Wednesday 31st: Tour of Sydney Opera House

We were up fairly early and set off for our 9am tour of the Sydney Opera House.  We were met by our guide who reminded us that the land the Opera House is built on is sacred Aboriginal territory.  We then went inside.

We watched a short video which told us how Danish architect, JØrn Utzon, won the original design competition.  The actual build was not without its problems, to put it mildly, culminating in Utzon being removed from the project for being too demanding and too much of a perfectionist.  A classic case with an innovative building of creativity coming up against the harsh realities of how to engineer the design and finance it!

We were constantly reminded that we couldn’t take photos of the actual performance areas as the stage sets were subject to copyright and we couldn’t take photos if any staff or rehearsing performers were present.  As a result we haven’t got nearly as many as we might have.

We were initially taken into a small theatre where the likes of Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush and Mel Gibson started out.  We were then taken into the concert hall and the Joan Sutherland theatre.

The happy ending to the Utzon story is that his son is now involved in the considerable (and - as always with the Sydney Opera House - very expensive!) refurbishments and apparently he has many of his father’s characteristics – but hasn’t been sacked off the project yet.

Our ship awaits!

Where lots of Australian stars of stage and screen first hit the big time.

Some great views on our tour from vantage points only open to those on the tour

One of the bars

Inevitably lots of concrete is involved

Before the railings were installed, a lady walked into the concrete support on the left and was killed

This area is affectionately known as the cleavage!

Tuesday 30 January: Flight from Perth to Sydney

Flight time from Perth to Sydney is around 4 hours.  The two cities are just over 2000 miles apart so the journey is rather like flying from the UK to Lanzarote.  Add to that that he two places are 3 hours apart in terms of time zones and 7 clock hours pass just getting from A to B.

This was possibly the most hassle-free flight ever.  All the check-in was fully automated including the bag drop.  We were through security in no time.  The airport itself was spotless, modern and quiet.

The flight on Virgin Australia was excellent.  We watched a couple of films.  Borg McEnroe which was most enlightening - would not want to have had anything to do with Bjorn Borg – E never imagined that when she was a teenager!  The film must have been largely based on truth as Borg’s son – an up and coming tennis star himself and also an actor – was in it, playing Borg as a younger person.

We also watched Goodbye Christopher Robin which was lovely, but made us realise that AA Milne was a rather mercurial character, his wife Daphne wasn’t a particularly nice person and that being CR himself wasn’t always a bundle of laughs.

By the end of the day we were in Sydney and back on the waterfront again after an absence of almost two years.

Lots of choice in Starbuck's

Miss Maud's and Our Hotel in Perth

Inside Miss Maud's

Hotel Pensione Perth

Monday 29 January: Along the riverside and in town

Once we got back from King's Park we went down to the riverside and then on into town on the way back to our hotel.

Expensive living on the Swan River.  AUS $1 = 58p

It would seem that we all have a different idea as to what name might be appropriate for a bar

No, not real