Metro Assist recently organised an orientating, educational and recreational tour of Sydney and a lunchtime harbour cruise for 40 newly arrived refugee women from Syria and Iraq.
Newly arrived refugee women enjoyed a Sydney tour and harbour cruise.
The women, who live in different suburbs in the Canterbury Bankstown LGA, travelled by train to Wynyard Station and took the Wynyard Walk connecting Sydney CBD to Barangaroo. After coffee on the waterside they boarded a cruiser that took them on an informative tour around the harbour, the Opera House, Barangaroo Headland and other landmarks.
The tour incorporated a lunch buffet and socially enjoyable activities such as singing, dancing and interacting with each other and with the cruiser’s staff.
The cruise concluded with a walking tour to some significant sites in the Sydney CBD: the Town Hall, St Mary’s Cathedral, St Andrew’s Cathedral, St James Anglican Church, Circular Quay, the Rocks and some shops.
Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with the women reporting they have not had such a beautiful day since the war broke out in Syria.