Australia Trip: Boat Trip Into Sydney

For our first day in Sydney, we picked up the "River Cat" in a suburb, which is a form of mass transit into Sydney. It was great to see all of the fancy river front homes along the Parramatta River. We even saw a glimpse of the Olympic Village. As we got closer and closer to Sydney Harbor, we had amazing views of the Harbor Bridge and the skyline.

Ethan on the River Cat with the Harbor Bridge in the background.

Darling Harbor

Then, after a stop at Darling Harbor, we came under the Harbor Bridge and got that signature Sydney shot: the Opera House!

It is an amazing building!

We got off the boat at Circular Quay and had to walk a bit to the Opera House. All along the sidewalk area there are outdoor cafes and street performers. The boys got a kick out of this one:

A "Living" Statue

We got to have a "private" tour of the Opera House because Dad has a hard time with stairs. We got to see 3 of the 4 theaters that are in the Opera House complex. My favorite was the Concert Hall which seats over 2000 people! It had wood floors, wood ceilings, wood walls, wood seats...all for the best acoustics. I would love to see a concert there! We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the theaters, but our tour guide took a picture of us next to one of the concrete pieces that forms one side of a "sail."

The construction aspect was very interesting!

This stairway outside the Concert Hall took my breath away!

The roof of the Opera House is made of thousands of these little tiles that are actually cream-colored with a few gray tiles thrown in. Our guide said the color of the tiles actually makes the roof look different colors depending on the weather or time of day. I always thought it was just white!

This side of the Opera House reminds me of Spanish Conquistador helmets. The architect wanted all of the stairs up to the Opera House because he wanted it to be like a Mayan temple, only a temple to the arts.

Here's yet another shot of the Opera House (I took a lot!), only from a different view...on the other side of Circular Quay. The Concert Hall is the larger sails closest to this side; the Opera Theater is on the other side. The smaller sails on the right are a restaurant.




After our tour, we ate an extremely overpriced, yet quite tasty lunch at one of the outdoor cafes. Dad was done walking for the day, so the rest of us set out for "The Rocks," the oldest section of Sydney. Some of the original buildings still stand there, but it is now mostly a trendy shopping and eating area.

This is Cadman's Cottage, one of the original buildings from the first settlement of Sydney.

This is one of the narrow alleys in "The Rocks" neighborhood.

After browsing in the crazily overpriced shops, we found a cute ice cream place and headed back to meet Dad.

One more shot of the bridge and Opera House as we left Sydney Harbor.

After our 1-hour boat ride back, we ran a few errands and the boys begged to go to "Hungry Jack's, " or the Australian version of Burger King.

It was just like home, but we had to try it!