March 5, 2019 – Sydney, Australia
We picked up our harbor pilot at 4 am and we weren’t able to see any of the sights as we came in. I did get a glimpse of the Sydney Harbor Bridge when the sun started to rise.. I will be climbing that tomorrow.
We have tickets for a Hop On, Hop Off Bus Tour. As the name suggests, this bus does two routes around the city and you can get on and off as you wish. The bus comes every 20 – 30 mins. There is really not enough time to get off on every site and wait for a bus. The immigration process went better than I expected and we were on a shuttle bus for about a 25 minute ride to the city. I could easily swim from the boat to the drop off point. The roads take much longer because of the shape of the harbor.
We arrived at our drop off point in front of the aquarium. The tour bus doesn’t start until 9:30. We had an hour to kill before we boarded. We decided to walk around and check out this part of the city.
We must be getting old. This is just another city where only the tourists are our age. We did notice that the women dressed differently here than they did back home. I told Terri that it must be the asian influence. I first noticed this in Hong Kong. Skirts and pants are worn at the waist. Who would have thought? Lots of skirts, heels, and attention to detail. There was also a noticeable lack of body art of any kind on the women. No tattoos, no nose rings. Refreshing. The non-asian-men looked like the men at home. Full body artwork not uncommon. The asian men and women smoked. I expected that. No judgements made. Just the facts.
We hopped on our bus and rode on the roofless second floor. It felt great. Earbuds provided for narration of the sights. We couldn’t help but notice the iconic Sydney Opera House and decided to get off.
This picture shows the area underneath the opera house.
The opera kitchen is just one of the many things found underneath the opera house.
A large area surrounds the Opera House. I imagine seeing arriving early and standing outside with a drink. Wandering in before the current call and seeing or hearing a great show. Coming out in the evening to admire the lights of downtown Sydney. We did not see a show or try to make plans to do so. Not enough time here and it would have been too rushed. Next time.
The structure is covered with tiles. That is not evident from far away. Most folks can recognize the structure but how many know what it looks like up close?
I took this one looking away from the Opera House. Seemed appropriate so I included it.
The rest of Sydney is a mixture of old and new buildings. We snapped photos of cool buildings and scenery.
Terri snapped this one. The Happy Hockers. Almost as good as the Thirsty Pig!
A large China Town can be found in Sydney and below is Bondi Beach. It is THE place to be seen!
We spent all day touring sights. We had lunch down at the harbor near the Opera House. Dinner was in an area called The Rocks. We ate at the William Blue College of Hospitality and Management. Everyone there was in week 6 of a 10 week program learning the ways of restaurant management. All of the students were supervised by the head chef and hostess. It was a great experience. I imagine this was one of many courses the students took.
After dinner we headed back to the aquarium to hop on our shuttle. The city was full of live and at no time did we feel like we were in the “wrong area”.…