02.18.2024 Sydney, Australia Day 2/2

Another beautiful day in Sydney with a sunny high of 85.
Our ship moved last night from Circular Quay to White Bay. Viking offers a water shuttle from White Bay to King Street Wharf which runs continuously. Back on board is 5:00 pm to sail at 6:00.
We were back on the hop on hop off bus to get off at the Botanical Gardens.

The Royal Botanic Garden, is a heritage-listed major 30-hectare botanical garden, event venue and public recreation area located at Farm Cove on the eastern fringe of the Sydney.
There are stranded stones at the edge of the Botanic Gardens, on a hill sloping down from the Cahill Expressway, the area known as the Tarpeian Way. Here bits and pieces of city buildings and structures lie half-buried in the grass.
A beautiful park to walk through.

Following that we did a backstage tour of the Sydney Opera House. Very interesting.
Per their web page: The Sydney Opera House is the symbol of modern Australia. A World Heritage-listed masterpiece of “human creative genius,” it exists because a few brave people dared to think differently.
From conception to completion, the building tested the limits of engineering, construction and design. When the Opera House opened its doors in 1973, changing the image of Australia, a new era of cultural discovery and community engagement began.
In total, there are 1,056,006 tiles on the roof. They form a chevron pattern.
There are varying sizes of theaters. We did not get to go to the Great Concert Hall that is in all the brochures as Cartier has rented it for a private event tonight.

We walked along the quay and had a late lunch. It was hot. 91 degrees so we grabbed an Uber and returned to the ship.
Following sail away where we sailed under the Harbor Bridge one last time.

We had dinner just the two of us but met a lovely couple sitting next to us who lived in Fargo for 10 years. Ann and Robert. Small world.Read more