Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, Justice & Police Museum, The Rocks Walking Tour
From Canberra I took a bus to Sydney, the last city I planned to visit in Australia. I arrived early in the day and it was sunny outside, so I made my way toward the Royal Botanical Garden of Sydney, trying not to have high expectations of what I might see there. After a short ride on the tram and a little bit of walking, I was at the gate.
I passed through it and pretty much immediately found myself pleasantly surprised- There were different plants and flowers around, in many different colors. It still was mostly green, in some parts of the garden more than others, but overall there was a nice variety and it was very enjoyable to look at and walk around. On top of it, the sunny weather and cloudless sky made the whole experience even better for me.
The botanic garden was pretty easy to walk around. There were maps and signs which showed the direction to different parts of the garden, and the path was not difficult to walk on. Although I didn’t have a good look at the map, I did follow some of the signs until I felt like I’ve seen most of the garden, or at least most of the multicolored parts of it. The garden didn’t feel small, although it didn’t take very long to go around it. Still, it was a good experience and I could see myself coming back.
From there I made my way to The Rocks Discovery Museum, but when I got there the sign on the door said it was closed. A bit disappointed, I turned around and made my way to another place I spotted along the way and made me curious- the Justice and Police Museum.
Apparently, the building was once an actual police station (and court) which was later converted into a museum. It started with pictures, plenty of them. Criminals, Officers, victims and their houses, a large collection that showed a different side of Sydney.
There were different galleries inside the building, talking about the criminals, the police, the court, and the police photographers. As far as I could tell, the latter was the reason this museum existed. They documented life back then, and it was an interesting way to learn about the history of the city.
Along with the many photographs there were also signs who told the stories of different officers and criminals of the time. There were a few items on display, but they didn’t seem to be the focus of this museum. After taking a look around the different rooms, which included a small court and a few old cells, I unsuccessfully tried to crack a fake safe and took one more look around before leaving the museum.
Then it was time for the evening walking tour around The Rocks. By the time we started the tour the wind started to pick up a bit and a few clouds appeared in the sky. The tour started and our guide made it pretty clear from the beginning that it will mainly focus on notable convicts that lived in Sydney, and in particular in the area known as The Rocks. The tour guide was pretty on point, and short of a couple of jokes, kept things professional and informative.
As we walked around The Rocks we saw, and talked about, different statues, buildings, and other landmarks. At some point it started raining, and as the rain got stronger the group waited in a sheltered area, while our guide kept talking about the history of the area. When the rain slowed down we kept walking around, and ended in someplace that had a view of the opera house.
Despite the rain, the whole day was fun and interesting. It started sunny and warm, I had an unexpected visit to a museum, and the tour was quite interesting. It was a good way to spend some time in Sydney.