Day 16: Bridgeclimb, botannical gardens, SOH tour

Today was a 'free' day - no included or optional excursions... so we set our own itinerary.

We'd got the Sydney BridgeClimb booked for 09:25, so we were up and breakfasted and off the the starting point.

Very slick organisation - safety and equipment briefing with 'stations' where you got breathalysed, into your jumpsuit, harness and were equipped with headset, jacket, went on the 'simulator' (set of replica ladders) etc. etc. - took about 45 minutes, then onto the bridge!

First picture stop.

Nice outfits!

As we climbed, the guide was great - pointing out points of interest and telling us about the history of both the bridge and Sydney.

Apparently the headsets make us look 'cool'...

Great views from up here... you can really see how spread out the city is.

It's the SOH baby, yeah!

Shot from near the highest point, I think the top of our hotel is just visible behind my head - the one with the triangular bit on it (roof, not my head!).

Top of the world!

Crossing from one side of the bridge to the other to come back down (you don't go all the way from one side to the other), time for a quick smooch...

Get a room!

On the way back to the hotel (the quick way, nit the way Brian told us to go) we passed these steps. The old buildings have gone but left some of the interior walls and dummy furnishings have been put in place.

Inside, outside

We had a fantastic Italian sharing platter for lunch (we are going to be such porkers when we get home) then wandered down to the SOH to book a tour for later in the afternoon.

Then a stroll through the botanical gardens, where we saw one of the Extreme Sailing Series catamarans 'doing laps' of a couple of marks and putting the crew through their paces.

One in, one out.

Botanical gardens were very pleasant but not exactly riveting. Some interesting specimens and views though.

Due to prevailing winds?

Lovely park view from these offices

Think this was some kind of government building.

Cup of coffee and a cake in the cafe and then it was time to head back to the SOH for our tour. Initially the guide was a bit tetchy handing out headsets and trying to get them all working, but once that was sorted we were off!

Went into the Joan Sutherland Theatre, where we saw The Sleeping Beauty - in the intervening time it had been used for a lecture and had now been set up for the ballet to practice.

Stage

Tried to get a shot of where our seats were but it didn't really come out.

Photo fail

I just loved the rawness of the interior - inspired by Le Corbusier it could be described as 'a symphony in concrete'. These radiating ribs are what form the structure that supports the roof. you can see all the marks from the moulds used when they were cast.

Concrete

You can see the ribs and roof here. Each side of each roof is supported independently - if you removed one, the other would remain in place.

Mmmm... ribs

You also get fantastic contrasts inside of materials. A lot has been renovated and much use of light wood and light itself has been made to make everything feel open and airy,

Wood, concrete, steel

So raw - 'bolt this bit here...'. You also often see woodgrain in the walls - not a design feature, just the imprint of the planks used as shuttering when they were poured.

A tour of the Opera House is a must and was one of my favourite bits of the trip.

Day 15 - Blue Mountains and Featherdale Wildlife Park

Today, we get to see the amazing views of the famous Blue Mountains of Australia, then see some wildlife up close and personal at the Wildlife Park followed by a night at the ballet...

Things did not start well, it was cold and wet once again...

Play 'Misty' for me...

Descending the steepest railway in the world, it was really pretty steep - more like a funfair ride really.

The Descent

 Looking out across Jurassic Park, I mean Middle Earth... no, the Blue Mountains National Park.

Add caption

You kind of expect a lost tribe or dinosaur to cross the tracks at any moment. 

To be honest, we were walking along densely enclosed walkways, so the rain and mist didn't really stop us seeing what was there - too much.

Well, ok - sometimes it meant we couldn't see as much as we were expecting...

Ummm... yes, this was the view from the famous point where you can see the wonderful mountains with their blue colour caused by the haze coming off the trees... except we could see nothing.

This disappointment was compounded by the lack of anything Karen could easily eat that she actually wanted to eat... even the soup was 'off'...

Hungry, cold and a little demoralised we headed off to the Wildlife Park. Here we made a beeline for the cafe, but not without pausing to snap some of the little cuties they had on show.

Red-necked pademelon

At the cafe we found sustenance in the form of Mrs Macs meat pies and some startlingly good chips. The chips were so good, the birdlife was mad for them & this one managed to get in and spear the biggest one!

Having feasted on pie and chips we were able to wander around and see, touch (and smell!) some of Australia's fauna.

Frog-mouthed Owls

A lot of things were roaming around 'free' (mostly kangaroo-type things) and others were in pens where you could reach in and touch them.

I stroked a Wombat, a Quokka and a couple of 'roos. Not the Koala - they stink.

Another thing that stinks - Little Penguins. They also do big 'poo-slicks'... which is why I used this photo, not the other one I took.

You do not touch these bad boys... Tasmanian Devil. Looks kinda cute here but I think they are the inspiration for the ROUS's in The Princess Bride (apart from the tail).

Let sleeping devils lie

 A rock wallaby - easy to spot... in captivity though.

Not a rock lobster

Looks cute and just like the family pet, just don't leave him alone with the kids! 

Babies, I probably COULD eat a whole one...

 More easily spotted examples of things we were hoping to see in the wild. 

Tick tock, tick tock

After a somewhat disappointing day, we got our glad-rags on and headed down to the SOH for a bit of mime-dancing by men in tights and extremely skinny women...

Ooh, glam!

Karen loved the ballet and I was very impressed by the skill, stamina and talent of the cast and the spectacular costumes and sets. 

After the show

On the way in, the area was rammed with people all dressed in white, carrying white tables and chairs. Turns out there was a 'Diner en blanc' event going on in at the bottom of the steps in front of the SOH. It was quite late by the time we got out of the ballet but the whole area was still jammed with people and there was a DJ pumping out some tunes.

A great end to an average day.

Day 13: To Sydney!

Today was a travelling day, flying down from Cairns to Sydney. Recently, Sydney had experienced the hottest day on record... but when we arrived, it was raining and flipping cold!

Braving the weather we dashed out to get our first good look at some of the reasons we were here, such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge...

I'm cold... take the photo!

 There's a massive embarkation dock here as well, for the ships too large to fit under the bridge...

Cruising...

 Oooooh! Sydney Opera House (SOH)...

Looks good, even in the poor weather

 Look at the span! Can you see the climbers? We plan to do this later in the week.

Like a massive coathanger

There's a really expensive hotel on the front (penthouse is A$17,000 per night), however the cruise ships block their view of the SOH!

View = blocked

However, from the roof of our hotel in The Rocks (practically under the bridge) we get a GREAT view...

Looks great in the dark

 ... of pretty much the whole harbour.

Fancy long exposure shot

Day 14 - City and sea

Up and out for breakfast in a nearby cafe... at the counter "Just go through and I'll come and take your order...". 10-15 minutes later, I went back in and ordered... Australian service at it's finest.

Fuelled by Raisin Toast and Flat Whites we hit the road.

First stop 'Mrs Macquarie's Chair' where she waited to watch the ships coming into the harbour. Great views from here... despite it being overcast.

You can see the bridge...

Arty tree + bridge shot

 And SOH...

Do you know what the roof is covered in? Find out later...

Or both together... Karen was concerned I was going to get washed away in the pursuit of the prefect blog-shot!

Precariously balanced on a rock trying to keep my feet dry...

Onward to the famous Bondi Beach, which was very windy, cold and wet. Surf looked good but no time to try it. To be honest, we were expecting something bigger...

Surf's up dude! 

"It's behind you!!!" Moments later the wave hit and despite jumping up, Karen's shorts were soaked!

Wave? No, I'll just stand here...

 I'm not celebrating having dry shorts... but I could be.

Despite wet pants, it's still smiles all round.

Surf-lie

There were other stops on land, taking in Nicole Kidman's old school, Russell Crowe's harbour-side apartment (now property of the ex Mrs Crowe), the mouth of the harbour, the waterfront business district (high-rises) where we had lunch before boarding the boat for the afternoon cruise - there are pics, but we're trying to stick to the highlights!

Great views of the bridge from the water - in a couple of days, we'll be where these people are.

Bridge (not social) climbers

The weather had distinctly improved as the day progressed... it was lovely!

I take a GREAT selfie!

 View of SOH only available from the water...

Expect to see this building a lot

 Look! It's us! And a famous Australian landmark!

On a roll, selfie-wise

 I like this pose - it makes it look like it's a model - it's not though, WE'RE REALLY HERE!

Can you tell what it is yet?

 Busy, busy, busy - this isn't even the most crowded we saw it.

The place to be seen

Is it a sail, is it the bow of a boat...? No it's the SOH! Shame about the security light/camera on the tip though.

Creative use of lines here

What did you say it was covered in? Bet some of you said 'bird poo' - we know what you're like... It's actually 1,056,000 triple-glazed, self-cleaning Danish tiles in cream and off-white. The idea was to give the effect similar to a seashell.

Karen was desperate to see something here while we had the chance - particularly the ballet, as The Sleeping Beauty was premiering here tonight... but every performance had been sold-out since before we came away. They also had a couple of other things on, but nothing we fancied enough to justify the ticket price.

On the off-chance, we went to the ticket office...

Me: Hi, I know the answer will be 'No'... but are there any tickets available for the ballet?
Ticket Attendant: Funny you should ask... they just released some more tickets today - which performance were you interested in?
Me: Saturday, 7:30?
TA: I have 2 tickets for seats together in the circle...
Needless to say, Karen was VERY excited and despite the cost we took those last 2 tickets...