DAY 15 - 17: SYDNEY

Tuesday, Feb 04 - Thursday, Feb 06

We left Hamilton Island and Denise and Andy and flew to Sydney, capital city of New South Wales and our last stop in Australia.

The weather was dreary when we arrived, but after a little (big) snack in the Park Hyatt and a primer on the city from our sweet concierge, Sarah, and waiter, Alistair, we were off to find the treasures in "The Rocks," an area of the harbour that felt an awful lot like Plymouth Rock to us Bostonians. The drizzle cleared, we "had a wander," stopped into a cute pub called "The Push," and had a delicious steak dinner at a place called "The Cut." We were pleased to see a bottle of Two Hands "Gnarly Dudes" Shiraz on the wine list (and even more pleased to drink it).

Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb 

View of Harbour Bridge through Opera House window

Today was a bit of an adventure for our little group. After a canceled hot air balloon ride and a "choppy" death ride to the GBR, we weren't sure if climbing the bridge in "anything but an electrical storm" was going to be enjoyable or just another story to hopefully laugh at much later...we were happily surprised. Our guide, John, was a burly redhead with a fantastic sense of humor and a great flair for telling the stories he probably tells at least a dozen times a week. After explaining the hand signals (thumbs up= I'm good, thumb sideways= I need a moment, thumb down= I need a hug) Larry gave the thumbs down signal to get his first hug from "I'm not letting go first" John. We were all quite proud of Karen for donning the semi-sanitary jumpsuit and even wearing the cap, once she learned it was hers to keep after the climb. The weather cleared, and we were treated to beautiful 360 degree views of the vast port city with all its coves and islands. The climb had only short spurts of straight vertical climb; most of the 1437 steps were flat or mild incline/decline. No biggie! Here's evidence that we all made it to the top:

Further exploration took us in and out of many interesting (ahem!) galleries and finally through an exhibit of Yoko Ono "works" at the Museum of Contemporary Art. (Can you believe it, Mom?) The exhibit was strange, to say the very least. First "piece" was a series of interactive chess games with all white pieces so that when they merged, you could not tell whose was whose. Another bit was this glass wall maze, leading to the "prize" at the middle, which was a phone that rang once every two weeks and apparently was Yoko's voice.

Our nighttime exploration took us to Pott's Point and a section called Woolloomooloo (not making this up), an area that bordered very cool and red light district, where we finally found and devoured Messina's gelato!

Bondi Beach and Messina's

Yes, Bud, having walked ¾ of the Coastal Walk from Bondi Beach to Coogee, we all feel uniquely prepared to accompany you on the Appalachian Trail—that is, if you promise to ply us with squid ink pasta and calamari or bucatini with sardines and anchovies. Deal? At this point, we’re just fighting to stay calorie-neutral. 

The scenery was breathtaking at every turn, but I have to say, the surfers were equally spectacular (and a wee bit insane!).

 

A Night at the Opera

Having prepped at lunch (at a fantastic place called Iceberg's) by studying the plot of Carmen, we were all fully prepared to interpret the French score. As we discovered during our tour of the Sydney Opera House, “surtitles” would be provided above the stage. As promised, the red neon lettering took us only a fraction of a second to read, and we were free to refocus our attention on the action on stage (not that Larry would say there was much action until the very anxious horse appeared onstage).

A couple fun facts about the opera house (to steal from Karen’s posts!): the winning architectural design actually broke several contest rules but was selected anyway; there are over one million white tiles making up the “sails” of the roof; and the interior of the concert hall (the larger of the two, which is used for pop concerts and symphony as opposed to opera) is made up entirely of two different kinds of wood. After our last barramundi meal and a couple of inventive desserts involving coconut and chocolate, we headed back to the opera for our musical adventure. While we were all slightly disappointed that Carmen herself wasn’t quite the girl advertised in the posters, we agreed it was an adventure we were happy to have shared. And just for the record, *SPOILER ALERT HERE* it wasn't over 'til the fat lady got it in the gut!

Due to Karen's proclamation that we would stay out partying to celebrate our last night in Australia, we had ourselves a nightcap at the famous Opera Bar before walking back to the hotel. It was a memorable experience. We all agreed we were sad to be leaving Australia.

Larry and I would like to take this moment to thank everyone for providing company and meals and other kinds of moral support to Lindsay while we're away!