On top of the world

Sunday was my first full day in Sydney, and our goal was modest: see the two biggest architectural landmarks in Sydney. First was the Sydney Opera House. We took the roundabout approach--coming in from the Royal Botanical Gardens.

The hour long tour is very well done. It was a mix of short prerecorded videos on the history shown between seeing the different venue. Our tour had one guide and there were about twenty people on the tour. After hearing about the history and seeing the performance venues (there is a concert hall and space for plays in addition to the opera stage), we were sold, and we decided to get two tickets to an opera that they were performing on Tuesday.

Next we took another run through the gardens, followed by a trip by Circular Quay. This is where many of the ferries leave for various outlying parts of the city. Then it was time for me to get ready for my twilight climb of Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The bridge was built in the late 1920's (you can see it behind the opera house in the photo above) and is over a thousand meters long and 139 meters high. The Sydney Bridge Climb has been operating for almost ten years. They have strung a cable from the base up to the top span, across the bridge, and then down to the other side. They do not allow any loose objects up on the climb (including cameras) for obvious reasons, but they have a couple stops set up for the guides to take pictures.


The picture above was on the way up the bridge. For a while it looked like I might not get to do it--they suspend operations when there is a lightening storm within 10 km, and one passed through just as my group was heading up to the top. Fortunately it passed, and by the time we were coming down the other side, it was nightfall, giving a great view of the city.

To Sydney!

Today I flew down to Sydney to connect with my Mom coming in from Seattle via San Francisco. Meeting at the airport went fine-but then the first problem arose.

Every vacation must have its little hiccups, and mine came when I first opened my suitcase to find that the four pairs of long pants so carefully selected for the trip where nowhere to be found. Fortunately we were in Sydney, one of the world's greatest cities, right?



They do indeed have some fabulous shopping (the above picture of the Queen Victoria Arcade is but one of the many fantastic locations.) However, I was a bit stymied in my search. The problem is my body shape. My height is 5' 11", but most of that is in my upper body. While I have a waist of 38", my inseam is a mere 29", very short for my height. In the US, men's pants are sold by waist and inseam, but as I discovered, the same is not true in Australia. They sell by waist, followed by three choices of long, regular, or short for inseam. And even the short pants were about two or three inches too long to be wearable for me.

This is when it helps to be traveling with one's Mom. She had brought along her little emergency travel sewing kit, and was able to turn up a pair of pants for me that lasted beautifully through all the climbs and hikes yet to come. Thanks Mom!



After having toured the downtown, the next stop was Darling Harbour. This is waterfront Nirvana for tourists, boasting museums and restaurants in profusion. Our main stop was the Sydney Aquarium, where we were introduced to several of the fish and reptiles that we'd be seeing in the weeks to come.