Sydney Tower Eye

Ok, now that we're back from our three weeks in Australia it's time I got back into blogging mode. I've got so many photos I want to share with you all. As usual, I had hoped to continue blogging during our trip but it just never works out that way. The hotels we stayed in charged a fortune for wifi, tethering to my phone used up too much of my data, we were busy actually enjoying our trip, and, of course, we were so tired much of the time.

So now that we're back and the jetlag is mostly gone I'm going to start sharing like crazy!

First up, let's go back to our first destination: Sydney. I've already shared a few random pics from our first few days in Sydney (which you can see here) but today we're having a look at the city from above; high up in Sydney Tower Eye.

Sydney Tower is quite like many of the other observation towers you find in various cities (like the ones we visited in Vancouver and Calgary). I'm never quite sure what to call Sydney Tower as it's one of those buildings that has had multiple names over the years. I always referred to it as Centrepoint Tower when we lived in Sydney, but I have a feeling that it was actually called AMP Tower at the time! Either way, the name is now officially Sydney Tower, and the observation deck at the top is Sydney Tower Eye.

Sydney Tower is located on Market Street in Sydney's busy central business district. The base and lower levels of the tower house a Westfield shopping centre which can be accessed from the Pitt Street Mall shopping strip.

From high up in the "eye" visitors are offered amazing 360 degree views over the city. Being Winter, it was a little grey and rainy the day that we visited Sydney Tower Eye. At times the windows were sprinkled with rain drops. The views were still pretty great though and I was amazed at just how far we could see.

Kim and I enjoyed seeing all the familiar sites from our time living in Sydney. The Queen Victoria Building, the War Memorial in Hyde Park, the wharf at Woolloomooloo, and of course, the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

We were able to point out to the kids the locations of our old homes (we lived in five different apartments/houses in Sydney!), places we frequently visited, and even my old office, which is at the end of the wharf with the motor yacht on the left side of the photo below.

We arrived at Sydney Tower Eye late in the afternoon and stayed until the sun had set and the lights of the city began to twinkle.

Lola was pretty excited when the lights of the Sydney Cricket Ground came on. "Look, baseball!" she cried enthusiastically. She wasn't too impressed when I corrected her by saying it was most likely football or rugby. She was so convinced it was a baseball game!

Back down by the elevators to the top of the tower Ava and Lola played "giant monsters" with a replica of the tower. Ava's monster looks pretty scary but I don't think I'd be too frightened of Lola's monster!

Sydney Tower Eye is a great place to visit for a bird's eye view over the city. Opening hours, admission prices and other information can be found at www.sydneytowereye.com.au.