Wrapping up our visit

Even though we had a semi late night for New Years Eve we still managed to get ourselves up and moving at a decent time in the morning. Today we headed back down to the Sydney Opera House area because we bought tickets for a tour of it. It was such a beautiful day out, that you didn’t want to spend it inside but once you were in, it was truly amazing. Let me give you some history of this magnificent structure.

Australia had a contest in the early 1950’s for people to submit designs for the new opera house for Sydney. I guess there was a high demand for ballet and opera and they had no place to hold them. They received 232 submissions from all of the world. The one design that won, was actually never chosen in the first round because they didn’t conform to standards of the contest. Jorn Utzon’s design was actually reconsidered because a 4th judge had been added and he was an American and wanted to review all of the entries again.

The project took 14 years, 10,000 workers, 1,056,006 tiles and a huge blown out budget and this resignation of Utzon before it was finally completed back in 1973.

This structure has 3 places for performances. Concert Hall, Joan Sutherland Theatre and Drama Theatre. Unfortunately, we were not able to take any pictures inside the three locations due to copyright issues so all you will get is a downloaded picture of what it looks like.

The concert hall seats 2,679 people. The whole inside is constructed of wood, from Australian brush box and white birch timbers. The floors were amazing and it holds a massive organ that includes 10,154 pipes, it took 10 years to complete this part of the building.

The Joan Sutherland Theatre which holds the Ballets and Operas, is the second largest venue and has held some of the most celebrated performances. The scenery and props are brought up from ground level below via mechanical stage lifts, rather than from the sides like most places. They don’t use any mics in this theatre, because it was built to amplify sound. From the rafters where we went in to take a look you could hear people from the stage talking, the sound really does travel.

The Drama theatre is the smallest of the three venues but it includes revolving concentric rings in the middle of the stage and a computerized flying system to life scenery.

There are a few other rooms in this massive building that are used, and the Forecourt which is outside that can hold 100,000 people for concerts and what not.

This place really is amazing, it has a self-cleaning roof, and even though it might look white, it isn’t. It is made up of tan and cream tiles, and when it rains, everything goes down to the ground, and in the ground the walk has spaces in between the blocks so the rain collects there. The inside has windows that are at a slant like in the front of a boat, they did this so there are no reflections at any time of day and at night when people look out over the harbor.

Utzon never did get to see his finished piece of work. Due to the government and some issues they had he quit the project 10 years in, and only saw pictures or videos. His son came down to visit and report back to his father, and there was an agreement made that any changes that needed to be made would be done through the son as to keep Utzon’s dream alive in the building. He was ultimately awarded the highest medal available in the architecture world, back the early 2000’s. Before he died in his late 80’s (I believe) he was able to receive the medal and see his building be confirmed as a UNESCO site in 2002.

After this great tour, we headed over to grab some lunch before hitting up the botanical garden. This place was chock full of all sorts of roses and different plants and flowers. It was a beautiful place to pack a picnic and hang out. I actually went 2 times while I was here and got to see more the 2nd time than I did the first. I am obsessed with flowers and gardens, although I don’t like to garden, just admires someone else’s work. ;)

We ended up taking a 2 hour nap after all of this walking around. Most days I am walking around 10 miles a day and my legs are killing me but I know it is good. After our nap we headed out for dinner before May had her Harbor Bridge Climb. I made the choice not to go because of money and I wasn't able to take my own pics lol I know sounds kind of silly but that is how I felt. I dropped Mary off for her climb and I decided that I was going to walk across the bridge in the designated walking areas. It is amazing how much the city changes from day to night. Everything is so lit up and beauitful, thank good nes we had a clear night! I finally got a bunch of pics and heard from a gal I met in Fiji. She was in Sydney near the Opera house grabbing a drink so I met up with her for a bit.

I am really enjoying doing this travelling and meeting new people. Sometimes opportunities come up in the oddest of situations, hopefully some of the people I meet will want to meet again on a different continent.

XO Noodle