We arrived safely to Sydney, Australia the evening of November 19th, and even though the sun was setting, we decided to check out the centre city. It is strange to think that more people live in Sydney than in the entire country of New Zealand, and it definitely felt cosmopolitan after the rural South Island. Sydney is Australia's oldest, biggest, and most diverse city.The first thing we noticed when we got off the plane was the change in weather from New Zealand. It was 33 degrees Celsius in Sydney, which we soon figured out was over 91 degrees Fairenheit. Sydney was in the middle of a heat wave which is uncharacteristic given it's so early in the summer.
We explored the city at dusk and took a few shots of Circular Quay in Sydney Harbor, and the iconic Opera House and Harbor Bridge. It's a great place to people watch, so we returned the next morning to see it in sunlight too!
The roof of the Opera House is 67 meters high and made of over one million Swedish tiles. There are approximately 2,400 events held per year at the Opera house including dance, concerts, opera, theatre and private events. We walked around outside the entire Opera House and outside the main entrance, crew-hands were setting up an elaborate outdoor stage for the Australian Idol finals this weekend.
We admired the Harbour Bridge from the Opera House, across Sydney Harbour. Even though this bridge was built in 1932, it took the city of Sydney 60 years to pay for it ($20 million). This bridge leads to North Sydney, the business district.
Next, we headed to Darling Harbour to see the Sydney Aquarium and walk around the cafes and shops. We had to take multiple breaks from the heat and humidity for ice cream and to watch the Sydneysiders on lunch break.
After checking out Chinatown and one of the city's busy main streets, George Street, we walked back to a historic area of Sydney called "The Rocks". This is the first area of the city to be built by the convicts when they arrived on these shores in 1788. On Friday nights in the summer (it is summer now) there is an outdoor market on the streets. We walked through the shops and stopped by one of Scott's old Sydney haunts, The Lowenbrau Keller, for happy hour. Conveniently, the well-known Australia winery Yellow Tail happened to be offering a tasting in The Rocks, so we stopped by and tried their new varietal Bubbling Rose, a sparkling wine.
We explored the city at dusk and took a few shots of Circular Quay in Sydney Harbor, and the iconic Opera House and Harbor Bridge. It's a great place to people watch, so we returned the next morning to see it in sunlight too!
The roof of the Opera House is 67 meters high and made of over one million Swedish tiles. There are approximately 2,400 events held per year at the Opera house including dance, concerts, opera, theatre and private events. We walked around outside the entire Opera House and outside the main entrance, crew-hands were setting up an elaborate outdoor stage for the Australian Idol finals this weekend.
We admired the Harbour Bridge from the Opera House, across Sydney Harbour. Even though this bridge was built in 1932, it took the city of Sydney 60 years to pay for it ($20 million). This bridge leads to North Sydney, the business district.
Next, we headed to Darling Harbour to see the Sydney Aquarium and walk around the cafes and shops. We had to take multiple breaks from the heat and humidity for ice cream and to watch the Sydneysiders on lunch break.
After checking out Chinatown and one of the city's busy main streets, George Street, we walked back to a historic area of Sydney called "The Rocks". This is the first area of the city to be built by the convicts when they arrived on these shores in 1788. On Friday nights in the summer (it is summer now) there is an outdoor market on the streets. We walked through the shops and stopped by one of Scott's old Sydney haunts, The Lowenbrau Keller, for happy hour. Conveniently, the well-known Australia winery Yellow Tail happened to be offering a tasting in The Rocks, so we stopped by and tried their new varietal Bubbling Rose, a sparkling wine.
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