Sydney day 2

Wednesday 7^th of March

It is difficult to believe that we wake up today and see once again the skyline of Sydney! We have so much more to see and we know we will not see it all on this visit.

Today we took one of the harbour ferries over to Manley. It is a lovely old type seaside place and I am told that the locals here prefer the surfing and beach to Bondai. There is an air of permanence to the place which looking at the photographs of it in yesteryear that you see in various places, has not changed very much at all apart from the main street becoming pedestrianized. This would be a nice place to spend a holiday.

Queen Mary 2 is harboured here too! What a magnificent looking ship; makes our look very small but we love “Black Watch” for its homeliness and friendly personaliy.

Tonight was the absolute fitting climax to the dream of being here; we went to the Opera! A stunning and magnificent performance of Turandot. I have never ever heard such powerful but beautiful singing from an opera chorus and the leads were just brilliant. The costumes’ were also something to see and wonder at their magnificence. Where we sat we could see also into the orchestra pit; a limited view but the playing was magnificent. Full sound and the artistes on stage were able to do their part having this wonderfully sounding orchestra beneath them but being able to act and sing without fear of being overwhelmed. What a building too. This international icon of opera has acoustics that are perfect.

There is a downside to this building and that is that it is not very disability friendly. It wasn’t built as such and the efforts to improve it have not been that successful. Only 2 places available for comfort access in the whole auditorium and they try to squeeze in two wheelchairs in each place.

A wonderful night and not spoiled any by the weather that broke into torrential rain which meant we had a half hours walk home to “Black Watch” in this downpour which soaked us to the skin and beyond. When we got home board it was a nice shower change of clothes and up to supper club for some food and drink.

Tomorrow we set sail for the South Sea Island in the Pacific.