The Opera House, Harbour Bridge, Taronga Zoo & Manly Beach

The Opera House by night
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Only a short 2hr 50mins flight from Christchurch and we landed in Sydney airport at 4.53pm local time. We had a 4 night stay in Sydney adn really enjoyed the city which is modern and cosmopolitan but yet a short ferry ride away you have lovely beaches. We stayed in the city centre, a good 40min walk to the harbour so we did plenty of walking. On the evening of the 6th we walked down to The Rocks area on the harbour where we got a 1st look at the iconic Sydney Opera House which was quite surreal. It looked brilliant lit up against the dark sky. We walked around Circular Quay and stood near The Opera House where we views the famous Harbour Bridge which too was colourfully lit. We spent ages looking at the 2 and taking lots of pics. The next day we caught the ferry over to Crosman and on the way we could see the high rise of the city with the opera House in the foreground and The Harbour Bridge stretching across to the right. We had a really enjoyable day spending 4.5hrs in Taronga Zoo. We wondered around the different sections and at the end of the day we must have seen 99% of the huge variety of animals there. We could have doen without learning that Oz has 11 out of 15 of the most venemous snakes in the world! Bloody hell didnt we do some walking on the 8th - nearly 11hrs! First of all we walked through the Royal Botanic Gardens where we couldnt believe it when we saw hundreds of bats hanginf from the trees and flying around. We hurried past and walked around Farm Cove to Mrs Macquaries point from where we had a great profile view of The Opera House sat in front of The Harbour Bridge. Next we walked round to the Opera House where we climbed the temple style steps to walk around the curved sail like structures and were surprised to see that the metallic looking roofs are actually made of concrete and set with white ceramic tiles. After, we walked the 25mins all the way across the Harbour Bridge to the wealthy Milsons Point. Its disapointing as due to the high fencing the views from the bridge are very restricted, however from Milsons Point the views back across the harbour were well worth the walk. After walking back across we visited Darling Harbour and Cockle Bay which is a really nice area of restaurants and bars. Here we watched a show by an Aboriginal man skillfully palying a didgeridoo. We next went up the Sydney Tower which has the highest observation deck in the Southern Hemisphere, and spent 1hr admiring the fabulous 360 degree views iver the city and harbour areas. On the morning of the 9th we enjoyed a guided tour inside the Opera House which was really interesting to learn about the complex design and pioneering methods used to construct the world famous structure. Whilst there we saw part of a traditional Aboriginal smoking ceremony marking the opening of their exhibition. After, we caught the ferry to Manly and on the 30 mins journey we got to see lots of the lovely bays as we cruised around Port Jackson. Manly seemed a really nice place as we walked through the small town to the beach which sits on the edge of the ocean. We lazed in the really hot sun for 3hrs and both enjoyed watching the many people who were surfing. Next we walked the 15mins to the more idyllic Shelly Beach. We only spent 30mins there but it was lovely looking out into Cabbage Tree Bay. Later back in the city we met Andys friend Austen who has lived here for the past 11 months. We had a really nice evening chatting and having a few drinks out side the Opera House, looking out over the bright lights of the city and the Harbour Bridge.