Sydney

18 Sydney (Thu. Feb. 19)

Today our Australian tour includes a drive around Sydney, a stop at the Sydney Opera House, then take a harbour cruise (with lunch) and finally go to an Opal showing. It will pretty much take up the whole day.

First on our trip around the city is a stop at "Mrs. Macquaries Point". So named because in 1810 Governor Macquaries began to develop an extensive network of roads. One of these roads was a road for the Govenor's wife, Mrs Macquaries, recreation. The road was built right out to the point and was completed around 1916. Mrs. Macquaries would come to this point and sit at the end of this piece of land to view the harbour and waters. The Governor had the workmen Whatever the reason, this point of land (sweeps around and connects to the point where the Opera House sits surrounds the Farm Cove) is now a large and very nice city park.

From here we are able to see the Opera House and the Bridge in the background. There also is a nice view of the City and the bay. At the end of the point the workers building the road carved in the granite rock a seat, well a couple of seats actually. Carmen is here by one of the seats which looks out over the harbour waters.

In the center of the water is a small bit of land in the middle of the bay which now contains a small fort. (This fort was built around a couple of canons. The canons are still there because to remove them it would be necessary to destroy the fort walls.) It was pointed out that the fort has never been fired upon, except by a US destroyer. (During WWII Japanese several one-man submarines were dispatched into the harbour to destroy ships, as one was heading out the US shot at the sub, missing and hitting the Fort.

We leave "Mrs. Macquaries Point" and in a round about way (remember we are also touring the city) get to the Sydney Opera House. Yes, it really is as big as it looks. As we start to enter the Opera House and begin our tour, the Opera House tour guide mentions that there are a little over 200 steps going through the place. While we are inside any of the halls we are not able to take pictures. We can take pictures from within the halls, stair cases, and the glassed in vestibule (where President Bush had lunch with other dignitaries some months ago) and other external locations.

After the Opera House, we head back out driving around town heading to Bondi Beach which is about 7k distance. As a note, this is a large city with about 4 million people in it. So there is a lot of acreage to drive around and see, before our harbour cruise (around noon). On our way to Bondi Beach Park we pass a Ferrari dealership - damn I left my wallet in the hotel, anyway the driver will not stop for us to test drive a car. We also drive through a neighborhood and on top of a hill we have a great overall view of the city.

We get to the beach, nice beach by the way, big sand. The far end of the beach is set aside for surfers and has a strong rip current (7 on a scale of 10-highest). Across the beach is a large Pavilion with restaurants, restrooms, stores, a theater, etc. A nice place to hang around on a nice day during the summer. Anyway I digress, the beach is in a cove like a large tear-drop with high cliffs on one end and rocks on the other end. There is a "Bondi Surf Bathers Life Savings Club" here at the beach. These are the life guards, all voluntary. We do not get to stay too long here at the park since we only have about 15 minutes.

Back on the bus we continue on our way to the harbour cruise. We pass more churches, old buildings, and more. As we check in and get on the boat, the lunch buffet is already being served. Carmen and I eat quickly of course because we want to be up on the top of the boat during our trip. We travel around the harbour getting a broad view of the City, the Opera House, the Bridge (and there are people climbing up along the top of the bridge (about $280.00AUS per person), the Naval pier and the rest of the City.

As we come back to the docks and get off the boat, we made our way up the road to an Opal factory/store. Here we learn how Opals are made and mined and the differences between White, Black (the hardest to find and most expensive), and Stone Opals. Here is the Opal I liked. Of course you can well guess the price of this little trinket. You might well guess we did not get out of there without getting something. Carmen bought an Opal necklace, not so large nor too small, just right.

That is the end of our tour around the City, all we need to do is wait for the bus to come and take us to the hotel. Once there, it is about 3:00PM by then, Carmen and I take a short nap. On our agenda (no one else is going on our next excursion but us) next is to go and eat dinner at the top of the tower. We get to the restaurant at the top of the needle tower early around 5:45PM (our reservation was for 6:30PM) and since it is a buffet and there are not many people here yet we get a seat by the window. What a view! You can really see quite a distance from up here. We are able to see the sight of the 2000 Olympics, many of the parks, the ocean, the harbour and bays. Wow. We've included a couple of pictures.

The seating area for the restaurant rotates 360 degrees. The location where the food is and the windows remain stationary. We have to find the food then our seats each time. There is all kinds of food. I had the Kangaroo, Lamb shank, duck, and a few other exotic foods. At $65.00AUS each for the buffet I might as well partake of everything.

When we have finished, we go back down to the road and slowly head back to the hotel. Tomorrow Carmen and I (along with many of the others in our tour group) will be heading out to the Blue Mountains. This is an extra trip excursion (which we paid for), but we figured, what the heck we've been to the White Mountains, Green Mountains, and the Black Hills why not the Blue Mountains.

Till tomorrow, G'day Mate.