An island of cockatoos

A slightly different entry today - the first time I've written about travel in my city of origin; Sydney, Australia. And why not?

Sydney is justifiably renowned for its harbour, which most people would agree is pretty special. Ask anyone about Sydney and you're likely to get comments about the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, both iconic structures on the harbour. But even most Sydneysiders won't know too much more about the many other sites to be found in and around the harbour, and in particular the various islands in the harbour.

Originally there were 14 islands. Two, once separated by a narrow stretch of shallow water, have been joined to form the present Spectacle Island. Five others, formerly islands; Garden, Bennelong, Darling, Glebe and Berry Islands, have been joined to the mainland. The other remaining islands are Shark, Clark, Fort Denison, Goat, Cockatoo, Snapper and Rodd Islands.

The Turbine Workshop, Cockatoo Island

Many of the islands have either a penal or industrial (or both) background. The largest of the islands is Cockatoo Island, which has been at various times in its life a prison, a reformatory school for girls, and a shipbuilding dockyard. Activity reached its peak during the time of the world wars, and continued until the facility was closed in 1991. It stayed abandoned and becoming derelict until 2001 when the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust took it over and undertook restoration works. Today it's been listed as a Unesco World Heritage site and is open to the public.

But enough history. This morning I took a ferry down the Paramatta river to Cockatoo Island. I'd made this trip before, but had never actually visited the island, simply passing by since I'd been heading to the city. Today however the destination was Cockatoo Island to do something I hadn't done in years: a bit of Orienteering ("cunning running"). Orienteering is more associated with navigating through the bush, but in fact can also be done in an urban environment. On an Island there's not much risk of getting lost (keep running in one direction long enough and you'll get wet) but it was a fun event navigating around and through old workshops, dry-docks and so on. A little extra interest came from the several tunnels bored through the sandstone of the island, as well as working out the most efficient way of getting from the sea level areas up to (and down from) the middle section, which is up on a cliff.

Orienteerers adding a little colour to the sandstone-and-iron island

Apart from the orienteering aspect of the visit, it really struck me how easy it is to know so little about your own city of origin. I've travelled all around the world, to some pretty remote and obscure places. I've even travelled extensively around Australia. Yet so much of Sydney remains to be discovered: it's the usual "too close to home" syndrome I suppose; having grown up in Sydney I have tended to take it for granted. Note to self: must spend more time discovering Sydney.

Relics of a different era (actually, not that long ago)