Day 20 - Bridge Walks, Bondi Beach and Opera House....Oh My!

We had another nonstop day today. Activity number one was the "Bridge Walk", a guided tour literally up the Sydney Harbor Bridge. The concept was exhilarating for Steve and a bit scary for Lauren. You can see the scale of things from the ant like group of walkers in the first pic below.

However, the tour/torture (depending on your perspective), was actually extremely well run and felt incredibly safe. You can see in the photos, we were all garbed up with specialty suits, hats and glasses that were all secured to be sure nothing fell onto the roadway below.

Steve does have a history of wanting to climb assorted structures in the places we've visited and this was no exception. Extra points to Lauren for tagging along. Steve (the ex-rock-climber) was very impressed with harnesses and rigging and we were attached and safe throughout the whole almost 3-hour experience. Our guide, Nicola, was fantastic providing us with information about the bridge and other historical facts about Sydney along the way. Lauren especially loved her story about her pet kangaroo! It was a lot of fresh air though and over 400ft to the harbor below. But another great experience and some one-of-a-kind views.

After a quick lunch we were off again. We'd heard about the famous Coogee to Bondi Beach Walk and of course Bondi beach is one of Sydney's main attractions. We had limited time however and Uber'd into the very pretty Bronte Beach and walked to Bondi from there. The coastline is gorgeous with a rocky coastline interspersed with beautiful beaches. Bondi itself was filled with sunworshippers and surfers enjoying another beautiful day. Nice spot for a Gelato too.

We had a lovely dinner (Venison for Lauren and duck for Steve) one of our best so far, at the aptly named Aria restaurant before hopping next door to the Opera house....for Opera. We'd managed to get tickets to tonight's performance of Cinderella. The experience and the setting were amazing...confess neither of us loved the production though, imagine the Cinderella story told in operatic voice but with hardly any chorus numbers or memorable "tunes". Oh well.

One last nighttime view of the Sydney Harbor bridge and ready for another travel day tomorrow. Onward!

Due to popular demand our Fun Facts are returning!

Melbourne and Sydney Fun Fact: Not many people live in either city. As a result, we have seen very few dogs, children, elderly or infirm people in either city. We had been wondering about it for a while and finally our guide, Tom from our Bue Mountain tour, shed the light on it for us.

NZ and Australia Very Fun Fact: Almost everywhere we visit verbalizes or has posted signs with First Nation land acknowledgements. We have heard nothing but deep respect for the original peoples of these lands. It is a practice to we could do much better with in the USA.