Sydney, Part 2

We returned to Sydney for a nine-day stay. In addition to seeing some of the sights we missed during our New Year’s visit, we figured it would be a good time to chill for awhile. The next 6 weeks are going to be very hectic and hot as we’ll be heading to the tropics. Other than one stray downpour that we were completely unprepared for, Sydney had perfect weather, although we are noticing the days getting shorter. We arrived midday on a Thursday and settled in. We strolled over to nearby Darling Harbour for a late lunch along the waterfront plaza, which turned into two hours enjoying a summer breeze while watching people, boats and a Ferris wheel.

Friday was yet another beautiful day. We hopped on Sydney’s light rail toward The Rocks, which is an area very similar to Milwaukee’s Third Ward and situated adjacent to modern downtown Sydney. The history of The Rocks is a bit more notorious. Australia was founded in 1788 and was initially utilized by the British as a penal colony after us Yanks defeated them in the Revolutionary War. They could no longer use Georgia and the colonies for their prisoners so they shipped them to Australia to be used as laborers. The Rocks is a peninsula that allowed the British to effectively contain the prisoners with limited manpower. As a result, all sorts of unsavory characters were held at The Rocks. These days, the historic buildings are occupied by the most popular bars and restaurants in Sydney. The area also is home to the cruise ship terminal where our New Zealand cruise started 6 weeks earlier.

Speaking of the cruise, this was the headline on the local news on our first day back in Sydney.

That was OUR ship! Now we had disembarked a full month earlier, but still. The ship sat in the harbor for a day before anyone was allowed to leave. Turns out the passenger that was tested did not have the virus.

Friday was hopping at The Rocks. We found an Irish Pub in the late afternoon with terrific live Irish music. Our friend, JT, would have been proud. We looked around for a place to have dinner but it seemed like rain so we headed back to Pyrmont, the area of town where we were staying. We got off the tram just in time to get soaked by a heavy rain shower. We made a mad dash to the plaza where we had had lunch the day before and grabbed a seat under an umbrella at one of the restaurants. Once the rain stopped, the plaza filled up with people, mostly families. Odd, we thought. Well, at 9pm, a major fireworks display started in the harbor right in front of us. So fun! Unbeknownst to us, they do this every Saturday night in the late summer. No, they weren’t as big as New Year’s Eve, but they rivaled Summerfest’s big bang.

On Saturday, we returned to The Rocks and took a walking tour where we heard some of the details of the area’s history and some of the lore. We also got new views of the surrounding harbors.

Sunday was Opera Day! Yes, we attended our first opera at the iconic Sydney Opera House. We even dressed up for the occasion.

This was opera light, a “Best of Opera” performance that attracted newbie tourists like us. We heard some Carmen and the obligatory Figaro 🎵 Figaro 🎵 Figaro 🎵. The singers had powerful voices and the host was very funny as he introduced each piece. There was even a brief audience participation. We can now say that we have sung at the Sydney Opera House. A great experience, once. Not likely to be repeated. Opera really isn’t our thing. There were TV screens with the translations in English and Chinese so the language wasn’t an issue. It’s just that the story lines were silly. Give us a good old Irish band and we are happy.

We also took a tour of The Opera House that took us into several of the venues and into other areas of the structure. We learned that this is not just a place for opera. There are 8 venues and the facility hosts large concerts, the Sydney symphony, the ballet, cabaret style shows, etc. The stages can be changed out daily to accommodate the requirements of particular performances. Operas are sometimes even performed on a barge in the harbor for outdoor audiences. The various halls were smaller than we expected, although we couldn’t tour the main concert hall, which is undergoing a major renovation.

We got some insight into the history from its conception in 1956 to its completion in 1973. As often happens with large scale projects like this, development of the Sydney Opera House was plagued with cost overruns and delays. The original architect left the project midstream and never actually saw the completed structure. The original $7 million cost ballooned to $102 million and nearly bankrupted the country. A State Lottery was instituted to cover the cost. Despite a rocky start, the facility opened to much fanfare with a dedication by Queen Elizabeth and has become one of the world’s most recognized buildings.

Starting at dusk, The Opera House presents light show projected onto several of the large roof “fans”. It is an artsy movie of native Aboriginal type art. Interesting, but maybe a bit longer than it needed to be.

Another must-do activity in Sydney is to spend a day at Manly Beach. We picked a nice sunny day and took the ferry from Circular Quay (adjacent to The Rocks). We rented a couple of beach chairs and an umbrella for shade and watched the surfers. The surf was very strong so our foray into the water was fairly brief but refreshing. Manly is a cute beach town that caters more to locals and families than the more famous Bondi Beach that we visited during our prior time in Sydney.

We also had time to take in Sydney’s Fish Market this go around. Busy and authentic fishy-smelling place with every possible type of seafood. Most looked fantastic. But there were some items that made us wonder. Like, what could Pink Ling heads possibly be used for?

As mentioned, the stay in Sydney allowed us to recharge a bit and get caught up on our blog and other matters, like a haircut for Cindy. When thinking about a trip like this, certain details never come up. Like haircuts. Or maybe the need to replace consumable personal care products. We all like certain services and products that may not be easily reproduced in other places. Like aspirin. We ran out and have been trying to find it for weeks. Sure, ibuprofen or other pain relievers will do, but aspirin is our miracle drug of choice that is no where to be found Down Under. The haircut turned out fine, by the way. We need to add the following suggestion to our Travel Tips though – take a picture of yourself with a hairstyle you like and keep it on your phone. Takes the guesswork out of the process.

We very much enjoyed our rental unit during Sydney Round 2. It was a unit in a large repurposed woolen factory. Very cool adaptive reuse. The apartment was very quiet despite being located immediately next to a busy freeway. It had a legitimate balcony where we ate many of our meals and crafted brilliant prose for our blog. 😉

This was the best equipped Airbnb yet, with a wide array of kitchen tools. It’s amazing how some proper knives, a nonstick pan with a lid and a potato peeler can change life on the road. As soon as we check in to a new place, we have learned to take inventory and then develop a grocery list based on what we can make with the equipment on hand. We’ve been quite creative at times, although some of our home cooking has gotten pretty repetitive. The washer and dryer here were full sized and separate machines. We previously had rentals that had combo washer/dryer units. Space saving, yes. Efficient, no. A single load would take 3 to 4 hours. With our limited wardrobe, we need to keep up with the laundry. We’ve read about other world travelers that get tired of the same clothes and donate them after awhile and pick up new items at thrift shops. We haven’t gotten there, yet.

To sum up, our return visit was quieter than the first, but very worthwhile.