Cockatoo Island, Sydney Harbour

Cockatoo Island, Sydney Harbour

I was at the ferry wharf to discover that Fort Denison was closed and so there were no ferries stopping there. I had a Plan B...I was going to Cockatoo Island instead.

I caught a fast catamaran ferry  from the docks next to the Sydney Opera House.

And passed under the Sydney Harbour Bridge from which people bungee jump and you can take to tour that reaches the very top of the span, but only for those who have a head for heights.

We passed a tanker being escorted by tugs.

The Crown Towers at Barangaroo, the second tallest building in Sydney at 271 metres.

The ferry building terminal on Cockatoo Island, in Sydney harbour. It was a penal colony and a ship building centre, built and operated by convicts. During the Second World War it was a major ship building and repair yard with 4,000 workers on an eight hectare island with several dry docks, the oldest dating from 1851.

There are two tunnels going through the centre of the island to assist moving materials and to act as air raid shelters.

A large flat area that has been cleared of buildings.

Inside the Turbine Hall, a vast cavernous space and just to the right of the door at the far end are several people to give an idea of how big this space was.

One of several cranes on site.

She of the older buildings were built of stone, quarried on the island.

A detail of a door.

More cranes.

The Fitzroy dry dock, now filled with water dating from 1851.

Part of the electricity generating station.

Where the convicts were housed.

Visitors can spend the night on the island in the former managerial accommodation...

...or under canvas depending on your budget.

And then it was farewell to Cockatoo Island.