The Rest of Day 11: Sydney Opera House & Sydney Harbour Bridge

We awoke to yet another beautiful Australia morning (no rain), ate breakfast at the hotel, boarded our bus with Bob at the helm, and set off towards the Botanical Gardens just outside the Sydney Opera House. I wouldn't have expected it because I didn't read that far in my travel book, but bats inhabit the Gardens 24/7, meaning they sleep outdoors in the daylight, hanging upside down from trees throughout the park. And for sleeping, they were quite active, nipping and squeaking at one another in some kind of pecking order that wasn't apparent to the untrained human eye, and flying about from tree to tree before stretching their wings and folding them in close one at a time.





We continued on through the Gardens bound for the Sydney Opera House just beyond its edge, with the agreement to meet up just before the tour was to begin. (Note: This is where I became separated from the group and saw Charlie Boorman's motorcycle entrance.)



The tour was incredible, with no detail left unmentioned. Our guide Toni had worked at the Opera House for more than 20 years, and boy, did she have stories to tell about the construction of the structure, its many details, uses, and purposes. The history was extensive. We were able to sit inside the main concert hall (largest sail) and see the elaborate use of timber--on the floors, walls, ceiling, stage, and even in the chairs--that created such incredible acoustics that musicians and performers didn't require amplication. Needless to say, rock concerts were not held inside the large concert hall. She talked of Legs on the Wall, a physical theatre troupe that used the outside of the sails as their stage, hanging and dangling from the exterior structures with the walls in the background. I had only seen photos of the Sydney Opera House from a distance, so I was under the impression that the performance halls were outdoor venues with thin coverings (the sails) rather than enclosed structures with such extensive use of concrete, crushed granite, and ceramic tile that it took more than a dozen years to build.





After eating an incredibly overpriced meal at the Opera House "grill," Bob picked us up, and we drove to bridge steps just south of the Sydney Harbour Bridge's south pylon. We climbed the steps and walked alongside traffic (on a footpath) until we reached the south pylon. For about $200 a person can don a sexy gray-and-blue jumpsuit and climb the top span of the bridge from one side to the other. Or for the low, low price of $9.50, the same person can climb the south pylon and get almost as high (85 meters above sea level). The photos speak for themselves. Note the climbers in the background.