Sydney

Next 48 hour stopover.....Sydney

The nice people at British Airways gave us an upgrade on the overnight 8 hour flight.  Even so, by the time we arrived and adjusted our watches forwards another 3 hours my body clock was totally confused.  We dropped our suitcases at our hotel and headed off to Circular Quay for the obligatory photos of Sydney  Harbour bridge and the Opera House.  We visited the craft market at The Rocks and I immediately stepped in front of Yoko Ono, no less.  Her retrospective, "War is Over", was showing around the corner, and, like me, she was casually browsing the market stalls just like any other tourist.

Chinese New Year was also being celebrated in Sydney.  We watched in the evening as the roads were closed and a parade snaked through the streets of Chinatown followed by fireworks. Lighting displays were projected onto many of the tall buildings.

Trains, boats and ....  The opera.

Next day we purchased a MyFerry day pass at darling Harbour for 23AUD, giving good value 24 hour unlimited use on the ferries, trains and buses. The most popular trip is by ferry to Manly, although we had done this before on our last visit here in 2005. Instead we took the ferry to Circular Key, and then up the Parramatta river to Parramatta. There is a heritage trail here that was not particularly exciting, although the river trip itself, taking the best part of 2 hours, was enjoyable. We caught the train back to Circular Key and then the fast catamaran to Watsons Bay. It would have been nice to have had more time here.

In the evening we enjoyed Carmen at the Opera  House with the Australian Opera Company. It was a superb production, although I confess I had great difficulty persuading my body it was not time to sleep. Just as well we were in the back row, nobody noticed Anni's prods when I started to snore!