Catch up on the trip

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Sorry to all the faithful subscribers out there for not having written recently!
We have been having a great time in and around Sydney. We are starting to set up a bit of a routine, walking from Steve and Maja's to Manly harbour and back daily (1.5hours). There is a great coffee shop where I fetch my morning fix of 'FLAT WHITE COFFEE' (Australia's special coffee, better than Americano or Cappuccino).
There has been a mix of weather here, nice in the mornings and rainy in the afternoons. For anyone who travels weather is often a deciding factor in what to do that day. Therefore, it has been nice to have some flexibility with timing and our main points of interest.

WHAT HAVE WE BEEN UP TO?
We made it to the Sydney Aquarium and saw some amazing displays. The highlight was the Dugong exhibit, they are cousins to Manatees. We watched them eat romaine lettuce, which actually wasn't that special because they eat about a ton of it a day. (LITERALLY)

Had a break in the weather and went on a boating trek. We walked to Manly, bought a day travel pass and took the boat to Sydney Harbour. Got some amazing shots crossing in front of the Opera house. Then came the 1.5 hour long, sunny/sightly chilly boat ride to a town called Parramatta. It used to have the largest shopping mall in Australia. Not much to see there and we didn't want to shop. We did do a bit of a walk and had nice meal and bottle of wine.

The Fat Lady sings!
Taking the boat back to Sydney Harbour we decided to visit the Opera house for a tour. Amazing building with some excellent history. We saw some of the main theatres and had a walking tour guide. Unfortunately no pictures allowed in the building due to copyright of set and lighting designs. The tour was good, although, everything our tour group got to do and see was "special" and "not normally seen by tour groups". After hearing that at each of the 3 different theatres we visited, I was left wondering what people would see if they didn't visit these theatres...hmm! "Here are the toilets, many famous people have pooed here while famous people sang in areas of the building you are not allowed to see!"
Shouldn't take the piss too much as we did really enjoy the afternoon.

Our next trip is to Tasmania for some wine tours and cottage relaxation on the Aussie long weekend. It does deserve a separate entry which we will post in a bit.

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Photos

Making friends with a neighbour's cat
We've named her "C.C." for Clingy Cat.

The most interesting thing in Parramatta
Streetlamps running off solar power