Sydney: A Night at the Opera
Pulling into Sydney, we are treated to two icons of this City and Australia, The Sydney Bridge and the Opera House.
The Opera House is located right next to the City and its impressive skyline. We docked just the other side of the Opera House in the prime location…The cost to overnight in this slip is a cool $250,000. We stayed just one night here and split our time with a slip that was just a short ferry ride from the Opera House. Sydney is yet another gorgeous city in Australia. Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne account for nearly 90% of the total population of Australia.
The Sydney Bridge frames the City and manages a great deal of the traffic coming into the town. It was completed and built in 1932. There was a ready labor force during the depression and 1400 men participated in the construction. Over 50,000 tons of steel were used, held together by over 6 million rivets. My interest in the bridge was more than historical. There is an opportunity to climb the bridge to the very top of the arch. I’ve been training since I got on board by walking the floors on the ship. There are nine floors and I started feeling confident when I could reach the top floor without gasping for breath and feeling like my thighs were ablaze. I added up the steps…nearly 200! I thought I was ready until I read that there are nearly 1400 steps to get to the top. Mission aborted.
Our excursion for Sydney was an early morning orientation and scenic drive of the City. Our singular stop was at the famous Bondi (pronounced bond-eye) beach. Before entering the beach we decided to take a walk around the beach town of Bondi. As is often the case, the highlight was a total surprise.
The Bondi Beach weekly food market was in full swing. A great place to people watch, have a bite to eat, marvel at he abundant flowers and produce. The people of Sydney are in great shape and the residents of Bondi Beach are another cut above. Anyone with higher then 15% body fat need not apply. I smuggled myself in through the side door!
These two girls had a gluten free stand. they have mastered the art. Best I’ve ever had. The Paella was gorgeous as was the abundant dim sum.
We finished our visit with a long walk down Bondi Beach. The famous Australian Lifeguards were training.
That evening was our ‘Night at the Opera’. The Sydney Opera house is an incredible facility. It was begun in 1959 and was expected to be built in four years with an approved budget of $7 million. It took 14 years and the final cost was $102 million. The City funded the building through a state lottery. It is a Unesco World Heritage site.
Our evening started with a dinner at a beautiful restaurant, Aria. We were joined by four new friends from the ship. The dinner was superb. For an appetizer Duck Liver Pate and some kind of coconut delight. For a main course we both had a delicious duck breast. Our salad was a beautifully constrrcted greens and peas atop a gooey, cheesy something or other.
Getting ready to go into the theater featuring Mozart’s Magic Flute.
Our seats were great, the chairs were made out of beautiful teak wood with fire engine red upholstery. The actual theater was underwhelming. I believe the focus was on creating perfect acoustics (which they did!) and not on over the top ‘opera house design’. A highlight was watching the conductor. She was an absolute artist. It was easy to see that each note from both orchestra and the singers moving through her. She was in absolute command of the performance. The performance itself was just OK. The singers were very good. The set design was literally non-existent. Taking minimalism to an extreme, the stage was covered in astro turf, no art work at all, no sets, just a pull curtain that opened and closed throughout the performance. The costuming were contemporary street clothes…indistinguishable from everyday people you see on the street.
Just after exiting the opera we were treated to a 15 minute fire works display, framed by the Opera House, it was gorgeous.
From the Opera House, looking back at the Sydney Bridge, thousands of Aussies gather each night to enjoy a brew, a bite and take in the Harbor vibe. Looking down the harbor, this scene is repeated for as far as the eye can see, It is wonderful for people of all ages to go and have a relaxing evening by the bay that is wholesome and safe. Quite a scene.
The good ship Neptune docked right across from the opera house.
Arriving back at our ship, this was our view of the Harbor and Opera house,
Pulling out of Sydney Harbor, we head out to sea to continue our adventure.
