SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE AND HARBOUR BRIDGE
If you’ve read my Day 2 post, then you’ll know why I didn’t wake up early. My plan was to get breakfast, take the ferry to the North Olympic Pool and walk back to Circular Key on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and be at the Opera House around noon. Instead, I woke up late and had brunch at the Opera Kitchen.
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OPERA HOUSE TOUR
I walked around afterwards and took LOTS of pictures and did the Opera House Tour at 1pm. I recommend booking online. I think the tour is worth doing if you don’t plan to see a show at the Opera House. The one hour tour was very informative. It talked about the history of the Opera House and how it was built, etc. You also get to see the two main performance spaces, one for the Opera and one for the Symphonic Orchestra. While they showed us the performance space for the Symphonic Orchestra it was being set up for a Swedish Rock Metal Band that was performing later that night. They have a total of 6 performance spaces, and I have to say, I was very impressed by the architecture of the building. Another interesting fact is that the Opera House is only 44 years old, younger than my parents! I suppose in my mind I thought it had been around for a lot longer.
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I would have loved to see a ballet performance, but the ballet company is based in Melbourne. So, instead of the ballet company traveling back and forth between Melbourne and Sydney the entire year, it spends 6 months in Melbourne and 6 months in Sydney.
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ROYAL BOTANICAL GARDENS
Leaving the Opera House Area, I walked through the Royal Botanical Gardens right next to the Opera House. It was beautiful and a lot bigger than I expected. You could spend hours there if you wanted. I walked through it a little bit and stopped at the Botanical Gardens Cafe. They had a “special” of calamari, chips, and side salad for $16 AUD. It was really good. I continued walking afterwards, seeing the Palm Grove and Fernery Garden.
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MRS. MACQUARIE’S CHAIR
I continued to walk along the garden and ended at Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair. It’s another viewing spot for the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. I went in the afternoon and the soon was setting behind it so the lighting was bad for photos. I recommend going in the morning. It’s still a great viewing spot, but a bit of a tourist trap.
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SYDNEY TOWER
From there, I took a bus to CBD and went to Sydney Tower. I didn’t think it was anything special. It’s like any other tall building you go up to. I’ve been to Taipei 101 in Taipei, Taiwan and The Prudential in Boston, and it’s pretty much all the same. You go up on an elevator that travels very fast to the 90-something floor. The views are 360 and you can see the city from above. I went in the late afternoon and it was a bit cloudy. The sun was going down, but it wasn’t dark enough for the city lights to come on just yet. Nonetheless, I walked around and took pictures. 🙂
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OBSERVATORY HILL PARK
Everything kind of closes early in Sydney and I really didn’t know what to do after the tower. Shops close by 6:30. Attractions usually close around 6. So, I ended up walking to the Observatory Hill Park. I actually really liked this park. There weren’t many people there, but you could see the Harbour Bridge and Luna Park lit up at night. I imagine the views are probably even better at Kirribilli Point at night. I was also surprised at how close it was to the hostel I was staying at. It was only a 5 minute walk.
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THE AUSTRALIAN HOTEL
Having only ate two meals so far, I was getting hungry. Unfortunately, it was kind of late like 8 or 9pm and many places were closed. The only places open were bars. I was also kind of tired and didn’t want to walk far. Unfortunately, there’s like nothing near the hostel I was staying at. They had a convenience store downstairs, but I didn’t want to eat chips. My only other choice was this bar/restaurant called the Australian Hotel next door to the hostel. I ordered the crispy bacon pizza and called it a night.
REFLECTIONS
At the end of the day, it just felt like I didn’t do much. But I’ve learned that it’s important to take care of your body. Sleep is important and as much as it would have been great to hit more points of interest, I probably would have gotten super tired and cranky in the afternoon. My mom has constantly reminded me that I’m suppose to relax and be on vacation. Vacation is a time to catch up on sleep. For me though, traveling is often packed. It was hard for me to reason down time because if I wanted to sleep and watch TV, I could do that in Taiwan. Why fly all the way to a new place just to do something that you could have done at home? I’ve learned that it’s also okay to take breaks and give your body a rest. You can rest your body at the same time as enjoying a new environment, whether it be just sitting down on a bench and enjoying the scenery or realaxing on a beach. Do activities that relax your body and your mind.
Much love, Tina. x.
