Our first morning in Sydney!!

This morning we didn't have to get up very early so that was nice. Mirne knocked at Lisanne's door at 8:30 to have a swim in the ocean pool but Lisanne had already showered, so the three of us went to the beach where only Mirne jumped into the rock pool. Very nice views on the ocean and luckily the sun was shining again, after a day of rain. New South Wales has many beautiful rock pools along the coast line, and we are fortunate enough to be right next to the beach, with a beautiful rock pool.

At a quarter past ten Mirne and Lisanne took the bus to Manly, where we took the ferry to Sydney harbour. Very rough sea and, because we were sitting outside, we became wet. But we had fantastic views of Sydney and especially of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

In the harbour we bought tickets for the hop on hop off bus and had an one and half hour tour through Sydney. We went to Kings Cross, saw the El Alamein Fountain, Woolioomooloo Bay, the Botanical Gardens, State Library, Hyde Park, Central Station, various museums, Chinatown, Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

When we came back Craig was about to arrive (he stayed with Harvey because a man came to look at our cab airco) and we had lunch with the Bridge and the Opera House in front of us. Very spectacular.

After that Lisanne and Mirne went for a guided tour in the Opera House. Very interesting to see how it was designed by Danish designer, Jorn Utzon. In 1956 a competition was announced and design number (Utzon's) 218 won. In 1959 they started building with a budget of AU$ 7 million, to be completed within three years, but in the end it cost AU$ 102 million and took 14 years! Utzon withdrew from the project in 1966, never to return and see the project finished.

The opera house has more than a million tiles on the roof. The tiles are baked twice with a special coating, so when it rains they wash themselves and on cleaning ever needs to be done! Many fantastic details (he was a perfectionist and thought of everything) beautiful theatres and nice views from everywhere because of all the glass. Really spectacular.

After that we walked to the Harbour Bridge and then it was back to Manly with the fast ferry. It started raining again. We took the bus to the campground, changed, took food while Frans was arriving to take us to his apartment again. Craig barbecued on the balcony and we had some salads with it. After a nice and 'gezellig' dinner we took the car and went back. Frans is very kindly letting us have the car tomorrow, so we can explore a bit further afield.

We had a very nice day with a temperature of 21 degrees.