The Walking Tour around The Rocks was very interesting, though the guide didn't have a particularly attractive manner - he sounded a bit like Lloyd Grossman, which was disturbing and more than a little off putting. Aside from that, it was an interesting way to explore The Rocks and learn about the early history of Sydney and the development of The Rocks.

The Rocks started life as the camp for the convicts from the first ship. It was the rocky headland in the bay where the convicts were dumped, while the colonials and the military had the more pleasant gentle slopes in the Harbour area. It's full of little byways and alleys and many of the old buildings have been preserved thanks to efforts in the 60's and 70's in the face of the council wanting to tear it all down and erect ghastly concrete block apartments (now, does any of that sound familiar???). The guide had some quirky little stories to tell including one about Governor William Bligh (who can remember what he is famous for? answers on a postcard.....)

Tour was done by 7.30ish and we finished up on the Observatory after sunset, in time to see all the fruit bats or flying foxes coming out from the Botanical Gardens - they are absolutely enormous, I thought I was seeing things when the first one flew overhead. I can see why people would be scared of them, especially if you have only seen the small European bats.

Sunday was a day of rest - especially as the clocks went back - oh the joy of an extra hour in bed - and I will get 2 of those this year!! Dragged myself out of bed around lunchtime ish and went for a further explore in The Rocks, which wasn't quite as busy as it had been on Saturday, but managed to find a picture of Sydney, then went for a walk along Circular Quay to get a closer view of the Opera House and a better view of the Harbour Bridge.

Early start Monday, back to the wrong side of 7am for my City Highlights tour, which was really disappointing. We stopped at Mrs MacQuarie's chair (so named after the lady who used to sit there to wait for her husband to return from overseas) in part of the Botanical Gardens, which has a great view out over the Harbour to the Opera House and Bridge and Rocks area. Then we took an extended tour around the suburbs of central Sydney while our guide gave us an extensive dissertation on Sydney real estate and current prices - which given all the things we could have been viewing, I found a little pointless. We stopped at Gap Point, which are some nice cliffs with a view out over part of the Harbour, but I think mostly because they are a famous local suicide spot, rather than for any particular beauty reason! Our housing market tour continued until we ended up at Bondi beach, where foolishly I decided to go paddling - the Pacific was pretty cold, so there were some very brave surfers out there. Then to cap it all off, our tour guide informed us we weren't actually being dropped back at our hotels or even at the rally point, which is more than a little off I thought. Thankfully, the coach was going back to Circular Quay to pick up it's next set of passengers, so was able to stay on & get back to The Rocks okay.

Wandered over to the Opera House for my tour and got booked onto the 2.45pm tour, which was great. The tour is definitely worth it, it lasts about an hour and a half and though there are lots of steps (200 - count them!!) it's gives you a good history of the building and the issues they went through getting it built. I have to say, it's a lot bigger and more complex than I thought! What's sad about the whole story is that the original architect never saw his completed building - he was forced to resign after it became apparent that the original timescale and budget (3 years and about $16mn) was completely unrealistic (took 16 years and over $100mn). Regardless of what you actually think of the design of the building, (I do like it, despite the enormous amount of concrete in it) you cannot help but be impressed at sheer engineering and design brilliance that got it made. All the tiles on the sails are self cleaning, they are wonderfully designed and laid out to reflect the sky and the colours within it, the interior and exterior are separate buildings that only connect at certain points and there are 2 separate buildings (which I didn't know, I though it was one!) and the sails are achieved by using interlocking fans shapes which were poured and constructed in situ.

Had an early dinner, as another early start tomorrow to go to the Blue Mountains, hopefully this tour (and guide) will be better than todays!