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