Today was our last day in Sydney and we felt the need to get up closer to a couple of her icons. No, not Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman but the Bridge and the Opera House.
We set off early in the cool breeze of Sunday morning and strolled through the Rocks area where there was a nice arty market going on. It was very busy and there were some tasteful stalls selling art, food, crafts etc etc.
We were already under part of the Sydney Harbour Bridge but it was high above us and so we had to study several maps to find our way up. It was all rather confusing and looked like it might be quite a climb. We had no intention of climbing Sydney Harbour Bridge! Lots of people (Sue!) have encouraged us to do this but it’s not for us. I’m still feeling wobbly after the train journey and don’t like heights much at the best of times. Jane meanwhile was put off by the fact that you can’t take your own camera up there!! There are a variety of different climbs you can do. For example the Summit Tour will take you up the Upper Arch to the peak where you get a 360 degree view of Sydney. You then come back down on the arch on the other side of the bridge. It takes 3 hours and is 1332 steps. Or you could choose the ‘Summit Insider’ which takes just 2.5 hours and is only 1002 steps through the mesh of ironwork of the lower arch and back. Or you could choose to do the Burrawa- Aboriginal Climb (same as the Summit but hearing about an Aboriginal perspective on the bridge. Finally you could do ‘The Ultimate’ climb taking you across the entire span of the Bridge from South to North and back again. This takes 3.5 hrs and is 1621 steps. To be honest, that’s another reason why Jane and I didn’t do it- how would you choose?!
Anyway, meanwhile luckily I found us a lift to take us up to the pedestrian walkway at road level! How happy were we😀. There were lots of people doing the walk in both directions and others out for a jog who seemed to think we were a bit of a nuisance. The views over the edge of the harbour and city skyline are fantastic even from this level as we walked over the water and back again.
To celebrate our accomplishment we went back to The Rocks and found the oldest bar in Sydney- The Fortune of War which has been here since 1828. We had two schooners of 150 Lashes beer by James Squire which was very refreshing indeed. But the pub as a whole was a bit of a dive full of ‘Bogan’s’. So we went back to the Rocks Cafe for lunch but it was v busy today so we had to eat inside, upstairs which wasn’t quite the same.
Now we felt a bit hot and weary so we went back to the hotel for a blast of air con and a rest. After a couple of hours we headed out again, this time to explore more of the gorgeous Opera House. By now it was about 5-30pm and unfortunately, we hadn’t done our research and hadn’t realised that you can’t actually go inside the Opera House unless you have a ticket for an event or are in an organised tour. We’d missed our opportunity for that, so this was the third time Jane’s visited and still hasn’t been inside to admire the architecture!
Anyway, we wandered around trying to take arty photos of the sails but what we really wanted to see was the light show that takes place 3 x most nights. This takes place on the smaller set of sails and the best viewing spot is the ‘patio’ at the top of the famous steps. The show is called ‘Badu Gili -Healing Spirit‘. It celebrates the work of local and International First Nations artists and lasts just 6 mins. It was indeed very beautiful to watch the various projections make animals, sealife, botanicals and people ‘dance’ across the sails.
Once the show was over, we made our way back along the harbour side past the buzzing Opera Bar and said goodbye to the sparkling Sydney skyline.
Where shall we go to next? 