A Day at the Opera.

Thursday 8th December 2016

We walked into the City Centre from our apartment.  Most of the walk was up Bourke Street,through the Surry Hills area.  It was a mainly tree lined residential area of small terraced houses with small balconies.  It also had occasional cafes and shops.  It was a nice, fairly peaceful way into a city centre.  The City Centre was full of skyscrapers but we walked into Hyde Park, passed the Anzac Memorial and into St Mary's Cathedral.

From here we walked on through the Royal Botanic Garden to Mrs MacQuarries Chair, which was supposed a single piece of sandstone overlooking the harbour that had a seat cut into it by convicts.  Mr MacQuarrie was the Fifth Governor of New South Wales.

This is the view from Mrs MacQuarries Chair towards the Opera House.  The Chair doesn't really exist, it's only a big rock now but it is a great view.

We went round the bay and made a visit to the Opera House.  We took lots of pictures.  It is a special building.

We had a great chat with a security guard called Tim outside the Opera House. He was very friendly and was a supporter of the Monarchy and gave us a tip to visit the Fish Market whilst we are here.  We will schedule that in one day.  We did the inside tour as well.  This picture is inside the main concert hall (there are 5 halls altogether).  There was a story about the design competition and the eventual building of the Opera.  The architect, Jorn Utzen, was from Denmark and he fell out with the politicians and builders in 1965, he abandoned the project and never revisited it.  The building was opened by HRH Queen Elizabeth in 1973.  It still looks exceptional today.

Whilst we were in the habit of doing iconic visits we thought we should walk across the Harbour Bridge.

We walked past Explorer of the Seas Cruise Liner and onto the Bridge.  We could have had a walk over the arch for over 200 dollars each but we thought it was a bit 'steep'!

We have bought a travel card for public transport whilst we are in Sydney, it's like an Oyster Card in London.  We caught a bus back to our apartment, used the gym in a nearby complex and then flopped contentedly in the evening having had a special day.