Mrs Macquarie has a point

[A] It turns out that Mrs Macquarie has a Point and a Chair named in her honour.  According to ‘reliable sources’ on the internet, Mrs Macquarie's Chair provides one of the best vantage points in Sydney.  The historic chair was carved out of a rock ledge for the Governor’s wife by convicts in 1810, as she was known to visit the area and sit enjoying the panoramic views of the harbour.

We patiently waited at a coffee and cake shop for the rain to stop, then headed to Mrs Macquarie’s Point to check the accuracy of the internet sources.

The sources were right, although no doubt the views are a little different from what Mrs Macquarie would have seen.

And the chair didn’t look that comfortable to sit on…

[S] It was beginning to look like the rain would never stop, and the first part of our walk to Mrs Macquarie’s Chair was in light showers.  The chair is located at the tip of a point across the bay from the Opera House.

It passes by the Botanic Gardens, and there is a promenade around the bay which hosted many joggers, as well as two dawdling McPhersons.  Some of the joggers were running up a flight of stairs three at a time, running down again, dropping for some press-ups and then repeating the process. Phew!

It was very pleasant and the rain had cleared by the time we got back to Circular Quay.  We jumped on a ferry to Cockatoo Island.

[A] That was a good idea Sue! - although this paddle steamer is not the ferry we took...

[S] The island measures 500m by 360m only and has two claims to fame.  It was a ship building site around the time of WW1 and until 1984 and it was a convict prison for a time also.

It had been well maintained or restored (at least in parts) and we were free to wander at our leisure.

It was free and very interesting with lots of notice boards telling the background to what we were seeing.  The views were spectacular and it was a lovely afternoon out.

It is possible to stay on the island with a glamping option (funny to see rows of clearly empty tents) with excellent facilities, and (my favourite!) two luxury 4-bedroom townhouses – a snip at $895 per night (minimum 2 nights) at the weekend.  It does sleep 8 people, so if I could find 3 couples to accompany us…

All up, we have done lots of walking this holiday – only missed my 10,000 steps one day, and most days I have walked between 14 and 16,000 steps or 9 to 11 kms per day.  That should offset some of my indulgences!