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Published: November 21st 2008
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I managed to drag Matt out of the room fairly early (by our standards) to buy a hop on hop off bus ticket to take us around the city sights. We jumped off after a couple of stops at a viewing platform of the bridge and opera house. Like NZ‘s mountains, it almost didn’t feel real as it’s one of those shots you’ve seen on the tv so many times before.
After taking a lot pf photos we walked around the harbour side through the Botanical Gardens, towards the Opera House. The gardens were pretty, and there was a striking purple blossom tree that just seemed to light up in amongst all the greenery. There were cockatoos above us hopping from tree to tree and squawking at one another, and on the ground were some land based birds with long, curled beaks (we later identified the breed as Ibis). Unfortunately for them there were a few school groups in the park so they spent most of their time being chased by groups of eight year olds.
The weather was a bit overcast and cool, but it was just right for sightseeing.
The Opera House looked so different close
up. The sails that form the roof aren’t the pure white you see in the pictures, they’re made up of small tiles that are more of a creamy/yellow colour that glint as the sun shines down on them.
We went inside to see what shows were on, and after spending ages debating our options we settled on booking to see Mozart’s Requiem performed by a choir and orchestra. For £24 each we got the best tickets available - right on the side of the stage area in a box.
After sorting that out we stopped at a café for a quick lunchbreak and then got back onto the bus to see more of the city.
We got off again at the art gallery and arrived just in time to join a tour of the Monet exhibition. We were shown a range of Monet paintings ranging from his early career, through to the famous popplars, haystacks and waterlillies. Hung next to them were examples by other artist of the day who were either friends of Monet, or artists who influenced him such as Degas, Cezanne and Renoir. My favourite was one of a church painted in thick blue
tones - it reminded me of the Lincoln Cathedral picture I have that my mum painted (yes mum - I think your impressionist pictures are as good as Monet’s!)
We were awe stuck at how small, simple brush strokes were able to sum up an image so succinctly. It must be so difficult to paint like that as the images only make sense from further away - Monet must have spent most of his time painting a little, and then stepping back to get a better view.
After we’d seen the entire Monet exhibition we wandered around the rest of the gallery which contained a mixture of paintings and sculpture from all different eras, mostly by artists we‘d never heard of.
Afterwards we tried to see a film at the Imax cinema, which was home to the biggest screen in the world, but unfortunately there was nothing much on when we arrived and we didn’t have time to wait as we were going out for the evening so needed to get back to our hotel to get ready.
We’d arranged to meet up with two of my old old school friends - Simon and Helen -
for dinner. They’d lived in Sydney a few years ago for work and had just moved back there again three weeks previous. It was years since I’d seen them and it was bizarre to think that after all this time we were finally going to catch up over dinner 45 floors up in the rotating Summit restaurant in Sydney!
We nipped back to the hotel to get ready and then got the concierge to hail a cab for us (the joys of staying in a hotel!) Neither Simon, nor Helen looked any different so I spotted them on the steps outside the restaurant immediately.
Our ears popped in the lift on the way up to the 45th floor, and we were greeted with a spectacular panoramic night view across the city as we stepped into the restaurant. It didn’t feel like we were rotating until we sat down and looked out of the window at the side of our table - then it felt slightly strange. Helen pointed out that it can be confusing coming back from the toilets in the centre of the building only to find that your table has moved.
During the meal we
went past the Opera House and Harbour Bridge at least twice and the rest of the time we were treated to views of the other skyscrapers and towers around the city.
The dinner was delicious. We both had fillet of beef and it was one of the best we’ve ever had - so soft it just melted in your mouth. Everything about the meal was perfect, and my chocolate soufflé also made everyone envious.
I know that we’re on a budget but we’ve learnt that we need to splash out occasionally otherwise we‘d just go mad. Plus to have a meal of this quality in the UK would have cost an awful lot more. £80 bought us two courses and a glass of wine each which seems a lot but it was worth every penny. The service was also amazing, and we were left chatting for as long as we wanted without feeling pressured to leave which was great as we had so much to catch up on.
Helen was going for a job interview the following morning so I felt guilty keeping her up too late, plus Simon had work so eventually we said our goodbyes
and caught a cab back to our hotel feeling contented and thinking about the lovely evening we’d just had.
The only shame was that there wasn’t going to be another opportunity to meet up with them again before we set off up the coast. Who knows where we’ll be the next time we meet up!
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