2017-11-24 Sydney Opera House & City Tour

We started our Friday (Thanksgiving Thursday in the States) with a bus trip to the Sydney Opera House. First thing Marsha said was, "It's smaller than I thought it would be." We had a private guided tour and learned a lot about the design construction and history of the building(s). Some people don't realize that the south end of the Sydney Harbour Bridge is very near the Opera House, so each can be seen clearly from the other.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is the world's largest steel arch bridge. The four pylons on the bridge are completely decorative and have nothing to do with supporting the bridge.

We saw the Golden Tree of Good Fortune in Chinatown. The 1999 sculpture is an actual yellow-box eucalyptus that was partially covered in 23-carat gold leaf. It was a gift from the city of Sydney to the Chinese Community. The Chinese played a big part in the development of the area. There were no dogs near it when we were there.

Ft. Denison was built as a maximum security prison, but later used as a defense structure in Sydney Harbor. During WW II, three Japanese mini-submarines entered the harbour at night and torpedoed the fort, thinking it was a submarine.

We went to the Darling Harbour Aquarium, the largest aquarium in the southern hemisphere. Sydney Harbor, with 400 miles of coastline, contains many small harbours.

We ended the day with dinner at Nick's bar and Grill. Nice little place on the harbour.