Sydney-- Opera House and Bridge Climb

Last week we spent our fall break in Sydney, Australia.  Just in time for Spring.  What a spectacular week!!

I had never been to Australia, so I didn't know exactly where to stay.  When we go on a family vacation, I usually prefer to go with Airbnb and rent an entire house or apartment.  There were a lot of high-rise options available, but that is how we live now in KL. I chose a waterfront apartment, and we loved it.  This was the view that greeted me on our first morning.

We had a short walk to the wharf to catch a ferry to Circular Quay.  The path had amazing views!  That is the opera house in the distance.

Our ferry.  We all bought Opal cards, which worked on the ferries and buses.  We just topped them up as needed.

Closer view of the opera house!

Selfie at Circular Quay!  This is where we spent a lot of time throughout the week.  It is the main ferry wharf, home to the opera house and Harbor Bridge. 

We scheduled a tour of the opera house at 1:00 and bought tickets to the matinee performance of the musical Anything Goes.  That timing worked very well.

You have probably seen lots of pictures of the outside of the opera house, but this is the inside.

Although it is called Sydney Opera House, it is really a performance arts center.  There are three separate structures, and six theaters

Here we are inside one structure, looking out to another.  The exterior is not actually white.  The architect knew that would be too bright in the sunlight.  It is a mixture of beige and light tan tiles.  Over a million porcelain tiles from Sweden.

Jorn Utzon was the architect who designed the opera house.  He won an international competition in 1957.  His design was chosen even though the technology to build it did not exist.  Let's just say, it was one challenge after another.  He actually left the project before its completion.  A lot of the interior was not built to his design.  But this room was-- the Utzon room.  He even designed the wool tapestry hanging behind Austin and Savannah.  This room is rented out for all sorts of occasions and just happened to be empty at the time of our tour.

A close up took at the tiles on the exterior.

Like I said, we were in this area almost every day for one reason or another.  Here we are at sunset.

A couple of days later we did the Bridge Climb.  I was so excited to do do this!  I first heard about this when Oprah took her audience to Australia years ago.

We had a perfect day!  Temperature was in the low 70s with lots of sunshine.  You are not allowed to take anything up with you.  You are provided with jumpsuits, hats that attach to jumpsuit, a clip for your sunglasses so you can attach them, and even a handkerchief you clip to your wrist.  Since it was warm enough, our guide told us she didn't recommend wearing jeans or long pants under the jumpsuits.  There were changing rooms and lockers available.

I included several pictures of the climb, not only to show you the views, but I bought the pictures, and I will use them!  It was about $40 (US) for a flash drive with 10 photos of your group.  I have to tell you, this whole bridge climb was less strenuous than I expected.  You will climb a couple of ladders, but then most of the steps are shallow.  You will take plenty of breaks while the guide takes pictures of each set of people in your group.  There are also water fountains along the way and even a misting fan.

We are attached to the cables along the bridge.  I felt very safe at all times.  But of course I do like heights.  The views were amazing and this climb was one of my top three things I did in Sydney.  The  opera house was one and the third thing will be in the next blog post.

Here is a picture of  Vivid Sydney.  It was included in the flash drive we purchased.  "Vivid Sydney is a unique annual event of light, music and ideas, featuring an outdoor gallery of extraordinary lighting."  It is held every winter.  (June)

I have included these pictures of Cremorne Point, where we stayed.  There is a path that goes around the point, and we took all these pictures on that walk.  There were birds of paradise everywhere in Sydney.  One quick fact about Cremorne Point.  It is the last ferry stop going to Circular Quay and the first stop coming bak.  Very convenient.

This picture was taken on a stormy afternoon.  We had this afternoon and one day of rain.  The rest of the week was sunny.  Unusual for the Holmes family to have such good vacation weather!

I end this blog post with fireworks over the harbor, seen from our living room window.  Video credit goes to Miss Savannah.