May 22 - Bus/Cruise Tour of Sydney and the Opera House

Alert: this is a LONG post because we had a busy day and learned a lot. We started off on a bus tour of  Sydney for the entire morning, followed by a tour of the Sydney Opera House, a cruise in Sydney Harbor, and a visit to an opal store.

This is not really smog because it cleared out by noon

The bus headed out to Chinatown, which is only a few blocks from our hotel. We will go back tomorrow and walk thru to see more. Next, we drove around Darling Harbor, a big entertainment area and then down towards the Sydney Harbor Bridge. On the way, we stopped at the Sydney Observatory, which was put in place early on to map out the southern skies. There are very nice views from here of the Sydney Bridge, although there was a light morning fog that fuzzed up the view (and photos).

Sydney Harbor Bridge from below

We proceeded to the base of the bridge for more photos. It was built in 9 years, starting around 1923. Fourteen hundred men worked on the bridge, and especially when the Depression hit, jobs here were highly sought after. Men came down each morning hoping for work and the area at the base of the bridge was called the Hungry Mile for all the men hoping to be able to feed their families. Tomorrow we plan to walk across the bridge. We had toyed with doing the Bridge Climb, but you have to allow 3.5 hours and the cost for two is $500, which I expect we can spend in other, more lasting ways. Safety was reasonably good as only 36 men died in the construction. From here we could also see the Sydney Opera House.

We wound around the Circular Quay, where we had taken the train to last night, past and through the Royal Botanical Gardens (another possible jaunt tomorrow) to Mrs. Macquarie’s Point and her ‘Chair’. Macquarie was a governor of Australia and lots of things got named after his wife – there are lots of Elizabeth and Macquarie places all over Australia (our hotel is on the corner of Elizabeth and Goulburn Sts). This point provided a another view of the opera house and bridge, which improved as the fog cleared.

Opera House and Bridge

Mrs. Macquarie's "Chair"

Fortified Island mistaken for a sub by the Japanese in WWII

We continued on through a number of different neighborhoods to South Head, the south land mass at the entrance to Sydney Harbor. It has magnificent cliffs, which are unfortunately an attraction to the depressed and there are numerous signs asking people to call for help instead of jumping. The gentleman who lived across the street was known as the Angel of the area because he watched for people who looked like they might jump, talked to them, invited them to his house for tea, and brought policeman in to help direct them to public services. He is estimated to have saved over 500 people from suicide there. Since he died last year, the death rate has increased.

Looking from the South Head to the North Head, Tasman
Sea to the right.

Next up was Bondi Beach, where we got to spend 30 minutes. Karen and I dipped our feet into the Tasman Sea, but neither of our husbands were so bold. The sand was gloriously soft and not at all hot. I can see why it is so popular. Jim was there on R&R around New Year’s in 1971 and says that the surrounding area has changed a lot since then. 

Bondi (pronounced Bond-eye) Beach

 We headed back into the city and stopped at the Wayfarer Chapel, a non-profit started 50 years ago by an unconventional Methodist minister who saw a need to support the less fortunate in the area. The King’s Cross area is close to the naval yards and has been a hotbed of drugs, drinking, and prostitution for a very long time. Rather than trying to fix people, the staff (45 + 600 volunteers, including our guide, Vic) focuses on accepting their clients as they are and treating them non-judgmentally. I found the ‘graffiti’ on the chapel walls to be quite inspiring.

They provide food, but not as a handout because they feel that is dehumanizing. Instead, no meal costs more than $4. One of the most radical things they did was to create a safe haven for injecting drugs. Their logic was that this was going to happen anyway and that people were dying due to unsafe conditions. If they could keep them alive, there was the potential to improve their lives. Once the center was open, ambulance calls in the area dropped by 80%. This is still a controversial service and the only one in the southern hemisphere. Apparently Canada also provides this service in one or two places, and all the others are in Europe.

Finally, the bus dropped us off at the Sydney Opera House for our tour. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos inside the performance spaces. The first thing I noticed is that the roof did not appear all that white. It looks whiter in the photo I took than it did in real life. The colors looked more grayish with white borders. We learned that the roof is covered with tiles (1, 560,006 of them), some matte and some polished, and not pure white – some are more creamy colored than others. The chevron design I saw was the contrast of the matte and polished tiles and the grayness came from the angle of my view.

Opera house roof from a different angle that
highlights the tile pattern and differences.

The story of its construction is pretty amazing. When the Opera House was first proposed for the site, the neighbors with the view of the previous work yards screamed that building it there would destroy the view and their property values. Of course, just the opposite happened. As with many Australian buildings, an international competition was held and 232 drawings were submitted from around the world. Most were standard square buildings but a few were more imaginative. The ones from the Danish architect, Jorn Utzon, were almost rudimentary and were initially rejected. However, Eero Saarinen was brought in as a judge late in the process and insisted on reviewing all the submissions, not just the ones that had passed muster so far. He felt the Danish design was spectacular and convinced the powers that be to select it. The problem was, the design really was rudimentary, how to create the roof was unknown, and they started digging without a complete plan. They thought they could build it in 3 years for $7 million, but it took more than 14 years and $102 million, and the architect departed 7 years before the project was completed.

The building has 2 main stages and 5 smaller ones. The original opera stage and symphony stages were reversed and more seats were added to each to increase revenue potential. The acoustics are designed so that no amplification is required for the music to be heard. Because singing 8 opera performances per week is a lot for a singer, 5 shows are alternated with all their stage equipment brought from the basement in huge elevators designed for the purpose.

Although the roof sections are called 'sails', from this
angle, they look more like stacked upside down boats.

The architect wanted to bring the outside in. This is the
view from the intermission lounge area.

The interlinked concrete ribs that form the ceiling supports
eliminated the need for interior pillars.

Opera house from the cruise boat.

After lunch along the harbor, we took a 1.5 hour narrated harbor cruise. The day had turned totally glorious and we got a different angle on several of the sights we had seen earlier. Last up was a stop at an opal store, where they showed a video of how opals are mined and then showed us the difference between the types of opals. I had brought my collection along and was surprised to learn that one I thought was so-so was good quality and vice versa. I also learned that my two favorites were probably worth more than I thought. Of course, with Jim’s encouragement, I found one there to add to my collection too.

Largest opal ever found -- 11 inches long, 17,000 carats.

This is mine now. They posted it with the name
"California Dreamin'" after we bought it.

With the day’s tours finally over, we vegged out for the night with the exception of a quick run to a grocery store for snacks and beverages.