Blogs from Opera House, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania - page 2

Our flight to Sydney went really well. We left out of LAX about 15-20 minutes late and ended up arriving in Sydney a few minutes late as a result, around 7:45am. We cleared immigration and customs with no problems and right outside of the arrivals gate was a Vodafone shop where we bought our prepaid SIM cards. The prepaid plans have changed a bit since we left Germany and data is now included since so many people have smart phones. I think my little pink Nokia phone will have to be retired and make room for a Droid after this. We took the train from the airport to Sydney Central Station, which is only a few blocks walking distance from our hotel. We stayed at The Great Southern Hotel. It's in an older building and seems ... read more

It was time to hit the road to Sydney but not before we came across a tiny wee Scottish toon called MacLean!! Any feelings of home-sickness we had was soon cured when we drove in and noticed that all the lamp-posts were wrapped in tartan with banners advertising highland games! Putting on our heaviest Scot’s accents – and just incase anyone didn’t notice them Paul made sure people knew where we were from by proudly marching the streets in his Scotland top! Sure enough the local butcher noticed, but even better he was able to sell us some Lorne sausage and haggis – lunch and dinner sorted!!! It felt just like home, but warmer ;-) From Maclean to Sydney was a hefty drive so we stopped off on the way and sampled some of the great ... read more

We’ve finally arrived in Sydney after the panic over the weather, Oli’s 38.6 degree fever on Christmas day and 23 hours of flying! We were a bit apprehensive about flying with China Eastern Airlines after reading some rather unsavoury reviews about them, but we were very chuffed with the service, free pillows and blankets and loads of gorgeous Chinese food, including the best prawn curry we’ve ever eaten. Before we could go through immigration in Shanghai we had to ditch our English food we had brought with us in case China Eastern’s food wasn’t up to scratch. As Oli cannot throw anything away, we sat and scoffed bananas, apples, yoghurts and nuts before going through immigration. Oli dumped our emergency chicken sandwiches which had gone a bit iffy in a bin, and then a security official ... read more

Wbrew dotychczasowej konwencji postanowiłam opisać trzy dni spędzone w Sydney w dwóch wpisach tematycznych: Opera (dziś) i cała reszta (jutro). Gdybym zachowała formułę dziennika, teksty byłyby mało spójne, bo większość atrakcji oglądamy po kilka razy; gdybym z kolei opowiedziała o Sydney w jednym wpisie, byłby kłopot z załadowaniem zdjęć. Budynek Opery zdecydowanie zrobił na nas największe wrażenie ze wszystkiego, co dotychczas widzieliśmy, więc postanowiłam zacząć od niego. Pomysł zbudowania narodowej opery w Sydney pojawił się już na początku XX wieku, jednak w realizacji planów przeszkodziły dwie wojny światowe. Dopiero w latach 50. ogłoszono międzynarodowy konkurs architektoniczny, który wygrał - nadsyłając pracę po terminie i łamiąc kilka innych punktów regulaminu - duński architekt, Jørn Utzon. Gdy tylko ogłoszono wyniki konkursu i Utzon został naczelnym architektem Opery, cała... read more

The week that followed was once again a busy one with me coaching every day and evenings spent (when not out and about) writing lesson plans for extra cash that I have already decided would be spent on having a suit tailor made whilst in Thailand, can’t wait! Bowks, amidst her scheduled hours at the ice cream shop, played the all important tourist guide for her mum, dad and brother, visiting the central business district of the city, Darling Harbour, Circular Quay, Bondi Beach and not to miss the all important ferry crossing to Manly which gives stunning views of Sydney Harbour and bridge, especially at sunset and from what I understand they weren’t disappointed. One of the evenings we had a BBQ on the balcony of Bowks’ family accommodation which was just down the road ... read more