!!!Sydney

by Oleg Gaponyuk and
Sergey Rumyantsev,
members of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\

15 August 2014

with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

Let us introduce an updated virtual tour of Sydney. In addition to the
old photo panoramas shot in 2008, we added new high-resolution images
that have never been published before.

Some time ago, I spent a night in Sydney on my way from New Zealand to
Moscow. In the evening, despite the gloomy weather, I hired a helicopter
pilot to fly over the city and pick a spot with the most interesting
view of the harbor.

The following day at sunrise, I went to the same pilot again to fly and
shoot the famous Sydney Harbor. However, a flight dispatcher told the
pilot that we couldn't fly to the selected location. I was surprised:
why not? We were there last night. The pilot explained that yesterday it
had been okay; but the wind (or some other conditions) had changed, and
so passenger aircrafts were now required to use an alternative corridor
for landing - exactly where I was going to shoot today.

[{Image src='01_Sydney, Australia.jpg' caption='Sydney, Australia' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='464'}]

"So, what are we going to do?" the pilot asked. "Should we go home?"

I replied, "No, I spent 24 hours on the plane just to photograph that
spot! Perhaps, they can think of something?"

"Wait", was the dispatcher's response.

We spent about half an hour hovering in the air above the other side of
the Harbor Bridge where it was free of airplanes preparing for landing.
Then, finally, my helicopter pilot received a message.

"There is a window. You have 3 minutes to shoot". And, a couple of
seconds later, "Hey, guys, make sure you send us the picture!" And so we
went for it. Suddenly, there was a boat sailing out of the port, and the
sun was illuminating the clouds beautifully... Snap! The picture was
ready. So, now you know the story about how this photo panorama was
created.

What is common between Moulin Rouge, Finding Nemo, Mad Max, Superman
Returns, Star Wars and Matrix? Don't hurry to find it in the list of
directors or actors. One of the most beautiful cities of the planet,
Sydney, unites these and more than 200 other works of modern
cinematograph.

[{Image src='02_Sydney, Australia.jpg' caption='Sydney, Australia' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='622'}]

As many people think, Sydney is not the capital of Australia at all,
though it is its oldest city. It couldn't become the capital because of
its competitor, Melbourne, which is the second megalopolis of the
country. In 1901, when they were choosing a capital, both Sydney and
Melbourne had a claim on this title refusing to stand down. The
foundation of a completely new city as a capital, Canberra, which is far
away from the both competitors, could put an end to an uncompromising
struggle.

However, precisely Sydney is a visit card of Australia. There are its
most recognizable buildings: the fantastic Sydney Opera House and the
grand Harbour Bridge.

[{Image src='03_Sydney, Australia.jpg' caption='Sydney, Australia' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='405'}]

Sydney is a relatively young city. During many thousand years only
aborigines lived there. Even James Cook, who investigated the eastern
seaboard of Australia, couldn't reach it. The city was founded by
Capitan Arthur Phillip who sailed there in 1788 with a dozen of ships
and hundreds of prisoners, who were devoted to found new colonies of
Great Britain.

The city that was born as New Albion grew completely from nothing:
houses and streets were built, roads and bridges were constructed,
fertile soil for crops was searched for and harvests were grown. Some
time ago New Albion was renamed in honour of Thomas Townshend who was a
British Home Secretary Lord Sydney and who sent the exiles there.

[{Image src='04_Sydney, Australia.jpg' caption='Sydney, Australia' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='601'}]

The British flotillas went on to come in Sydney but the main purpose of
these expeditions still was the transportation of prisoners from the
British jails to the recent founded colony. In spite of the fact that in
the beginning of XIX century such a phenomenon as free immigration was
formed, by 1820 about 40% of Sydney's population still stayed convicts.

The crucial pint of the colony's history became May events of 1851, when
one of its inhabitants found first 120 grams of gold and Sydney's
criminal population mixed with gold diggers. Although the gold can't be
found there now, for visitors Sydney is still nearly the most attractive
cities of the world. People of almost all nationalities live there, but
in spite of this fact Sydney is one of the most friendly and hospitable
megalopolises of the world.

[{Image src='05_Sydney, Australia.jpg' caption='Sydney, Australia' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='452'}]

Australia is rarely in the centre of public interest because of its
geographical remoteness, but after the Olympic Games of 2000 Sydney
could attract it and in several years it became a different charts' TOP
10 member from "the Most Beautiful" till "the Most Stylish" cities of
the planet.

This city is impossible to be seen for one day. It is the city of
architectural contrasts, where modern skyscrapers of business centers
are closed to ancient buildings of Mediterranean style. This city is
full of gardens and parks, lively beaches and numerous places of
interest. It was built chaotically, that is why its streets are of
different length and width, and some of them are too close to each
other, another have a visible sheer slope. Sydney's relief is similar to
a big plane dish with river valleys in the North, in the Centre and in
the South. In the times of Ice Age the ocean level rose by more than 100
meters and inundated the valleys with water. These river valleys can be
perfectly seen from the height, for instance, on this panorama.

[{Image src='06_Sydney, Australia.jpg' caption='Sydney, Australia' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='338'}]

In the opinion of both locals and tourists, the most beautiful place in
the city is a coastal harbour. The most visited and closed to the centre
is a Rich Harbour. There is a whole complex of hotels, museums, souvenir
shops, restaurants and entertainments. Sydney's symbols are the Sydney
Harbour Bridge which joins the north and the south parts of the city and
the wonderful Sydney Opera House which is seemed to be going under
sails.

"I despair of being able to convey to any reader my own idea of the
beauty of Sydney Harbour. I have seen nothing to equal it in the way of
land-locked sea scenery", — the classical English writer Anthony
Trollope wrote about Sydney. It is the truth: what's for to read about
Sydney? It's worth to be seen.

\\ \\
[9 Panoramas of Sydney|Geography/Australia/Australia/Pictures/Panoramas_of_Sydney_1]











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