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This next in my series of travel posts from our recent Sydney trip is about our first day, which started with a flight to Sydney, a train to Central Station (below). Above are a couple of the heritage Phillips Street terraces which were built in the 1860s on the original site of Sydney's First Government House (1788-1789). The centre of Sydney has some amazing historic buildings among the skyscrapers and some troubling history. We didn't visit museums and galleries but I was fascinated by the interesting architecture among all the wonderful cafes and shops!
One of the key heritage buildings is Central Station which was our first stop in Sydney to sort out our public transport tickets. Everyone in Melbourne yearns for the Sydney opal ticketing system where you can swipe on with your credit card rather than having to have a separate card. The catch is that if you have concession cards, you still need a separate card. It was also a surprise that Sylvia's school ID did not entitle her to a NSW concession nor did her age now she is 17 years old!
(When I checked the credit card for her public transport fees, it added up to about $80 for 3 days. That seems so wrong but I found it hard to get my head around the way they charged fees for each trip!)
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I was fascinated by the statues lining the walls of the former Department of Lands Building on Bridge Street. The late 19th Century sandstone building is grand with many more statues than in my photo but you really need to look up close to see the details. The great men of the time in my photo are Oxley, Mitchell, Hovell and Leichhardt.
There are 24 statues, all men and mostly forgotten. These four were among the explorers I learnt about at high school. These days many more people recognise their names as place names than as those of the fallen heroes. No longer just simply honoured for their brave exploits discovering an untouched land, they are now seen in a less glorious light as trespassing on Aboriginal land and claiming it for Europeans and causing the occupants great harm in one way or the other! It is a place to marvel at the architectural marvel with many mixed feelings. Nowadays it is no longer a government building and has been redeveloped as a hotel.
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Just up Bridge Street was our accommodation. We had a holiday apartment at the Cliveden Hotel at number four, just one stop on the light rail from Circular Quay. Bang smack in the centre of Sydney's city centre. It was a fine heritage building on the outside and blandly modern on the inside but with the bonus of a kitchen and living area. I had some wonderfully relaxing moments sitting there with my parents while we all read our books.
The Duke of Clarence Tavern
After arriving in Sydney in the late morning, our first plan was to go out for lunch. Sylvia found us The Duke of Clarence (in a laneway off 152 - 156 Clarence Street) which was tucked away in a place are unlikely to stumble upon. It is for those in the know! It is an olde worlde British tavern with wood paneling, cosy booths and a traditional library that looks like the place for pipes and port.
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There is an old fashioned bar with an evocative sign for an East India Cocktail above the counter. I also noticed a sign for a Wimbledon Common cocktail. We were there for the vegan roast as well as the ambience but the drinks were pretty old school with not much offered for those who don't drink. Sylvia had apple juice, my mum had ginger beer and I had ginger ale, while my dad enjoyed a beer.
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Although listed on the menu as a Sunday roast, Sylvia and I were delighted to be offered the roast dinner for a weekday lunch. Mine was vegetarian with Spiced eggplant steak with black rice & quinoa, house made vegetable gravy, heirloom carrots, broccolini, peas, roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding ($30). Sylvia had the vegan version which came without the Yorkshire pudding.
Our lunch with amazing. It is not easy to find a vegan roast dinner, let alone a vegan one. While spiced eggplant and grains did not sound traditional, it worked really well with the rest of the roast and everything was cooked beautifully. I loved how my eggplant worked so well as a gravy boat. My parents were also very happy with their meals. My mum had Scotch eggs with a pork and black pudding mince. My dad got the Ploughman's lunch which included pork pie, ham, apple, cheddar, branston pickle and sourdough. All so wonderfully British!
Queen Victoria Building (QVB)
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We walked to the nearby Queen Victorian Building (429-481 George Street). It is a large Nineteenth Century Victorian Romanesque style shopping centre that covers a whole city block and is grand enough to please Her Majesty the former Queen of England who is its namesake. Five floors of shops and cafes. Too many to see in a visit.
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We had a look at some of the basement shops and then my parents and Sylvia decided they wanted to stop for a drink. I went upstairs to admire the view of the balconies from above and get up close to the Great Australian clock. It is so much nicer than the gaudy clock in the Melbourne Central shopping centre. There is so much to admire here: colour glass in the ground floor windows, the splendid arches, and mosaic tiles. I could look down and see Sylvia and my parents with their drinks.
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Best of all up the stairs is the grand central dome. You can look up to it from the ground floor but as you go upwards you see the gorgeous stained glass, the grand staircases, and carved columns. As I stood there, someone was playing the grand piano to an appreciative crowd.
The stained glass windows either side as I walked up the stairs were really impressive. The one in the above photo is on the York Street side and the original windows.
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On the George Street side is the Cartwheel window that was made to replace the windows which were damaged during the Hilton Hotel bombing in 1978. In the middle of these windows are the domes representing the ones on the roof with symbols of the builders and the clock.
Uchilounge
For dinner we went to Uchilounge (80 Clarence Street), a Japanese restaurant and sushi bar. It was reached by going up a small flight of stairs once in the front door. I found it more hipster than heritage but a vibrant part of Sydney's night life. Unfortunately the kitchen was closing within about 10 minutes of arriving so we made our orders quickly.
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Sylvia had chosen the place because it had some interesting vegan dishes (4 ramen soups). It was not quite right for me as I found everything too spicy for my tastes! I had the Vegan Tantan Black Ramen with mild to spicy homemade vege soup, fried tofu, aromatic black garlic oil, shiitake & sesame Mince ($26). I preferred Sylvia's plate of Spicy King brown Okonomiyaki, served sliced with edamame and house made shio koji, topped with roasted king brown mushroom, yakiniku sauce and spicy mayo. ($26). My dad had the chicken curry and my mum had a seafood starter. Everyone else seemed to really enjoy their meals.
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We got home to our accommodation around 9pm in the dark. The above daylight photo of the front door was taken later in the trip. There we had a quite night reading books and resting before the next day of our trip.
More posts about our March 2026 trip to Sydney:
coming soon:
- Miss Sina, Oh My Days, Sappho Books (Glebe and Marrickville)
- Bills, Bourke St Bakery, Shift Eatery (Surry Hills), the Rocks, Airports
- Sydney University, Camperdown
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