Monday, October 21, 2024
Left Newcastle for Sydney at 11am and arrive at our hotel parking garage about 1pm. The garage is at least 8 floors underground and we drove down to level 6 before finding a spot. Finally reached the Lobby at 1:30 and were in our room at 1:40. Catherine booked the Sebel Quay West Hotel for us months ago and it certainly lived up to expectations. Our room has a spectacular view of both the bridge and the Opera House and is very close to everything we are interested in visiting.
We hung out in the room a short while and then took an Uber to the Bondi Icebergs Restaurant overlooking the famous Bondi Beach, which Catherine had also booked months in advance and where we had a late lunch with the plan of skipping dinner.
Everyone had a delicious meal including my cuttlefish entree and Mark’s Whiting fish main dish. After lunch we admired the Beach view awhile and headed back to the Sebel Quay West where we hung out until we all got sleepy. Catherine and Martin have a similar room on a different floor.
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Our plans for the day were action packed. Mark and I went on a 90 minute helicopter ride over the Sydney area and out to the Blue Mountains to see the scenery, especially the Three Sisters rock formation. We took lots of photos and enjoyed the ride.
After that we went for a walk in the Botanical Gardens and had a light lunch in a cafe in the gardens. We walked back to the hotel for a brief rest and then headed for our second big event of the day, the BridgeClimb, on the Sydney Harbor Bridge.
We arrived at the Bridge climb check in and gift shop at 4pm and began the process of getting prepared for the walk. There was still some concern about my health, but after talking a few minutes, the staff was satisfied. The lecture about do’s and don’ts, the process of getting prepared, putting on all the clothing and gadgets required for a safe walk and double checking each person before heading out took almost 60 minutes. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to have our cameras so I have no photos of the experience except the ones the bridge crew took.
Our clothing included a full jumpsuit and harness, hat, headset to hear the crew while on the walk, a cable attachment for the entire walk, a scarf to use if your eyes or nose need whipping, croakies to attach my glasses, headset and hat. Nothing could be unattached in case something should fall onto a vehicle on the bridge. We were assigned to a group of 14 walkers and one leader. After dressing, we assembled and went through an orientation including saying our name and where we were from and being assigned a position in the group lineup. Being the weakest person, because I admitted to being terrified of falling, I was put in the first position with Mark behind me. Our leader, Jesse, instructed us on how and where and when to walk and off we went. To make us take our mind off the walk, he talked about the history of the bridge and told a few funny stories. It did help, but at first I had a hard time taking more than baby steps, but Mark kept nudging me on and eventually I walked faster, though I was not able to look around, only down at the walk way. Jesse had us stop at a few designated photo stops where the crew took photos of each couple and group. We arrived at the top of the bridge just a few minutes before sunset. The crew took several photos there and we continued across and down the other side. I began to feel more comfortable on the way down and walked faster. But I could look around only when we were not walking. It was a huge relief when we finally reached the bottom and were back in the changing room.
I certainly felt like celebrating and couldn’t wait for my first scotch. We went directly back to our room where drinks were waiting. I ordered some hot pasta from room service while drinking my first scotch. The rest of the group drank Champaign and wine and ate cheese and crackers Catherine had brought from home. I proceeded to polish off the pasta and 2 more scotches and it wasn’t long before I was ready to crash. Soon Catherine and Martin left and Mark joined me in bed. It had been quite a day.
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
The 26th Exhibition of Sculpture by the Sea.
This was a much more relaxing day for all of us. A leisurely breakfast was followed by an Uber ride to Bandi Beach, where Mark, Catherine and I walked the 26th Exhibition of the Sculpture By The Sea. There were 100 pieces and we managed to take in almost all of them. Most were not of much interest to us, but a few were very good. The walk followed the shoreline and ended at another beach called Tamarama. Here are a few of the pieces I liked.
I took a short walk on Tamarama Beach, and then the three of us took an Uber to a fish restaurant called Doyle’s, where we met up with Martin and feasted on a delicious lunch of fish and chips and mussels.
Then we hopped on a Hop on-Hop off boat and rode it to our hotel stop. By then it was late afternoon and we were all ready to have some down time and call it a day. We did meet up later in the evening for a light dinner and beer at a nearby pub.
Thursday, October 24, 2024
This was our Sydney Opera House day. We were up and at the opera house at 7am for our first tour, the inside of the house, back stage tour.We got to see all 5 of the theaters in the building and learned a few details. Building the facility took 16 years, somewhat longer to build than the original timeframe of three years, from 1956-1973. There were many architectural problems that took years to be resolved, including firing the design architect, Jorn Utzon. Renovations and adjustments were completed in mid 2023 at the cost of 255 million. The original cost of the building was estimated at 7 million but the final cost was 102 million. There are 12 floors below street level as well as several above. The largest hall, the Symphony Hall, has 2700 seats, all made with white birch as it is a soft, absorbent wood. The Opera Hall, named for Joan Sutherland, whom I heard sing in the San Francisco Opera House in the 70’s, has 1500 seats. The building occupies 4.4 acres of land, is 600 ft long and 394 ft wide. It is as tall as a 22 story building. The interior is substantially covered in white ash plywood from northern Australia.
Then we had breakfast in the employee cafeteria and dashed to our second tour of the exterior of the building. There are 1,056,006 tiles covering the opera house. There are two colors,polished white and matte cream.
Back at the hotel by noon, there were no plans and we all felt like taking a break so we stayed in our rooms until 5:30 when we assembled in Martin and Catherine’s room for Champagne and pizza.
By 6:30 there was a light sprinkle so we wore our rain coats to the opera house for the 7:30 performance of Sunset Boulevard, a production by Andrew Loyd Webber. We had excellent seats in the third row center, but neither the music nor the performances were very exciting. Apparently even the newspaper had unflattering reviews about Sarah Brightman, the elderly actress who played the lead. Mark and I smiled at each other during her bad opening song. I was embarrassed for her, but the audience seemed to support her with enthusiasm and gave her a standing ovation at the end. We did not stand.
There were still a few light sprinkles on the walk back to the hotel so we wore our raincoats again. As it was 10:45 when we returned to our hotel. We all went directly to bed.
Friday, October 25, 2024
At breakfast we were still talking about Sarah Brightman and getting a good laugh. Then the subject moved to Trump and we stopped laughing.
At 11am we checked out of the Sebel Quay West Hotel, which we had enjoyed so much for its perfect location and stunning view. Martin, meanwhile, rescued his car from the 6th underground floor and off we went to the Toranga Zoo for our last adventure with the Whites.
It was a 45 minute drive through the city to the outskirts where the Tarango Zoo was located. We checked into our rooms in the Wildlife Retreat at Toranga, and headed into the zoo.
Our map was comprehensive. We circled the animals we most wanted to see and started walking.
First we went through the Aviary, which was full of birds even Mark could not identify. Then we covered Kangaroos and Wallabys, Koalas, Lions, Zebras, Elephants, Gorillas, Echidnas, other animals and finally Nocturnal creatures, trying hard to see the platypus, to no avail.
Enough animal watching for one day. Back in the Retreat, we cleaned up and had one last dinner together right at the hotel. A “feast” of a meal we enjoyed along with several glasses of wine and much good conversation. We have already made plans to get together when they come to Nevada City next week, a few days after we get home.
Saturday, October 26, 2024
After breakfast and saying good bye to Catherine and Martin, we headed back into the zoo to see the animals we had missed. Here they are.
Mark and I had a reasonable viewing of them all this time, especially the platypus, named Matilda. I added another hour with the reptiles, but they were not very photogenic.
We packed up and left the Wildlife Retreat at about 12:30 and Uber’d back into the city for our final hotel stay, the Park Hyatt, which is located on the Harbor looking directly at the Sydney Opera House.
We relaxed the rest of the afternoon until time to go to our second performance at the Opera House. It was a risqué program being held in the Studio, the smallest of the 5 Opera House halls. It was set up as a theater in the round. There is a photo of it taken during the tour earlier. Here is the only photo I captured just before the show. And yes there was a bathtub in the opening act and lots of people in the front rows got wet.
The place was packed and the entertainment baudy to say the least. There were 8 performers, each doing separate acts one right after another. Three acts were performed in the nude. What impressed me most was the muscular shape their bodies were in. Three other performances were done with silks and they were excellent. One lady did a performance with 4 umbrellas that was delightful. That and the last silk performance even impressed Mark. The show lasted about 1.5 hours and once out of the theater, we had diner at an outdoor cafe between the Opera House and our hotel. Mark had oysters again and I had scallops. We figure he has eaten about 6 dozen oysters on this trip.
Sunday, October 27, 2024
Another leisurely morning followed by a long walk through the part of the city called The Rocks. Bought a few souvenirs, including a new purse for me. Apparently Mark did not like the purse I have carried through this entire trip. Now I have a nice new one.
We had an early dinner on the street overlooking the Opera House. I ordered lobster and ate almost all of it. Mark had pork belly and ate the pasta in my lobster dish along with some of my lobster.
It was very tender and tasty. After dinner we walked back to the room and ordered dessert delivered. Nice finishing touch to our meal. Tomorrow morning, October 28, 2024, we get picked up at 9:30 and begin our return to Nevada City. After 24 hours of traveling, it will still be October 28 when we get home, a 41 hour day.
Adventures with Julia 