Wednesday, March 6, 2019
So, what’s been happening?
Today’s tour included a drive around to see some of the sights of Sydney, but the main portion of the day was to be spent touring the outside and the inside of the Sydney Opera House. The tour was scheduled to be six hours long.
Things did not turn out as planned.
We left the ship and boarded our bus at 9:00am. Our tour group started out with a nice drive-by tour of some historical places on the way to the opera house. This was nice, but unless you’re the one doing the driving or the navigating, it’s hard to develop a sense of where you are, exactly.
It’s a long drive from where the ship is docked to where the Sydney Opera House is located, even if a bird could fly between the two places in just a few minutes. So, this part of the trip was not a highlight for me.
Eventually, we reached the Circular Quay (pronounced “key“) which includes the area where the Opera House sits.
Tours through the Opera House can only be conducted buy a special Opera House guide. Unfortunately, when we arrived, our special Opera House tour guide was nowhere to be found. The tour guide from our bus hustled around trying to get us in, but was ultimately informed that the next available Opera House guide would not be ready to take us around for two more hours.
Our bus tour guide decided that we should go out and drive around some more until our opera house tour was ready. Yawn.
Now, we did see some important sights around the town. For example, we learned about the ANZAC bridge.
ANZAC is the acronym formed from the initial letters of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. This was the formation in which Australian and New Zealand soldiers in Egypt were grouped before the landing on Gallipoli in April 1915. If you would like to know more about this group and their fate at Gallipoli, I invite you to watch this excellent movie.
On either side of the bridge there is a statue of a soldier. One side has an Australian soldier and the other depicts a New Zealand soldier. I was told that the ANZAC bridge is the only place in Australia with the flags of the two countries flying on either side of a bridge.
We also got to see people participating in another, different tour. It was one that I chose to stay away from, though it might have appealed to many of you. In the photo below you can see a group of people descending from their climb to the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. I’ll bet they had a great view from up there!
Ultimately, we made it back to the Opera House in time for our tour of the inside. Now, the bad news is that photography was very limited inside, owing to some copyright issues. As we toured the various theaters inside (there are four!) we were not allow to take photos if anybody or any part of a set was on stage. On this particular day, that was every theater.
Still, the architecture inside the hallways was just as breathtaking as the theaters themselves.
Looking down the hallway 
Looking up toward the ceiling 
I didn’t know that the roof is actually tiled!
The tour through the opera house lasted about 60 minutes. After this tour we were supposed to visit Bondi Beach which, I’m told, is something that every visitor to Australia must see.
We didn’t. Why? Read on.
At this point, we were way behind schedule and the evening rush hour traffic was beginning to build up. Our tour guide announced that we would not see Bondi Beach, but we would visit another cove instead. Then, it started to rain and the traffic just got worse.
After another 15-20 minutes in stop-and-go traffic our tour guide announced that we would have to return to the ship as we were supposed to be back at 3pm and it was already after 4pm. So, that was the end of my $119 tour. I was not happy. I bought a six hour tour and got to spend one hour at the Opera House and six hours in traffic. grrr.
Still, as we pulled away from Sydney at 5:30pm, the skies cleared up a bit and I did get some nice photos of Sydney harbor as we departed.
Double rainbow, all the way! 
The Opera House as we departed Sydney 
This view leaves me with a great memory 
Good night, Sydney. Until next time!
As of our departure from Sydney, we’re now facing two days at sea. I didn’t see as much of Sydney as I would have liked, but I still left there feeling like I’d seen some nice highlights, and I’d had a very good time over all.
So, what’s coming up?
Two days at sea. I find that I sleep so well when we’re out on the water.
See you tomorrow?
No Bondi Beach! What a bummer. The Opera House looks to be absolutely gorgeous!