Visit to Sydney, Australia

I don't know about other folks but I know I would get tired of seeing just text so on this post I'm including a couple pictures I took while in Sydney. In one of the pictures, you can see people climbing the bridge. The other is of the very famous Opera House. We actually took a tour of the Opera House and it is an awesome building. The different shell like roofs are supposed to represent sails. The building is unique and has become a recognized symbol of Sydney. For your information, opera is not the only kind of show you can catch here. It is a place of concerts, other theatrical productions, and is also used for conferences and wedding receptions.


Now, when did I do what. Sunday, we saw the aquarium, did the city tour, I believe we also did the Opera House tour, and then had a our welcoming dinner. Quite a long to do for a bunch of people that had just crossed the Pacific but that is how they scheduled it. (At the end of the tour you get to fill out a feedback sheet where you can praise the people who did a great job and slam those who didn't. One point I made was the lack of time to adjust. From the time we arrived, we were on the go.)

The welcoming dinner was at a restaurant (whose name I don't remember) by the Rocks which was a very notorious place in Sydney. It was originally the place where the first settlement was built in Sydney. Later, it became the haunt of prostitutes and thieves. Now, it is very cleaned up and is a very popular tourist destination.

It turned out there were 19 of us in the tour. For the most part, everyone was married. The only exceptions were three Puerto Rican girls who all knew each other and two bachelors (me and Harvey). We had a nice welcome dinner and began to get to know one another. We came from all over the country and had a couple wonderful Canadians from Toronto named Fraser and Denise. Fraser was a retired labor arbitrator and Denise was still doing it. They called themselves the token Canadians but they were anything but token people. They really added to the pleasure of the tour.

The next day was a free day and that was when I did the bridge climb. Later, I explored around the harbor. I checked out a couple malls, ate a forgettable lunch at McDonalds, took the harbor water taxi back to the wharf where the aquarium is, and watched the Australian Independence Day fireworks at night. I didn't stay up too late because I think the time change was finally catching up with me.

The next day, everyone packed their bags, had breakfast, checked out of the hotel (the Darling Harbor Four Points Sheraton, very nice hotel), and boarded the bus for the airport. Our next stop would be Cairns.