First step, of course, was getting some good coffee.
Then we caught an Uber over to the opera house. We had a bad experience with our taxi driver from the airport. I'm pretty sure he was drunk, or, at best, hungover, so we used Ubers for the rest of our time in Sydney. We were headed to the opera house for a Junior Adventure tour. Australian schools were also on break, so the opera house was offering special, kid focused tours. Vivian was the main tour participant, so she got one of their kid vests. She had mixed feelings about it.
The rest of us were just excited to be able to tag along.
The junior tour was much shorter than the official tour, which was for the best, since I don't think our kiddos would have tolerated the full two hour tour. We still got to see all the performance spaces though. I liked the concert hall and the opera/ballet hall.
The best part of the tour, in my opinion, was being able to walk inside the famous arches and see the view from the inside out.
There are balconies along the outside where you can stand and look out at the harbor.
Vivian's favorite part was when they let the kids loose on the costumes and props. She put together quite the outfit for herself.
Elena didn't want to dress up, but she found a prop to play with.
After the tour, Vivian wanted to check out an area they had set up about newspapers. It was in conjunction with a play for kids that was running. Kids could write their own news stories and try out old typewriters. Vivian was in her element.
When we finally finished with the opera house, we tried to get a family picture outside, but the sun didn't really cooperate with us. I still like the smiles though :-)
Our next adventure was exploring the Royal Botanic Gardens which start right near the opera house and loop around the bay. In one direction, you look back out at the harbor,
and in the other direction, you look towards the city.
It's a beautiful park, and the weather was perfect, so we spent a leisurely afternoon there.
We eventually got hungry and grabbed some lunch at the cafe. It was so nice to be able to eat outside.
After lunch, we found a cool pond.
Vivian had seen lots of people just sitting on the grass in the shade, and she really wanted to do that too, so we let her pick a spot to relax.
Eventually, we made it all the way around to the other side of the harbor, and a nice woman offered to take a family picture for us.
Elena was fading by that point, so we got an Uber back to the apartment for a little rest before our final adventure of the day, a sunset cruise on a tall ship!
It was a dinner cruise, and I had found a great deal online that included an unlimited drinks package, but the best part was the sunset. It was incredible. It started out pretty.
But as we sailed farther out, and the sun was setting behind the bridge and the opera house, it became absolutely stunning.
After that spectacular show, we relaxed and enjoyed sailing around. Vivian got a chance to help out with the ropes.
Eventually, we came back to the harbor and got to see everything lit up.
Then we made our way back to the apartment for another well earned night's sleep.
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