Well....our last day in Sydney and Australia. What a nice trip it has been. It has gone fast, looking back of course. But, we have seen so much in that little amount of time.
Today, we were up a bit early. Talked to some of our kids at home before we got ready. Always good to hear from them. The boys...we have just texted with. The girls...we always seem to get them on the phone. Nonetheless, always good to hear what is going on back home.
At about 8:30 AM, we headed out to a different train station that turned out to be much closer than the one we had walked to yesterday. I should have had this all mapped out. The funny thing was that we caught the train in the Tempe Station, went one stop and then we had to get on a bus to take us to the Central Station and then get back on a train to take us into the city and the train stop at Circular Quay. Apparently they were doing maintenance on tracks in our neck of the woods and trains from Sydenham to Central were not going. Oh well...only cost us about 20 minutes. Once at Circular Quay, we boarded our first ferry of the day...a boat ride to Darling Harbour. This ride had two or three stops on the other side of the bay and went under the Sydney Harbor Bridge before it turned the corner into Darling Harbour. There we disembarked and walked along King Street until we settled into a place where we could grab brunch. We ended up at a place called 'Casa'. There we had some very yummy breakfast food while watching boats in the harbor.
After eating our brunch, we headed back to the wharf to get back on the ferry and head back to Circular Quay. Each way took about 25 minutes, even with the stops. It's amazing how quick they get people off these ferries and on to them. When we disembarked, we saw our next ferry getting ready to go. We had to run quickly as they were announcing the gates would be closed in 2 minutes.
This was a really big ferry with lots of people on it all heading out to the little suburb called 'Manly' where they have some nice beaches. This ride would give us the best view of the bridge and the Opera House. They said it was going to be 100% rain today. Well...until about 4 PM...it was sunny skies, cool temperatures with a nice breeze. Just beautiful. So these ferry rides were awesome. As we traveled out to Manly, you could not begin to count the number of sail boats in the harbor out sailing. It was a perfect day for it. I swear there were 'sailing schools' out there in these little two man sail boats with motor boats following along. It was interesting.
We disembarked at Manly and then had about a 5 to 10 minute walk to get over to the main beach. As you walked, we passed the 'downtown' area of Manly with all its shops to take your money away. :-) Once on the beach, we took some pictures and then sat down on a bench in the shade and just watched the surfers do their thing out in the water. Honestly, the waves were not overly large. So 'catching a wave' was not that easy for them. It was fun watching everyone out there. Manly would be a great place to come and spend 3 or 4 nights swimming on the beaches there. Really nice place.
After an hour or so, we headed back to the wharf. But this time we passed a flea market. So in we went to see what they had. It was like a very large garage sale. Most stuff was 2nd hand stuff. We thought we might pick up a souvenir. But we found nothing. So back on the boat back to Circular Quay. For $15 AUD, you can ride all these things for one day. You could spend a day just on ferries going to different beaches and then go to and from home using the trains. Not a bad price.
Once we arrived at Circular Quay, off we went to the Sydney Opera House to take a tour of this incredible building. We were not let down. In the 1950's, they decided that they needed something unique on this peninsula, something that would set Sydney out and display the things that one would find in Sydney. Some 200+ Architects submitted their ideas. But a fellow's idea from Denmark won the bid. The 'shell' looking outside was his design and vision. And it took some 13 years to bring it to pass. The interesting thing was the fact that the inside portion, where all the music and theater halls are, do not connect. They are two distinct designs by two distinct individuals. There was some commotion on time and cost for the exterior and the original designer parted ways with the Australian Government...and he never returned to Australia again. Many years later, when he was in his 80's, the Australian Government reached back out to him wanting him to re-engage with them to draw out the future of the building. But he would not come back. However, by then, he had a family of architects and his offspring did come back over with his ideas before he died. So the story kind of turned out good.
We entered three of the halls where concerts and plays are performed. They are quite beautiful. The largest holds some 2700 people. On small one that we were in held only 300 people. There are five halls there that could have different events going on at the same time. Well the tour was expensive. But, it was fascinating to have a Guide walk us through and tell the history of the building and some of the interesting points of its architecture. So money well spent...I guess. :-)
After leaving the Opera House, we thought we'd walk through the Royal Gardens. But two things got in the way...it was starting to rain. And...it was closed! We were 10 minutes late to get into where the fancy, old, buildings were. Oh well. Our time in Sydney CBD was done. So off to the train to take us back to our flat.
After putting stuff down at our flat, we used Google Maps to see where some places might be for dinner. We found some stuff about a 5 minute ride in the car. We ended up at Twin Thai...a Thai eatery...I bet you figured that out already because I know my readers are really smart! :-) I had Pad Thai. Denise had some Shrimp Rolls and Satay Chicken. We were licking our fingers it was so darn good! After that, we walked across the street to a Woolworths. Now in the States, you'd think that was a department store. But here, it is a grocery store. We ended up buying a bunch of candies to take with us for the grandkids that live by us. (See what you are causing your kids to miss Cassidy!). After that, we quickly ran to a Petro Station to top off the gas tank and then headed back to our flat to pack and get ready to fly home tomorrow.
Tomorrow, Sunday, we fly at 12:30 PM. And if we get seats on all planes, we'll arrive home at 1:45 PM on Sunday. They fly very fast planes when going home! :-)
Another blog done...I hope it has been informative and worth the reading. I don't know if I'll ever be back in Australia. I hope so as I'd love to scuba dive here at some point. But we shall see.
Pictures:
Tapping on at Tempe Train Station....
One stop on the way to Darling Harbor had a small amusement park.
Brunch at Darling Harbor...
One of the other bridges seen in Sydney...
Looking across Darling Harbor...
Ferry boat riders....
The Opera House as we head out to Manly....
Manly arrival....
Manly beach...pretty busy. It is Saturday though...
Swedish Ice Cream...our afternoon fix.
The Flea Market....
Sail boat training...I'm guessing. But who knows. These little sail boats were everywhere.
Fort Dennison....out in the middle of the harbor.
Great shot of the Opera House.
About to go take our Opera House tour...
The smallest theater....seats 350 if I remember right.
Love the headsets....our guide was a lady from New Zealand originally. She was quite funny and made the tour really fun.
One of the other theaters. The stage is unique in that it is square...not a rectangle. So props and stuff go up and down instead of from left of stage or right of stage. Kind of interesting...
The big concert hall where the Symphony Orchestra performs...
The outside shell is made up of mosaic like tiles that has some type of coating on it where a good rainstorm cleans them.
View from Opera House into the harbor from within...
A tree at the Royal Garden...that we were too late to enter.
The guy behind Denise taking a picture of her backside caused her hair to get into a frenzy!!! I love my wife and I love traveling with her. We think differently about stuff, like most people do. But in the end, we always find a way to make it work. I love you Denise Tiner! Thanks for a great trip! What's next?
