, the ocean zigzags through land: bays twining with promontories, a sliver of which hosts the modern skyline of glass offices and edifices, as if to blend the azure above with the blue below seamlessly. That part of the ocean is capricious: slate grey when billowing clouds gather above, dazzling with a blinding glare when the sun decides to set, an intriguing aquamarine that coceals the denizens of its depth on a bright midday, and a calm cobalt blue after sunset that segues into twilight stained sky. And sometimes our beloved city looks at us lazily through its groggy "eye", The Eye of Sydney, shrouded in grey clouds scudding across an overcast sky.
Speed boats crisscross the vast expanse and I often find my heart and mind wakesurfing, renting through the mild waves like a knife through a luscious blue cake.
While the glory of Opera House bookends one side of Sydney CBD skyline, the glamour of The Crown at One Barangaroo marks the other end.
From the base, the colossal Crown is a sinuous serpentine - its scales camouflaged with the surrounding blues, blitzing the surface, rising from the waters, and streaking to the sky in pursuit of a flying quarry. On a quiet evening, during sunset, I sat there enraptured staring at the reflection of the adjoining ripples on one of its glass panes in the lower floors near the base. It was like a giant TV telecasting the blue waves of its surroundings.
While The Crown is the epitome of recent developments, the others like International Convention Centre, W, and glimpses of contemporary glass edifices around Darling Harbour, Cockle Bay Wharf, and the waterfront walk connecting back to Circular Quay are set to infallibly impress residents and visitors alike in Sydney. Their fancy facades reflect a gamut of moods throughout the day with the ebb and flow time, dictating sunlight and cloud cover.
Cockle Bay Wharf
Glittering night skyline - fireworks on Saturdays at Darling Harbour
Darling Harbour during Vivid Sydney - sparkling spectacle
Further north from Waverton, the skyline, through overhead wires above the railway tracks, appears to be a magnet that you stick on your fridge, an evocative memory speaking in silence of the past and the done.
Or, amusingly, the railway catenary system (in the foreground) are ginormous tongs that are about to clasp around the miniature skyline (in the backdrop).
The tracks on the Harbour Bridge branch and spread through several suburbs in all directions like a gossamer on the map. They wend and wind through rolling valleys and creeks, bridges and beaches alike. For me, they are intriguing. I keep my attention unfaltering and eyes peeled to spot a solitary cockatoo trying to cling on to somebody's balcony-balustrade or perched on a thin branch bowed towards the tracks, a pair of ravens by the rails, timid hares scampering in the grassy patches by the parallels at Killara and Wahroonga, valley of a gable roof covered romantically by freshly fallen jacaranda at Lindfield, jacaranda and bougainvillea complementing their flamboyant shades of violet 💜 dappled with green right past Wollstonecraft, or an illuminated Luna Park in the inky blackness of evenfall near Milson's Point. Here are some glimpses, relatable to the text, that I captured during my travels to and from the CBD to the northern suburbs and while gallivanting with family during holidays.
Jacaranda and bougainvillea dappled capture near Wollstonecraft
Freshly fallen jacaranda ib the valley of a gable roof near Lindfield
Spot the two hares at two corners, Killara
Feb 2021 - noisy miner at a station
Bush turkey parading across platform
Ravens rootle by the track
A lone magpie opposite the famous Magpies, Waitara
Just like an occasional glimpse of kookaburra, noisy miner, magpie, raven, bush turkeys or sulphur crested cockatoo's crackling caw add native flavour to the stops, the plantations too lends a distinctive touch to each of them. Many of them are heritage-listed, their construction dating back to late 1800s or early 1900s. Anyone, who observes, can tell the station by the trees and the surroundings. Their names though, run digitally in amber on a small dark brown screen inside the compartment to save that effort for those who pore into their devices, necks bent forward, our contemporary posture.
Large monstera at Lindfield, peacock plants and agaves at Killara are bound to mark an indelible impression of all that beat the path to work in CBD frequently.
Agave blooms at Killara
White Crepe myrtle adorns Gordon platform in spring welcoming passengers as they alight. Cockatoos in droves, oleanders, cherry blossoms, and camellias are other peripheral delights.
Jacaranda and tibouchina take turns to adorn Turramurra
Delicate blueberry ash flowers at Wharoonga platform, Camellia, cherry blossom, and pupleish Magnolia on the Wahroonga Park side announce unemphatically where the train has paused to on board people.
Closer to home, at Asquith, the ramp to the bridge over the tracks is unique and what better time could it be to capture the distinctive feature than beneath a full moon. Grey clouds were happily toying the giant silver sphere that was striving to exhibit/ flaunt a sliver of its beauty through the gathered masses where they were thin and broken. Sometimes it was obscured behind the scudding clouds and the next moment it was out and about - bright and beaming with pride. Wasn't it was a great treat after a banausic day?
The endless tracks continue to traverse past Berowra, mesmerising Hawkesbury River, Gosford and further north to Newcastle. On the east, the tracks reticulate till Bondi, known to the world for its beautiful beach. To the south they hit the Kiama, and on the west the panoramic Blue Mountains.
Eye of Sydney from Hyde Park, Town Hall
A sneak peek into Hawkesbury River, North Shore
Newcastle in the north
Bondi in the east
Blow Hole at Kiama in the south
The Cathedral Rocks, Kiama in the south
The sacred Three Sisters, Blue Mountains in the west
The green swathes of panoramic Blue Mountains of west
In between the cardinals the city is dotted with innumerable attractions like noteworthy Caves Beach, Central Coast, Palm Beach, Brighton Le Sands, La Perouse, Watson's Bay, Cremorne Point, Norah Head, and more.
Beyond the city surrounds, there's a wealth to explore across the state, and the country, steeped in natural wonders, exotic endemic flora fauna, alluring beaches, and a mix bag of cultures - from traditional custodians of the land to influx of multicultural demographics that call this piece of land home.
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Each bend of the endless coast awaits you with a story untold, a music unheard, and a drama unwitnessed. If this doesn't intrigue you to experience the bountiful natural beauty of this land 'girt by sea', what would!
Dona, Sydney
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