Latest news with #SydneyHarbour
BreakingNews.ie
17 hours ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Commuter traffic stops for whales on Australia's humpback highway
The ferry was late, but not because of the usual traffic. Sydney commuters watched from an idling boat this month as humpback whales the size of buses surfaced nearby, halting the vessel's passage across the harbour. Advertisement The curious mammals seemed to be watching them back. In June and July, it is not uncommon for whales to stop water traffic in Sydney. Winter heralds the opening of the so-called humpback highway, a migratory corridor along Australia's east coast used by about 40,000 of the massive creatures as they travel from feeding grounds in freezing Antarctica to tropical breeding areas off Queensland state. People watch a whale swim past at Boat Harbour north of Sydney (Mark Baker/AP) 'It's blubber to blubber,' said Vanessa Pirotta, a wildlife scientist at Macquarie University in Sydney and author of the book Humpback Highway. Advertisement During peak traffic periods the bustling coastal city of 5.5 million people becomes one of the world's few urban centres where you might see a breaching whale on your morning walk, while buying a coffee, or waiting at a bus stop – any place you can see the sea. The reason humpbacks on the highway are so visible is because of their size – adults can be 52ft to 56ft long and weigh 40 tonnes – and their proximity to people. On their 6,000 mile journey from icy to balmy waters, one of the world's longest mammal migrations, the creatures stay close to shore. 'They are incredibly curious,' said Ms Pirotta. 'There's been times where there's been whales in the harbour this year where they've literally halted traffic.' Advertisement The migratory route is known as the humpback highway (Mark Baker/AP) Australians get so close to the creatures that some have attracted fans. Among them are Migaloo, an all-white humpback whose sightings spanned 1991 to 2020, and Blade Runner, named for her tussle with a boat propeller that created her long, distinctive scars. Some keen whale watchers seek a closer look. On a recent morning, Ben Armstrong, a veteran skipper of a whale-watching boat in Port Stephens, a scenic harbour north of Sydney, slowed the engine as two humpbacks breached nearby. He encouraged passengers to put down their phones and enjoy the spectacle. Advertisement Mr Armstrong keeps his tourist boat at distances mandated by Australia's state laws, but inquisitive whales often go off-script. Once, the skipper let his boat drift for an hour while four or five humpbacks treated the vessel 'like a bath toy', playfully preventing it from moving forward or back. Two humpback whales breach off the coast of Port Stephens (Mark Baker/AP) Vincent Kelly, who travelled from Geelong, Victoria, to witness the migration was a recent passenger. Over two hours, he watched half a dozen humpbacks perform breath-taking aerial manoeuvres. 'It was unbelievable to me,' Mr Kelly said. 'I didn't expect to actually see a whale. But they were everywhere.' Advertisement The humpback gridlock marks a sharp reversal of fortune for the whales. They were once hunted for meat and oil, and numbers dwindled to a few hundred before humpbacks became a protected species in the southern hemisphere in 1963. The humpback boom to about 40,000 since has brought the creatures into more frequent contact with people than before. The population is still growing steadily, amplifying concerns about how humans and giants of the sea can safely share the coastline. But it also puts millions of Australians a short walk and a little luck away from encountering one of the largest mammals on the planet.
Time Out
a day ago
- Business
- Time Out
The 10 best city hotels in Australia have been crowned for 2025
From spectacular seaside escapes to sky-high stunners, Australia is home to some seriously luxurious hotels. We've all got a dream stay, but ten in particular have just been crowned the best of the best in Australia for 2025 — and they deserve a top spot on your bucket list. Renowned travel media brand Travel + Leisure has named Capella Sydney as this year's winner of the best city hotel in Australia. Opened in 2023 after an eye-popping $300 million refurbishment, this lavish heritage-listed hotel features a naturally lit 20-metre indoor pool, Italian Frette linen, 24-hour room service controlled by a tablet, and a chic French bistro, Brasserie 1930. Capella isn't the only Harbour City stay that's worthy of a crown; five of the top ten city hotels for 2025 are in Sydney. The Park Hyatt Sydney landed in third, followed by Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel at Circular Quay in fifth, Shangri-La Sydney in seventh and Pier One Sydney Harbour in eighth. The ultra-stylish Ritz-Carlton Melbourne ranked as the second-best city hotel for 2025. Soaring 80 storeys high, this luxe stay features 257 fancy rooms with incredible views of the city, a heated infinity pool, bougie spa packages and an award-winning modern Australian restaurant, Atria. Guests here are well and truly sitting in the lap of luxury. Another one of our Melbourne favourites, W Melbourne, claimed the sixth spot on the best city hotels list, with its sister hotel in Brisbane landing in tenth. You can read the full list of award-winning hotels over here. These are Australia's best 10 city hotels for 2025 Capella Sydney The Ritz-Carlton, Melbourne Park Hyatt Sydney The Tasman Hobart Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel at Circular Quay W Melbourne Shangri-La Sydney Pier One Sydney Harbour COMO The Treasury, Perth W Brisbane ⭐️
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Inside the jaw-dropping Aussie apartment that just sold for national record of $141million
A new benchmark has been set for Australia's most expensive home, with a stunning Sydney Harbour penthouse fetching for an eyewatering $141.55 million. Yan Zhang on Thursday settled on the property, consisting of the top three floors of Lendlease's One Sydney Harbour development in Barangaroo. Purchased off-the-plan in 2019, the property combines a two-storey penthouse and a sub-penthouse below for friends and family. The deal was widely publicised at the time but the buyer had remained a secret until Sydney Morning Herald revealed Mr Zhang was the mystery buyer. It overtakes the estimated $130-million-plus sale of a Toorak mansion earlier this year as Australia's most expensive residential purchase. The combined Barangaroo penthouses cover more than 1600sqm and include nine bedrooms, a rooftop swimming pool, spa, gymnasium and is complete with eight-metre-high ceilings. Kylie Rampa, Lendlease's property chief executive previously described the jaw-dropping purchase as a landmark moment in Australian property sales. 'The sale of the penthouse at One Sydney Harbour is a paradigm shift for the Australian property market with an apartment claiming the title of Australia's most valuable residential property for the first time, a title historically reserved for significant houses,' Ms Rampa said. 'The record-breaking penthouse sale is confirmation that the Barangaroo South precinct is a world-leading location where people aspire to live, work and visit.' Valued at more than $100,000 per square metre, the property crowns the 72-floor building, the tallest of three in the One Sydney Harbour development. The three towers were designed by Pritzker-prize winning Italian architect Renzo Piano whose other works include The Shard in London and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. The One Sydney Harbour project was developed by Lendlease as part of a wider urban renewal project in Barangaroo alongside the Crown Sydney and the International Towers Sydney. All three towers have now been completed, with most buyers having settled and moved in to the development. Lendlease told the Australian Financial Review last year 99 per cent of the pre-sold apartments across the three towers had already settled. The three-storey mega penthouse purchased by Mr Zhang more than tripled the next most valuable purchase in the Barangaroo development. Prolific property investor Qing Zhong paid a reported $38.95million for an entire storey of the same tower last year, combining three apartments. Surgeon Dr Franklin Yee and his wife Gloria also purchased a unit above Mr Zhong's floor-wide purchase for $21million, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. It also exceeded the roughly $80million purchase of a two-storey, six-bedroom penthouse in the neighbouring Crown Tower earlier this month. That penthouse was rumoured by Domain to have been nabbed by James Packer's lieutenant, accountant Lawrence Myers and his wife Sylvia. If confirmed, Myers will be in good company with Packer himself having purchased a two-storey apartment in the same building for $72.23million a few years earlier in 2021.
The Independent
2 days ago
- The Independent
Commuter ferries held up as humpback whales migrate
Commuters experienced an extraordinary delay when their ferry journey across Sydney Harbour was unexpectedly halted by a pod of humpback whales. Travellers watched from an idling boat this month as humpback whales the size of buses surfaced nearby, and the curious mammals seemed to be watching them back. While unusual for many, such encounters are not uncommon in Sydney during June and July. The winter months herald the opening of the so-called humpback highway, a migratory corridor along Australia 's east coast used by about 40,000 of the massive creatures as they travel from feeding grounds in the icy waters of Antarctica to tropical breeding areas off Queensland. 'It's blubber to blubber,' said Dr. Vanessa Pirotta, a wildlife scientist at Macquarie University in Sydney and author of the book 'Humpback Highway.' During peak traffic periods, the bustling coastal city of 5.5 million people becomes one of the world's few urban centres where you might see a breaching whale on your morning walk, while buying a coffee, or waiting at a bus stop – anyplace you can see the ocean. Whales cruise close to shore The reason humpbacks on the highway are so visible is due to their size – adults can be 16-17 meters (52-56 feet) in length, and weigh 40 tonnes – and their proximity to people. On their 10,000km journey from icy to balmy waters, one of the world's longest mammal migrations, the creatures stay close to shore. 'They are incredibly curious,' said Pirotta. 'There's been times where there's been whales in the harbour this year where they've literally halted traffic.' Australians get so close to the creatures that some have attracted fans. Among them are Migaloo, an all-white humpback whose sightings spanned 1991 to 2020, and Blade Runner, named for her tussle with a boat propeller that created her long, distinctive scars. Humpbacks go people-watching On a recent morning, Ben Armstrong, a veteran skipper of a whale-watching boat in Port Stephens, a scenic harbour north of Sydney, slowed the engine as two humpbacks breached nearby. He encouraged passengers to put down their phones and enjoy the spectacle. Armstrong keeps his tourist boat at distances mandated by Australia 's state laws, but inquisitive whales often go off-script. Once, the skipper let his boat drift for an hour while four or five humpbacks treated the vessel 'like a bath toy," playfully preventing it from moving forward or back. In another episode, a whale peeled away from its pod and rushed to the boat, 'like a dog greeting its master at the gate,' he said. It lounged for 40 minutes in the water, rubbing its massive fins against the vessel. 'It was like, 'Oh, there's that boat I really like,' said Armstrong. Vincent Kelly, who travelled from Geelong, Victoria, to witness the migration, was a recent passenger. Over two hours, he watched half a dozen humpbacks perform breathtaking aerial manoeuvres. 'It was unbelievable to me,' Kelly said. 'I didn't expect to actually see a whale. But they were everywhere.' The congestion marks a conservation comeback The humpback gridlock marks a sharp reversal of fortune for the whales. They were once hunted for meat and oil, and numbers dwindled to a few hundred before humpbacks became a protected species in the Southern Hemisphere in 1963. The humpback boom to about 40,000 since, has brought the creatures into more frequent contact with people than before. That means more entanglements with fishing nets or run-ins with watercraft. Where and when they appear has become less predictable too, with whales in recent years giving birth to calves the size of small cars in unexpected places. Harvesting of krill, which humpbacks eat in bulk, and heating seas due to climate change could be altering their migratory patterns, Pirotta said. The population is still growing steadily, amplifying concerns about how humans and giants of the sea can safely share the coastline. But it also puts millions of Australians a short walk and a little luck away from encountering one of the largest mammals on the planet. 'It grounds you, I think,' said Armstrong, the boat skipper. 'It makes you realise there's a lot more out there than what we think there is in nature.'
ABC News
5 days ago
- Climate
- ABC News
A harmful algal bloom is having a devastating impact on marine life
For the past three months, a harmful algal bloom — 70 times the size of Sydney Harbour — has been lingering off South Australia's coastline.
