The Wombat Tour Part 1

Had to get up early this morning with the alarm set for 5:30 as we were booked to go on the Behind the Scenes tour of the Opera House at 7am. This was a great tour with a very enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide who took us along with six Americans around the Opera House seeing all six concert halls from all angles followed by an excellent breakfast, a really worthwhile and memorable trip also learning about the quite chequered history of the Opera House during its design and development.
The tour finished around 9:45 and we had arranged to meet Sarah and two of her friends from England, Phil and Beverley, at 10 for the legendary Wombat tour that Sarah does for all her visitors. This is a tour around the city principally by the water that Sydney has an awful lot of, certainly more than we had realised before we got here. We saw some fantastic views across the harbour in all sorts of directions and some marvellous beaches including the iconic Bondi beach where there was plenty of surfing going on today as the weather has been lovely with temperatures in the mid twenties. Stopped for lunch at Watson’s Bay and had lunch at the library which was a new place for Sarah but unbeknown to Sarah didn’t have a drinks licence!
During lunch I contacted the travel company with whom we have a tour booked with to the Blue Mountains tomorrow only to be told that it has been cancelled due to the bush fires into the north of the city. From there on in we have heard many warnings about tomorrow when catastrophic conditions are expected with temperatures set to rise to potentially 37 degrees and the bush fire to intensify. Already as the day has worn on we have noticed visibility decreasing due to the fires.
We got back to our hotel around 5:30 and were pleased to see Cat who was waiting for us in reception. We had a quick shower and then joined her in the bar prior to dinner with Sarah, Phil and Beverley at Cafe Sydney. Sarah had booked an outside table with superb views towards the bridge and over the harbour. We had a great meal despite the temperature dropping and the wind getting stronger.
After dinner wandered along towards the Opera House for drinks in the Opera Bar and were impressed to see that poppies were being projected on to the Opera House in recognition of Remembrance Day. All in all an excellent day.Read more