We woke up this morning and headed out shopping to pick up a few bits - a phone charger, a mains adapter, a phone number and so on. Most of the way there I found I was steering from the other side of the car. Driving in Australia is ea
sy!
After this we came home and headed into town on the bus. We walked down to Circular Quay and had lunch at City Extra, which overlooks the harbour. In front of us were the Manly Ferry, the Harbour Bridge and lots of yachts and ships. Not to mention some colossal plates of food!
After lunch we walked to the Opera House and walked round the outside, me taking lots of photos, Elissa (having worked there for several years) not really that impressed. But we went inside and met some of her colleagues and chatted to them. CJ was particularly excitable, but
they all seemed like a lovely bunch. Somehow we managed to land ourselves some freebies too - CJ offered us a couple of spare tickets for a play, Lotte's Gift, that evening. David Morley suggest we take the tour of the Opera House, so we organised that with Mel and came back at 4pm for the tour.
The space age loos weren't on the tour, but they were very impressive. The wavy sinks that just about caught the water, the illuminated loo roll holders. Very good. Then we joined the tour, and although we couldn't take photos inside the venues, the surrounding building got photoed to death! We were in the main concert hall, and the guide was telling us the history of the venue when the organ struck up. It's apparently the largest mechanical tracker organ in the world, with more than 10,000 pipes. Our guide didn't have much of a hope of talking over it! It's very rarely played, the guide herself had only heard it a few times, and Elissa had never heard it before.
After the tour we wandered to Australia Square, where we had cocktails in the Orbit Bar. It was all very laid out, and they were nice enough to let me in despite my sandals. The views were perfect, taking in the whole city. Elissa thought she knew one of the waitresses, but I was convinced (as we both agreed all of the waitresses were very good looking) that people only say they think they know someone as an excuse to themselves to ogle a bit. Expounding this theory (that's cocktails for you) I said "Don't I know your arse from somewhere?" as one of the waitresses arrived to ask us if everything was ok. Elissa was convinced she knew what was going on, though she remained very polite. We tipped too much and left. We may go back. For the views of the city of course.
sy!After this we came home and headed into town on the bus. We walked down to Circular Quay and had lunch at City Extra, which overlooks the harbour. In front of us were the Manly Ferry, the Harbour Bridge and lots of yachts and ships. Not to mention some colossal plates of food!
After lunch we walked to the Opera House and walked round the outside, me taking lots of photos, Elissa (having worked there for several years) not really that impressed. But we went inside and met some of her colleagues and chatted to them. CJ was particularly excitable, but
they all seemed like a lovely bunch. Somehow we managed to land ourselves some freebies too - CJ offered us a couple of spare tickets for a play, Lotte's Gift, that evening. David Morley suggest we take the tour of the Opera House, so we organised that with Mel and came back at 4pm for the tour.The space age loos weren't on the tour, but they were very impressive. The wavy sinks that just about caught the water, the illuminated loo roll holders. Very good. Then we joined the tour, and although we couldn't take photos inside the venues, the surrounding building got photoed to death! We were in the main concert hall, and the guide was telling us the history of the venue when the organ struck up. It's apparently the largest mechanical tracker organ in the world, with more than 10,000 pipes. Our guide didn't have much of a hope of talking over it! It's very rarely played, the guide herself had only heard it a few times, and Elissa had never heard it before.
After the tour we wandered to Australia Square, where we had cocktails in the Orbit Bar. It was all very laid out, and they were nice enough to let me in despite my sandals. The views were perfect, taking in the whole city. Elissa thought she knew one of the waitresses, but I was convinced (as we both agreed all of the waitresses were very good looking) that people only say they think they know someone as an excuse to themselves to ogle a bit. Expounding this theory (that's cocktails for you) I said "Don't I know your arse from somewhere?" as one of the waitresses arrived to ask us if everything was ok. Elissa was convinced she knew what was going on, though she remained very polite. We tipped too much and left. We may go back. For the views of the city of course.We went and found somewhere to eat (the first time I've ever had sushi in a restaurant) and then went to the theatre. The play was a one woman show, acted by a reknowned classical guitarist. She played beautifully and told the story with feeling. Despite being so tired after my flight the day before, I enjoyed the whole thing, and I'm going to have to find some of the music on CD. Our company, CJ and Jane, was excellent too. Jane told me about her experiences of travelling a long way for some boy, CJ hit us all with a rolled up programme and told dirty jokes.
On the way home we walked through Hyde Park. We saw fruit bats and possums, and a huge fountain (though not as big as the one at Suntec City in Singapore of course) and caught the bus home. Today should be a bit more sedate by comparison, I'm going guitar shopping and setting up a bank account! And I've already set up a new phone number in Australia, so if you'd like it, let me know.
No comments:
Post a Comment