Mom and Dad's first day in Sydney

I'm very proud of my folks... they stayed up all the way to 10pm last night and were up and ready to go around 8:30am this morning! We were busy all day today and I've just sent Dad off to bed at 11:30pm. So all in all I think it's fair to say that Mom and Dad adjusted to Sydney time much easier than I did when I first came here!

I think it's fair to say that my Dad and Bill have really hit it off... the two of them have hardly stopped talking since my folks arrived. I came back from Guides tonight to discover that the two of them now even share their own "in" jokes... good grief...

Anyhow.

Once we finally got started, I took my folks downtown to get a look at the Sydney Opera House, that most iconic of Australian buildings. Since mom's a music teacher, the Opera House was basically #1 on the list of things we needed to do while here in Sydney. The building, as always, was magnificent. We enjoyed another day of brilliant clear blue skies and perfect temperatures, so we took our time to wander around the outside of the Opera House and just enjoy its shape. Then we headed inside for the tour. Boy am I glad I have a YHA card! The tours cost $35 each, but with the YHA cards this came down to $22 each. Big difference.

Our tour guide led us through both of the main buildings of the Opera House, including the concert hall, the opera theatre, and the reception halls and foyers. At several places along the way, we watched short videos about the Opera House's history, including how it was built. I just love some of the strange facts about the building's construction: (a) its design was pulled out of the "reject" pile of over 200 applicants; (b) the architect's original drawings were so vague nobody was sure it could even be built; (c) construction began before the plans had been completed; (d) the original architect was forced to leave the project before its completion due to mounting pressure over time and cost overruns; (e) the building is now world heritage listed!

At the end of the tour we learned that our tickets included a discount (not complimentary, only discounted) tea or coffee at the Opera House's cafe, so of course we had to go and enjoy that. It was nice, just sitting at the sidewalk cafe, in a warm breeze, taking in the boat traffic on the harbour and watching the Bridge in the distance. I'd been raving to my folks about the beauty of the Botanic Gardens for quite some time, so we decided to go and check out the little tourist train tour of the gardens that was offered. Not bad at all! The train took us throughout most of the main sections of the gardens and my folks got to see the fruit bat colony and some of the majorly stunning trees.

We still had a bit of time to play with once we were done in the gardens, but not quite enough time to head to one of the big museums or art galleries. Instead we found ourselves back at Circular Quay and before we knew it, we were on the ferry to Manly! This is a great (cheap) way to do a Sydney Harbour cruise, too, as the ferry has to travel pretty much the entire length of the harbour to get to Manly. We had just enough time to wander through the shops, admire the surf beach, and get a Boost Juice before getting back on the ferry and heading for home.

I was out with another Guide group tonight, so I left Mom and Dad, Bill and Ruth to their own devices for the evening. I returned to find them finishing dinner (they were originally going to wait for me, until they realized that I wouldn't be home until after 9pm!), laughing and joking and enjoying each others' company, and planning what we're gonna be doing tomorrow. Bill's going to join us downtown and we're going to go visit the Powerhouse Museum, which I haven't been to yet. Oh, and we're going to the aquarium too - and although I've already been there once this year, I'm happy to go again. You know how it is with me and fish!

I am trying to figure out how to upload some of my pics from my recent travels to Queensland, but Ruth only has Mac computers and they're giving me grief. Will try again tomorrow night, if I have any energy left at all!