Sydney, G'day 2
G'day mates! Today is our second day in Sydney. Yesterday we saw the beautiful Blue Mountains, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and we visited the wildlife park to visit some of the amazing animals of Australia. LeRoy was right. I loved the koalas! I want one!
Today we took a city tour under cloudy skies, and even a rain shower late in the day. All of this crescendo'd into the most beautiful sunset sail-away to date! God really showed off as we left Sydney.
We boarded a bus to head into Sydney to visit another UNESCO World Heritage Site, the beautiful Sydney Opera House. It is the youngest site on the World Heritage Site list, and sits alongside the Taj Majal and the Great Pyramids of Egypt as one of the most outstanding places on earth. It was named to the list in 2007 while its architect was still living. That's a feat in itself! There is so much to say about the Opera house. It is easily the most iconic structure in Sydney. The iconic roof is actually made up of tiles. 1,056,950 of them to be exact. And they are self cleaning too. They only repair or replace about 40 or so per year. The company who made them is still in business so the very same tile is also available to tile your bath should you want to. As we saw most of the city from a tour bus, the bulk of our pictures today are of the opera house! Most of the pictures of the Opera House will also include the iconic Sydney Harbor Bridge.
But wait... before I get to telling you about the bridge let me backup a little. We had a little snafu with the tour at first. It started out innocent enough. A full bus of us "mature" tourists all loaded up and ready to go from the pier. We drive on down thru heavy traffic and unload (a feat in and of itself sometimes) at the waterfront where the opera house is. As a spread out group we walk over thru the water front promenades and get to the Opera House. We wait around and then we wait a little more and then we wait a bit longer and no one shows up to be our local guide. After a few phone calls we learn that we won't be touring the opera house when we thought we would. Nope, a snafu. No one to blame really, just a mistake. Soooo, we turn around and head back to the bus which of course wasn't just sitting where we left it. No, they can't do that. So we wait around, and then we wait some more and then we wait a bit longer and pretty soon our bus shows up and we all have to load back up. To say that there were some disgruntled American tourists might be putting it lightly, but what can you do. No worries mate. We're all in Sydney so it can't be that bad. The best way to calm the masses is to dangle ice cream in front of them. It acts like a salve on an open wound.
Anyway, our tour drove us around for a little while to see the sights and then headed back over to the waterfront and we did it all over again. This time we got our guide and she took us through the beautiful iconic place. This snafu did put a hiatus on us getting over to Bondi Beach, one of the iconic beaches in the world but what can I say. So anyway, sorry about the tangent there, I will get back to the Sydney Harbour Bridge story... This span was built between 1923 and 1932. It was well before it's time. It is 3770 feet long and connects Sydney's business district with the North Shore. It is a steel arch structure and the locals call it "the coat hanger" because it looks like ... a coat hanger.. They actually take walking tours over the top of the bridge. I mean way up on top of the arch. It takes you 134 meters above the water. You do the math. You can actually walk it for free. We had some friends who actually walked it!
Now, back to the Opera House... we got to tour the inside of the Opera House, too. It was beautiful, and everything about it was pleasing to the eyes and perfectly suited for the ears. We got to go into two of the halls. One was smaller, and it was set for a play by a local theatre group. The other one was being set up for the symphony, and we got to go in and listen to a harpist who was tuning her harp. Sounded heavenly and beautiful. Because both were in use, we could not take any photos. Everything was designed with sound in mind, from the structure of each individual chair, to the wood in the walls, to the beams in the ceiling.
It was officially opened in 1973 by Queen Elizabeth, and the story told was how she had weights stitched into the hem of her dress so that the ever-present winds would not blow her skirt around! The overall design of the Opera House was the result of a contest, and the external of the house is widely thought to resemble sails, shells or as some children recently told our guide .... nachos! We loved it!
There is a whole promenade on the water around the opera house, full of shops, restaurants and coffee shops. LeRoy and I stopped and had a burger before the tour. Hopefully, it wasn't a kangaroo burger! (That is a real thing by the way!) We did have two very colorful birds join us as we ate! I know LeRoy mentioned the birds yesterday, but we both noticed on our first day here, that the bird songs are so very different here. There is one one called a "whip bird" that makes a long whistle and then ends in a "CRACK" that sounds like a whip snapping! Overall, the opera house is impressive! "Next time" as we like to say .... we will come to a performance!
But as I said before the Sydney sail-away was just beyond words, and pictures can't really do it justice either. It was an evening sail away and the sky was just spectacular. Take a look at the pics.
As much as Vialula and I enjoyed New Zealand, Sydney was a fabulous introduction to our Australia stops. Off we go to Townsville. Then Cairns (pronounced "cans"), and then thru, along, around and near the Great Barrier Reef, thru the Torres Straight and over to Darwin. Australia is big.
Take care,
Leroy and Vialula
Today we took a city tour under cloudy skies, and even a rain shower late in the day. All of this crescendo'd into the most beautiful sunset sail-away to date! God really showed off as we left Sydney.
We boarded a bus to head into Sydney to visit another UNESCO World Heritage Site, the beautiful Sydney Opera House. It is the youngest site on the World Heritage Site list, and sits alongside the Taj Majal and the Great Pyramids of Egypt as one of the most outstanding places on earth. It was named to the list in 2007 while its architect was still living. That's a feat in itself! There is so much to say about the Opera house. It is easily the most iconic structure in Sydney. The iconic roof is actually made up of tiles. 1,056,950 of them to be exact. And they are self cleaning too. They only repair or replace about 40 or so per year. The company who made them is still in business so the very same tile is also available to tile your bath should you want to. As we saw most of the city from a tour bus, the bulk of our pictures today are of the opera house! Most of the pictures of the Opera House will also include the iconic Sydney Harbor Bridge.
Anyway, our tour drove us around for a little while to see the sights and then headed back over to the waterfront and we did it all over again. This time we got our guide and she took us through the beautiful iconic place. This snafu did put a hiatus on us getting over to Bondi Beach, one of the iconic beaches in the world but what can I say. So anyway, sorry about the tangent there, I will get back to the Sydney Harbour Bridge story... This span was built between 1923 and 1932. It was well before it's time. It is 3770 feet long and connects Sydney's business district with the North Shore. It is a steel arch structure and the locals call it "the coat hanger" because it looks like ... a coat hanger.. They actually take walking tours over the top of the bridge. I mean way up on top of the arch. It takes you 134 meters above the water. You do the math. You can actually walk it for free. We had some friends who actually walked it!
It was officially opened in 1973 by Queen Elizabeth, and the story told was how she had weights stitched into the hem of her dress so that the ever-present winds would not blow her skirt around! The overall design of the Opera House was the result of a contest, and the external of the house is widely thought to resemble sails, shells or as some children recently told our guide .... nachos! We loved it!
There is a whole promenade on the water around the opera house, full of shops, restaurants and coffee shops. LeRoy and I stopped and had a burger before the tour. Hopefully, it wasn't a kangaroo burger! (That is a real thing by the way!) We did have two very colorful birds join us as we ate! I know LeRoy mentioned the birds yesterday, but we both noticed on our first day here, that the bird songs are so very different here. There is one one called a "whip bird" that makes a long whistle and then ends in a "CRACK" that sounds like a whip snapping! Overall, the opera house is impressive! "Next time" as we like to say .... we will come to a performance!
Click here to learn more about the beautiful opera house ... https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/
But as I said before the Sydney sail-away was just beyond words, and pictures can't really do it justice either. It was an evening sail away and the sky was just spectacular. Take a look at the pics.
As much as Vialula and I enjoyed New Zealand, Sydney was a fabulous introduction to our Australia stops. Off we go to Townsville. Then Cairns (pronounced "cans"), and then thru, along, around and near the Great Barrier Reef, thru the Torres Straight and over to Darwin. Australia is big.
Take care,
Leroy and Vialula
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