So today was a slightly more relaxed day as we stayed around our locality to explore that a little further! We started the day as we have previously with a walk to the Quay to buy breakfast, which today happened to be the biggest and yummiest bacon and egg roll. I do feel that breakfast rolls are totally underestimated! So we sat and ate our breakfast rolls over looking the harbour and then headed to the Opera House for more photo opportunities but this time from the inside too!! On arrival at the Opera House we headed up many stairs, feeling a little bit like Rocky but only a little slower (if only I had my running clothes on, I might have been able to run them!) and went and booked ourselves on the tour. The tour was really good and really gave you an insight into the history and feel of the Opera House (my inner geekiness is really going to come out so I apologise now and also feel sorry for my next class as they are going to be bombarded with useless information about Sydney and the Opera House)! So we found out that the Opera House was built after an international competition was launched to design a suitable Opera House for Sydney. The winning design was number 218 out of approximately 220 as it was like no other. This design by Jorn Utzon was initially put on the chuck out pile until a new judge arrived and put it back into the possible pile. The building took over 15 years to build and is like no other. There are 10 shells which are divided in 4 areas and each of the tiles on the roof are self cleaning. There are no drain pipes as the gullies down the side of the building act as natural drainage. Jorn Utzon has never visited the finished building as he had a falling out with the other people involved and so didn't actually finish the build! I could go on and tell you how all of the shells/sails are formed from one sphere but I will stop with my useless Sydney opera house facts and move on. So the tour was an hour long and we got to visit the concert hall and one of the smaller theatres too. We learnt all about the history and culture surrounding the building and got to take so many more photos of the Opera House itself. As you may be able to tell I really enjoyed the tour. After the tour had finished we headed to the Botanical gardens, stopping only briefly on the way to buy an ice cream as it would be rude not to on such a lovely sunny day! I opted for Snickers although it tasted more like Ferrero Roche! Anyway we headed to the Botanical Gardens with our ice creams to find the Bennelong Lawn to see the spot where Gem and Ads got engaged! It was a very lovely location with a perfect view of the bridge and Opera House - good choice Ads!! We then went to explore the Botanic Gardens further although we stopped for a little rest. Unfortunately this is where our tour of the gardens finished as mum inadvertently sat on a wet and muddy patch of grass which wasn't a very good look for her light coloured shorts so we headed back to the hostel so she could get changed. On arrival to the hostel and after a quick change we headed to the roof terrace to eat our lunch. After lunch we headed out to the market at The Rocks which was much bigger than I imagined. The market sold everything from emu oil to racing kangaroos and inspirational quotes to lots of different types of jewellery and indigenous crafts. We restrained from buying anything in the market and then headed off in search somewhere to eat our dinner! (I've just re-read this and I sound like I'm food obsessed - we really didn't spend all day eating I promise). On the way we popped into a couple of gift shops and then eventually found a little Italian restaurant where we had a yummy pizza (even though it's not Tuesday!). We then headed back to the hostel via the convenience store so we could wish everyone at home a happy Easter and get ready for our day tomorrow! I keep forgetting that it is actually Easter today as I haven't had an Easter egg and also everything here seems to be operating at normal if not just a little busier!! So Happy Easter everyone x