We went to The Rocks and took a short walk with Roxy to see The Nurse's Walk and some of the old, interesting sandstone buildings and alleyways. Although there are now many shops and restaurants there, they have managed to preserve the history and feel of the original area, making it a special place to visit. The Suez Canal is an alleyway previously used for tossing sewage and waste, and today points the way to the toilets. We also saw Argyle Street, where you can find the stairway that goes up to the walk across Harbour Bridge. We had some free time to explore the are and have some lunch before meeting up at 2:15 for our Captain Cook Coffee Cruise around the Harbour. The cruise was leaving from the Circular Quay, a main area of Sydney for transportation. There is a lovely park there as well. At the quay there were some Aboriginals playing the didgeridoo and other instruments - after our trip to the Outback I wasn't quite sure what to think about these performers, except that I hoped they were making lots of money from the tourists. As I approached where our wharf there was a man dressed as Captain Cook who was talking with people in an effort, I suppose, to drum up business. He and I chatted for a little while about where he lived and how long he had been doing this job. It was a gorgeous day and the long cruise turned out to be just wonderful - a perfect way to see the harbour with spectacular views. Unfortunately my camera punked out again and as I had been charging it every night I had a feeling it was my battery finally pooping out. In a way it was nice not to be taking photos every minute and being able to really stop, enjoy and focus on what you are seeing. I also know it isn't always going to be possible for me to remember this as it really was, so it is nice to have the photos too. I knew Dan would just love the scenery and the fabulous weather, so I hope he was there with me. We were also given one cup of coffee/tea and a little packet of two cookies, just so we wouldn't go hungry for two seconds.
After the cruise walked over to the Opera House for our private tour. James, who is a tour guide and an usher (so in addition to doing our tour he had to usher that evening) gave each of us a headset so that we could all hear him as we went. It was very ingenious, and he was even able to find a special headset for Marcia who has cochlear implants, so that she was able to hear as well. We went down to the area where they drive in the trucks and load scenery, props, and instruments onto special lifts that take them directly to the hall to which they are going - the lift becomes part of the floor of that stage. Horses have even been loaded and brought up to the stages. There are five halls/perofrmance spaces: Studio (smallest and newest), Playhouse, Drama, Opera Theatre and Concert Hall. The opera and dance companies alternate parts of the seasons with Melbourne, so when a dance company is in Melbourne the opera is in Sydney. The Concert Hall holds just under 2700 people and Vladamir Ashkenazy is the conductor. We weren't supposed to take photos in the halls, but if there was no scenery onstage or anyone working there James said we could.
The story of the Opera House is very interesting. There was a competition held in 1957 for designs and many were submitted. Most were traditional square shapes with a few circular and some side-by-side halls. The design that we now know was submitted but was actually one that had been rejected. Luckily there was a judge who arrived late and asked to see all the submissions, and as soon as he saw that one he announced they had their winner. The sketch, by a Danish architect named Jorn Utson, was very rough, with no detail or explanations of how this was to be built or even if it would work, but it was so revolutionary and so beautiful that they decided to go ahead. The construction site was at the end of the Bennelong Point, a little peninsula, which originally was the site of Fort Macquarie and then was the train sheds, before finally becoming the home of the Sydney Opera. Construction was anticipated to take 2 years and cost around 7 million dollars, but of course it took much longer and cost much more. They actually started laying the foundation before they knew how to create the curved bits that held the building together. This created quite a problem for some time until the architect applied a simple mathematical solution based on a sphere, and then it became much simpler to do because they only needed to create a couple of forms upon which everything was based. At one point during the construction a new premier was elected who felt the project was costing too much and taking too long, so he proposed having the government take it over rather than let the architect have sole discretion and permission. Utson felt this was improper and he couldn't accept the proposal so he resigned and returned to Denmark, never actually seeing his finished work in person. Some time later he was invited to help with another project here but at the advanced age of 81 was unable to make the trip. His son came instead and did the work. The tour was really interesting and very well done, and we ended up taking more time than originally planned because of our questions and interest.
We went back to the hotel by coach and Roxy pointed out some places we could get dinner on our own. Ethan called and he and his friend Dan Keche came over. The boys had gone to Logan together when they left for Australia, and Dan's parents had kindly driven me to and from along with the boys so I could also see Ethan off. We went to a great Malaysian restaurant called Mamek, where there is consistently a line out the door. When we arrived at around 8pm the line wasn't too long and we were able to get a fabulous dinner of fish curry, chicken curry, Malaysian fried chicken and different kinds of roti, delicious Malaysian bread. It was a great meal and fun to be with the boys. After dinner we walked to Darling Harbour and into the Queen Victoria building, then around town a bit and through the World Market shopping mall near the hotel. They came and hung out at the hotel a bit and then went to catch the bus back to Coogee. There has been a full moon for the past couple of days, which has been very beautiful. Ethan and I arranged that he would come back the next day so we could spend the day together, as it is a free day for our group. As tomorrow will be the last day of the OAT tour, we will be having a farewell dinner together. I can't believe that we have really come to the end of the trip and am very excited taht I will be able to stay for several more days, though I know they will go by far too quickly. Already Ethan and I are talking about doing so many things that we will probably not have the time to do. But we can try....
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