The wait is over as we FINALLY found a cafe with decent wifi!

Thank you Cafe Kirra, Coolangatta, QLD!

 

Sydney – the city that everyone believes to be the capital but isn’t.
We were lucky enough to have the weather on our side when we drove into Sydney on a peaceful Sunday morning, finding a spot behind the hospital, we took off to be your typical city tourists.

As we wondered through the Botanical Gardens of Sydney, the well known and recognisable Sydney Opera House loomed across the trees. Our first port of call was to book a tour – we had heard so many great things about the Opera house and we had come all this way, so why not? Our tour all booked for half 12, we located the bar and enjoyed a drink in the sun, along the quayside, overlooking the harbour; a berry mocktail for me and, as usual, a cold beer for Dave.
We arrived for our tour and after being provided with our headphone set by our lovely tour guide Jason, we were on our way.
I could not recommend an Opera House tour enough – thanks to Jasons breadth of knowledge on the Opera house, I fell in love with not just the beauty of it but also its history, the architecture and its story. What a remarkable building!
Here are just a few fun facts, courtesy of the wonderful Jason:

• The land the Opera House is built on was originally Aboriginal land and later the Sydney Tram Depot.
• In the late 1950’s, a competition was issued to find the best design for the Opera House and put out to architects.
• There were 232 submissions.
• Number 218 won – although this was originally rejected for being to conceptual.
• Architects name was Jorn Utzen, from Copenhagen Denmark.
• It took 14 years to build (twice as long as planned).
• Budget was £7 million – it cost £102 million at completion.
• This was paid off within the first 18months through the Opera House lottery.
• The architect left the project 7 years into the project and never saw it completed, dying in 2008.
• There are 1 million, 1052 roof tiles.
• Only 3% have been lost since completion 40+ years ago,
• They are twice baked to enable self cleaning
• The architect only redesigned one room – the Reception room. – removing all wood cladding, polishing all the exposed concrete, raising the floor to window view.
  The floor was then designed to draw the eye towards the floor to ceiling windows or the tapestry on the opposite wall – designed by Utzen as an ode to Bach. The purple represents the violins, the black the rhythm, the gold represents all the violins playing together. SO beautiful!
• The tapestry used enough wool to stretch to Perth from Sydney!
• In 2007, the Sydney Opera House was awarded Unesco World Heritage status making it the youngest building the be granted such a status.
• It also meant that Utzen was one of just 2 people to have his architecture awarded this whilst still alive!

And if this day could not get any better, I found ice cream – salted caramel and vanilla, lush – which I enjoyed whilst people watching along the waters edge. Best. Day. Ever.

 

Now, arriving in Sydney on a quiet Sunday led us to believe parking would be so easy on a busy Monday in late November. No. Not at all. Dave and I are pleased to announce we have driven across Sydney Harbour Bridge 6 times, all over the course of one morning and all in search of a parking space that a. Allows for more than an hour or 2 and b. Is over 2.5m tall and preferably uncovered? Our beloved Pam just won’t fit in underground car parks. Despite all of this, our day consisted of visiting the “Rocks” which Google led us to believe was much like the Lanes in Brighton? We did find a free museum (love a free museum) which was so interesting, we found ourselves in the kids section drawing our family tree with crayons and ‘collecting artefacts’ on one of the computers. Again, my day was better by yet more ice cream, a WALK across Sydney Harbour Bridge this time, just to mix things up a bit, and after a quick rooftop pint for Dave we headed for the Pylon Museum. Super windy but really interesting and great views of the Opera House too!
Because everyday is a school day, here are some interesting facts about the Pylons:

• 16 people died during construction.
• Only one person survived the fall from 150m, breaking just 2 ribs. His name was Kelly and his shoes, without a soul, were found around his thighs. He was given a gold watch for his troubles.
• There were once cats homed in the roof space that people came to see.
• Took 7 years and 356 days to build.
• 2800 tonnes of steel.
• 503m tall.
• Cost $10,07,170, 7 shillings and 9p.
• 200 steps to the top of the pylon
• Took until 1988 to pay off.
• Bridge can ‘grow’ 180mm during hot days.

Our walk back consisted of determining which house would be ideal for a New Years Eve party. And then how much that apartment must have cost? Before eating peanut butter sandwiches overlooking Harbour Bridge and making plans for tomorrow.

 

Bondi Beach was top of the list! And would you believe it, the weather held out! 25 degrees and sunny meant we were able to enjoy a Heinekenn and Lime for Dave and a Lemonade and Lime for me, all whilst basking in the sun and soaking up the atmosphere. My Auntie Ann was right, its not quite as big as you imagine it to be, but there is something quite charming, old school about Bondi. Hooray for sunny days, walking our feet through the shallows and FINALLY finding a keyring with my name on! 🙂

What came after this joyous, sunny weather was described by many as the worst storm to hit Sydney in more than 40 years – complete with flood warnings and 300 flood emergency calls before 9am! Dave and I are now convinced bad weather follows him around. We made the decision to head inland in order to escape the terrible Sydney weather. After what felt like hours of torrential rain, thunderstorms and driving through what looked like Wales, we made it to Bathurst – the first inland town that was colonised in 1833. More importantly, if your name is Dave, it is also home to the race track that Jenson Button set a record on, but a track that you can drive your car around, FOR FREE! And as many times as you want.
It has some brilliant bends and wonderful views from Mount Panorama! The track was made famous by the Bathurst 1000 – 63 laps! It also has a straight of 1.9km, with its highest point being 862m above sea level. The speed limit is definitely 60km/hr and not 100km/hr.

And as we start to make our next moves, sunny climates feature heavily on our wish list…