We woke extremely early (4.30am) to get to the airport for our flight to Sydney. Both very tired we landed in the iconic city at 9am and jumped on a train heading for the city. Following some very clear instructions (from Lynda) we walked to a huge, swishy office block in Sydney’s Central Business District to meet with Gav’s Dad’s Cousin Lynda, who we would be staying with during our time in Sydney. We took the lift to the 9th floor and walked into a very modern, pristine and clean office with people in expensive suits.
We both looked very out of place carrying 2 backpacks each, slightly jaded form the travel, in need of a shower and a sleep. It was lovely to see a familiar face.
Before heading off to investigate the city, we had a coffee with Lynda and left our bags in her office. We were given some more very clear instructions of how to get to main areas of the city and to meet back at the office between 4 and 5pm. We walked to the Botanic Gardens, which cover a huge area of the city stretching all the way down to the harbour. The gardens were beautiful and very well kept, with lots of unusual flowers and wildlife. Here is where we first encountered a proper Aussie spider...! It was in a huge web between 2 trees and was much bigger than anything we had ever seen in the UK. It was black and bright orange. We had a quick look and ran away!
After a couple of minutes we could make out the harbour bridge and then the Opera House – Wow! We both had a major moment of ‘We have actually done this trip and here we are, in Sydney, looking at the Opera House! Amazing.
After taking some snaps we headed to have a look inside the Opera House and enrolled on a tour which was just beginning. We discovered that there are actually 5 theatres in 3 buildings, all with a very busy schedule including Ballet, Opera, Theatre, Circus acts, musicians and stage productions. The most impressive studio was the biggest – the Concert Hall which had intricate detail in the ceiling to ensure the sound was perfect. It also housed the biggest organ in the world which has over 10,000 pipes!
We learned about the design and architecture of the building, including a very complicated roof structure with triple glazed self cleaning ceramic glass tiles, also the controversial story of the architect that designed the building! The building is designed so that the outside shell does not touch the inside building to not distort the sound and also as the glass and structure are designed to expand with the heat. It truly is a thing of beauty and you can not appreciate it until you have seen with your own eyes! It was be amazing to see a show in there. We walked out of the Opera House and headed around the harbour to take in the views from all angles. We have all seen the iconic scene of the Opera House with the Harbour bridge behind it on TV etc, however to see it in real life just took your breath away.
By this point we were both feeling shattered so headed back to the Botanic Gardens to have a lie down in the glorious sunshine and let it all sink in again. Gav had a little snooze before we set off walking back to meet Lynda. Before long we were striding back through the city with our bags heading for the harbour again, this time to get a ferry from Circular Quay to the suburb of Mosman where Lynda lives. It only took about 12 minutes and we could have another look at the magnificent views, this time from actually inside the harbour. Lynda had arranged for her husband Ron to collect us from the Ferry, for which we were very grateful as we had enough of walking by that point.
Lynda and Ron live in a beautiful house around 15 minute walk from the Ferry. We were showed to our own room with queen size bed and very own bathroom... Gav was given a beer and Mand champagne... amazing and just what we needed! Before long Ron was cooking steaks on the Barbie and giving us a truly Oz welcome! We slept the best we have done for a long time!!
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