We started the day with an omelette, then headed down to Circular Quay as our cruise ship had arrived to finish off its previous cruise. We were very excited to see the massive ship in situ and were not disappointed.

Next stop was to buy tickets and board the small ferry to Manly, which is a lovely suburb of Sydney. The ferry took 30mins and offered fantastic views during the journey. Once in Manly we headed to the beach where we took a stroll along the promenade then along the beach. We were about to head into the sea for a paddle until an announcement was made that there were Bluebell Jellyfish in the water and that they would sting! As we strolled along the water's edge we saw loads of them. As we finished off our walk we heard what sounded like an air raid siren, SHARK!!! Everyone was told to get out of the water as one had been spotted looking for someone to bite. We all stood around hoping to spot it but we soon got hungry and left.

Lunch was at a boutique fish n’ chips bistro and consisted of haki, king prawns, calamari, oysters and chips. It was very nice, but we couldn’t manage it all.

After exploring Manly a little more we caught the return ferry back to Circular Quay, and back to the hotel to get ready for our pre theatre dinner.

Dinner was in Aria, which has 2 hats and is Australia’s 7th best restaurant (we have been to number 1 and 7 now, where are 2-6?!). It was really good and the views were awesome.

After a quick glass of bubbly in the Opera house bar we headed to our seats in the theatre. We were about to see Puccini’s La Boheme and were very excited (well Mandy was excited and Andrew was just sleepy!). The opera was in Italian but with surtitles in English. During the first act it was quite difficult to keep up with the performance and read at the same time, but this got a lot easier during the remaining 3 acts.

We both really enjoyed La Boheme and the experience of being at the Opera in Sydney Opera house, it was quite something.

We had a cocktail in the open air Opera house bar on the front then headed to another bar for a beer. During our relaxing drink on the terrace, a rather drunk guy got thrown out and proceeded to spit at the bouncer and then at a couple of young ladies, he looked like he was about to attempt the same at our table but Mandy threw a pint over him and he soon disappeared and we got all our drinks for free due to the inconvenience! Interesting end to such a lovely evening!