Former GPO

My turn to pick the mid-week cultural outing - a free heritage tour of the former GPO, now a 5-star hotel. This used to be the staff entrance, also used for smoko breaks. Highlights were the Tank Stream, Sydney’s first source of fresh water, accessible via the basement, and the vernacular carvings of ordinary people - a woman buying vegetables, a shearer, an architect and a stone carver among them - above the Pitt St side. These were so controversial the carver responsible was not paid and the architect never got another government commission.

A great way to spend an hour and a half on a grey, drizzly day.