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Sydney, Australia
33° 53' S 151° 12' E
Jan 13, 2004 02:55
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Much to do in Sydney

Text written in: English

We were out fairly early today around 9am, we went and had breakfatst at this spot we saw that had a $4 breakfast special. We stayed there and used the internet for awhile. It was $2 for unlimited time on the net. I couldn't use mine for too long because there were cockroaches everywhere and it was getting too disgusting.

We had to be down at the harbour by 11:30 because we were taking a harbour jet cruise. It's a speed boat that goes out in the harbour and goes 80km per hour. It does 270 degree spins and stops and is incredibly fun. Patrick and I had read the brochure so we knew that you get pretty wet on this cruise. We wore our bathing suits and brought a change of clothes. It was everything and more than we thought it would be. We sat in the back of the boat where you get the wettest. At one point the driver did a 270 degree spin with a stop and if felt like this huge wave of water just hovered above us before is soaked us. We were a couple of drowned rats. Everyone was laughing and we got a picture of the two of us just after it happened.

The ride was great!

After the ride we got changed and went and had lunch. We walked around a little then went and got the monorail and rode it for a bit. We got off the monorail by the Sydney Opera House. We walked to it and signed up for the tour. We had an older woman - probably mid 50s to early 60s. She was a little well to do and full of herself, but she was very knowledgeable about the Opera House.

The building itself is quite impressive from the outside. Despite all of the pictures that show a glowing white roof, the roof itself is not white. It is covered in tiles that are two shades of cream - one a light cream and the other a darker cream with a pinky-orange undertone. When the light shines on it, the UV is what makes it look so white. If the tiles were really white the roof would shine so bright that you wouldn't be able to look at it.

The different halls were impressive as well... not as visually stunning as the roof, but they were very innovative in their designs. The seats in each of the halls are made out of a white beech and heavy cloth. The seats have been designed so that even when the auditorium is empty, when the band/cast practices the seats absorb the sound in much the same way as an actual audience would. There's no significant distortion in sound when it's empty.

After the tour we tried to get tickets to a show - The Complete Works of William Shakespeare done in 97 minutes by a 3 man show. It's supposed to be really funny - we couldn't get tickets. Boo!

After the tour we went down and caught the ferry to Manly Beach. It was just like rush hour in Toronto getting on that ferry... perhaps worse. People were pushing and shoving and one old woman in front of me was in such a rush that she had shoved past Patrick and then fell getting on the ferry. I'm surprised she wasn't trampled.

We got to Manly and walked to the beach, it was late in the day so it was cooling off. There weren't many people left at the beach, but you could tell it had been a busy day there because there was garbage strewn everywhere. Despite the weather and time of day, it was great to be there because I finally got to see surfers... I've never been anywhere (to my recollection) that I had actually seen anyone surfing before. It was pretty cool. I wish I had gotten a chance to try it.

We didn't stay long at Manly... we took the ferry back to the mainland and went back to our room. That evening we went to the movies. We saw Love Actually. i didn't like it. In fact, I was pretty disappointed in it. The strange thing was that everyone around us seemed to think it was really funny and very good. I thought it was crap and tried to carry too many story lines.

Patrick observed that at the movie in Alice Springs - Somthings Got to Give, that the two of us thought it was really funny and were practically falling out of our chairs in some spots, while the people around us didn't seem to find it funny at all. And, that it was the complete opposite in Love Actually. He thinks that because the Somthings... is American and Love... is British that it should the slight differences in our cultures. I think he's on to something.

After the movie it was home to bed - we had The Hunter tour the next day.