EC-Rider Travels

Amanda is an early walker, ….. up at 4.45 and out of the house by 5.30! I decided to join her and though a little bleary eyed, I am so glad I did. It was spectacular at that time of day, seeing the sun rise over the city and the beautiful Centennial Park (their Central/Hyde Park) was just full of bird-life and a surprising amount of human too. We met with Michelle and her gorgeous dog, Elly and went for the most stunning walk. Stopping with Godfrey who was just opening his coffee stall and had Amanda and Michelle’s order almost ready for them. We saw a field of cockatoos, a pair do kookaburras, ibis, rosellas and masses of flying fox bats hanging upside down in the trees. LOVED it!

Back for breakfast and we then went down to the harbour for the Australia Day celebrations. Celebrating the anniversary of the British arriving in Australia with ship-loads of convicts in (1788) it is understandably now very contentious and not something everyone wishes to celebrate. However, I was here as the tourist and could not resist being a spectator of what I knew would an amazing show….. I was not disappointed. There were things going on all day, and we timed our arrival to coincide with the Tall Ship procession – this, to be honest was a little disappointing as although very tall, there were not many of them, in fact only three. Still it was amazing to be down on the harbour, seeing the iconic Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge and everyone who was there (largely tourists, like me) having a lovely time.

I decided to be the true tourist and don the ear-phones and do a tour of the Opera House with ‘Daniel’ and a few new friends. I discovered a lot ….. The Sydney Opera House was built on sacred ground of the local indigenous Gadigal people. 233 designs were submitted in 1956 and Danish architect Jorn Utzon was chosen, earning £5,000 for his design. The original estimate for the build was $7m however the final cost was $102m. It was expected to take four years and it took 14. This resulted in Utzon being sacked and he never returned to see his completed masterpiece in person. The building was opened by the Queen in 1973 and added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2007.

There are ten ‘sails’ with more than 1m Swedish roof tiles extending over 1.62 hectares. These are self-cleaning with the rain but have to be regularly checked. It is cooled by water directly from the harbour travelling through 35km of pipes! The building’s distinctive sculptural design is utterly beautiful and has made it one of the most admired and recognisable buildings in the world.

There are six auditoriums; three smaller ones on the lower levels and the larger Concert Hall, Drama Theatre and Joan Sutherland Theatre on the upper level where in the 1980s they added a net over the orchestra pit after a live chicken fell off the stage on to a cellist’s head! There are ten resident companies and it presents over 1,800 performances a year, attended by almost 11m people. Apparently when the ballet are performing they wash the Tarkett floor with Coca-Cola to provide extra grip!

I met up with Amanda after the tour and we found a table to sit and watch the fireworks. There were, far fewer people than we expected and we managed to get a prime spot with our new best friends Paul and Lee. Events started at about 7.30 and as the sun went down, there was a magnificent show of lit up boats, jet skis, parachutists, water-skiers and then fireworks like I have never seen before. It was A-MAZ-ING if a little damp at times! Too many photos to put up, but trust me it was pretty special.