Noon Report:

• Location: S 33° 51.75′, E 151° 11.08′
• Speed: Docked
• Course: Docked
• Weather: Clear
• Temperature: 23º C, 73º F
• Wind: NE, 10 knots

We had one excursion booked today and it didn’t leave until 1:00 so we took the opportunity to start the day a bit slowly. Exercised and breakfasted we hopped the ship-provided shuttle downtown and set out to explore a bit. From our drop-off point near Darling harbor we made our way up hill to Wynyard park, stopping along the way to shop for a few essentials that needed replacing at this point in the trip.

Our afternoon excursion was the included bus tour of the city. We drove around the city center while our guide regaled us with history and stories of the people who were important to the development of modern Sydney. Out in the Royal Botanic Garden we stopped for photo ops of the Opera House and Coat Hanger

We also visited Mrs Macquarie’s chair:

The story is that the governor General, in 1811, had convicts carve this seat out of the rock for his wife who liked to sit here and gaze out across the bay.

We also took photos of a couple of impressive trees:

Leaving the park we drove around to an overlook where we could see the headlands that form the entrance to the harbor.

Our next stop was Bondi Beach. We drove thru several interesting neighborhoods – from ultra-expensive water view estates to hip collegiate areas, arriving at the very popular beach to spend some time on a warm Friday afternoon.

We parked in a parking area and walked across a convenient bridge to the beach proper.

Then it was back on the bus for the return trip to the ship.

Shortly before 6:00 we pulled away from the dock and began to make our way thru the harbor and back out to sea. Along the way we passed this former wharf/warehouse that’s been converted into condominiums. A hint about the cost of these units might be that they come with boat parking out front.

At 6:30 we attended a lecture by our newly arrived Resident Historian.

Then it was up to dinner where I joined the crowd at the back railing to capture one last photo of Sydney.

We won’t talk about BBB. We’ll just look at the photo and sigh.

Sea day tomorrow. Maybe I can get caught up on posting.

Wish me luck, R

Cheryl’s Factoids:

• The Sydney Opera House is actually a large building next to a smaller building – both with “sails”. Part of the turmoil between the politicians, architect and engineers is that the politician pushed through starting the construction of the anchoring “footprints” before any of the architectural drawings and engineering designs had been completed – and it took quite a while for them to figure out how to actually DESIGN and MAKE the various concrete sails so they wouldn’t fall over. This also caused the already poured 588 supporting piers to have to be pulled out and sunk to as much as 82 feet below sea level to support the final design (which was part of the cost increase).
• The original “large” building has the tallest “sail”(22 feet tall) to accommodate, up above the stage, all the various scenery support needed for large operatic productions; however the politicians decided it was more important to have extra seating (ticket $) rather than a large opera house, so this building is actually used for concerts.
• The smaller building is the one used for opera and ballet performances.
• When Queen Elizabeth II died, they had a picture of her projected nightly for two weeks on the side of the largest “sail”.
• As of tomorrow Sydney is hosting the World Gay Festival and will light up the sails with the rainbow colors of Gay Pride.
• The Sydney Opera House was a finalist in the New 7 Wonders of the World campaign and declared a UNESCO site in 2007.

Pro Tip

A number of sources talk about collapsible laundry hampers so this more commonly advice rather than a pro-tip. However, it’s such good advice that it deserves a mention: