Powerhouse Museum

Home > Diaries > 2022 > 1029

I STARTED the morning taking a train up to Sydney's northside getting as far as Hornsby before returning to the city.

Following lunch, I followed George Street towards Central Station, then towards Darling Harbour, going through Paddy's Market and passing numerous new residential towers, including a couple of buildings covered in plants.

Approaching Darling Harbour, I discovered the Powerhouse Museum and decided to explore it. The museum itself was once a large powerhouse and with the machinery removed, it left enormous rooms for the museum displays. The first room I entered had New South Wales' first steam engine train with several passenger carriages behind it. Above it was the helicopter Dick Smith flew around the world in back in the 1990s. At the end of the hall was a smaller room with an old steam machine and a very complex clock very well crafted.

Another room was full of old steam engines including everything from small generators to farm equipment. All had been beautifully restored and some were even running.

Heading further into the building I headed into what would have been the main generator room of the old power station. This room contained several small planes and a few railway relics, including the old train timetable board from Central Station and at the far end, a display to space exploration. I would have been in this room for well over an hour looking at all the old exhibits, which included a small rock sample from the moon, the second I've seen (though the one at the Kennedy Space Centre allowed me to touch the rock).

A few more rooms I explored had various artistic sculptures and pottery pieces. I explored these for a while before heading out and continuing towards Darling Harbour and back to George Street.

In the late evening I headed down to Pitt Street to see how close I could get to tonight's New Years Eve fireworks. All the good vantage points around the harbour had been fully occupied since about 10:00 this morning with people waiting all day and evening in their spots. The streets were completely croweded out to about three blocks back from Circular Cay, but I found a good vantage point about a block ahead of the Pitt Street mall where I could clearly see the harbour bridge. From here I watched the fireworks before it ended and the entire city became a mass of people making their way up to Central Station as all the inner city stations were closed. Fortunately I only needed to go a couple of blocks to my pod hostel.