{"id":14598,"date":"2018-11-12T01:42:15","date_gmt":"2018-11-12T06:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/?p=14598"},"modified":"2018-11-24T01:51:49","modified_gmt":"2018-11-24T06:51:49","slug":"sydney-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/?p=14598","title":{"rendered":"Sydney, Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday & Monday – November 11 & 12, 2018<\/p>\n

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Our Land Tour of Australia ended in Sydney on Sunday, Nov. 11th after a bus tour of the city and surrounding suburbs. \u00a0On the tour, we were driven to the other side of the Harbour Bridge to see a panoramic view of Sydney. \u00a0Group participants below:<\/p>\n

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We drove through the beautiful affluent suburbs of Sydney out to Bondi Beach on the Pacific Ocean. \u00a0This is the famous surfing beach in Australia. \u00a0Unfortunately, there was no wind and the waves were flat, but that didn\u2019t stop the hopeful surfers who sat on their boards waiting for the perfect wave.<\/p>\n

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The specially trained \u201cSurf Rescue Team\u201d didn\u2019t have much business either:<\/p>\n

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The Rocks was the area of the first European settlement in 1788. It has developed into a prime tourist attraction with cobbled streets, shops, boutiques, and architecturally interesting buildings from the 19th century.<\/p>\n

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There\u2019s a fun market every Saturday and Sunday in the historic “Rocks\u201d neighborhood near Circular Quay. \u00a0We explored the market which is located near the Harbour Bridge:<\/p>\n

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The Rocks looks across Sydney Cove to the famous Opera House. \u00a0Ferries constantly crisscross the harbor taking Sydneysiders to work and back home. \u00a0An \u201cOpal\u201d card is like our NYC Metro Card. \u00a0Passengers \u201cfill it up\u201d with money and use it on all the ferries, trains, trams, and light-rail in and around Sydney. \u00a0A typical fare is about six dollars for a half-hour ferry ride across the harbor.<\/p>\n

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This is a photo of the Australian white ibis. \u00a0They approach people who are eating outdoors and try to snatch their food. \u00a0The ibis acts like the pigeons and seagulls, but they are much bigger more formidable.<\/p>\n

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The Sydney Harbour Bridge is one of the main symbols of the city, connecting Dawes Point with the Kirribilli neighborhood. It replaced a ferry when it was opened in 1932. \u00a0The bridge is only less than 4,000 feet long and is open to pedestrians, bicyclists, and climbers across the top.<\/p>\n

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Jeff and I walked around Circular Quay to the other iconic symbol of Sydney: the Opera House. \u00a0It took 14 years to complete construction in 1973 and was very controversial. \u00a0Today, it is recognized all over the world and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.<\/p>\n

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Under the soaring \u201csails\u201d there are four performance spaces which host 2,500 performances and events per year. \u00a0We signed up for an early morning Guided Backstage Tour and were also able to get tickets for a Sunday Matinee of the Australian Chamber Orchestra playing Beethoven\u2019s Violin Concerto and The Fifth Symphony.<\/p>\n

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We explored and took many photos. \u00a0Up close, \u00a0the \u201csails\u201d look more like interconnected clam shells. \u00a0They\u2019re actually several buildings under separate white tile roofs.<\/p>\n

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Our lunch in the Opera snack bar was served under a heavy mesh dome to protect it from soaring seagulls. \u00a0The birds watched us intently with their beady eyes during our lunch.<\/p>\n

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Below is a view looking back toward Circular Quay and the Central Business District (CBD) of Sydney from the Opera House.<\/p>\n

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Sydneysiders gather to eat, drink, and enjoy the weather along the harbor at all hours of the day and night.<\/p>\n

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Sunday & Monday – November 11 & 12, 2018 Our Land Tour of Australia ended in Sydney on Sunday, Nov. 11th after a bus tour of the city and surrounding suburbs. \u00a0On the tour, we were driven to the other side of the Harbour Bridge to see a panoramic view of Sydney. \u00a0Group participants below: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14598"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14602,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14598\/revisions\/14602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}