Sydney Australia

After we disembarked the Oosterdam, we dropped our bags at the Sydney Boulevard Hotel and headed to Circular Quay to see Sydney's greatest attractions: The Harbor Bridge and the Opera House.

I personally find the Opera House visually fascinating, so I apologize in advance for the many photos of that building.

Circular Quay is a hubbub of tourist activity surrounded by lovely gardens.

Only the ships that are too tall to sail under the bridge are allowed to dock in the Quay. Others. like the Oosterdam sail under the bridge to dock at the nearby White Bay Cruise Terminal.

Intrepid sailors. Scott, Tim, and Rick.

We had to have a shot of us in front of the Opera House now that we have arrived in Sydney.

The Sydney Harbor Bridge seen from the gardens of the Circular Quay.

On the way to the Bridge, we had lunch at a street fair near the Quay.

Up we go beginning our climb that will ultimately take us to the top of the south pylon of the massive bridge.

Tim is standing on the pedestian walkway that crosses the bridge, just before we started our climb of the south pylon.

There had been many proposals to build a bridge spanning Sydney Harbor, some as early as 1815, but none got off the ground until after World War I when serious plans were made to build a bridge under the supervision of Dr. J. J. C. Bradfield, who was then the director of the New South Wales Department of Public Works.

Construction began in 1925, and by 1928 construction of the steel arches to span the harbor had begun. The Great Depression intervened, and at its peak, unemployment in New South Wales reached 32%, but work on the great bridge continued, giving it the nickname "The Iron Lung" because it continued to breathe life into the economy of NSW through the darkest times of the Depression.

Today, approximately 160,000 cars and truck cross the bridge each day, along with countless pedestrians and "bridge climbers."

This shot is atop the south pylon (197 steps!) showing the span of the bridge arch and the flags of the governments of Australia and New South Wales on top.

The bridge and harbor as a freighter glides underneath the bridge.

Bridge climbers pay up to $350 for a guided tour over the top of the bridge. The only problem is they are not allowed to take photos on their climb. What's up with that? Anyway, that's why we decided to climb the south pylon and take our own photos.

Sydney from the top of the south pylon.

And here we are, just to prove we did it.

Looking toward White Bay from atop the south pylon.

At the far end of the bridge near Sydney's version of Luna Park are these lovely condos on the water.

And now some shots of the famous Sydney Opera House from the Harbor Bridge. The light was too sweet to resist taking lots of photos. It is truly a magnificent structure.

I was surprised to learn that The Sydney Opera House is a project that was actually authorized by the government of NSW in 1958. It was designed by Danish architect Jorn Utzon. In the planning and construction phases, the Opera House was one of the first projects in the world to utilize computer-aided design and computer-assisted construction. Extensive testing in wind tunnels to predict the effects of wind on the buildings "shells" were also carried out.

The Opera House was originally scheduled for completion in 1963 at a cost of $7 million. It was finally opened in 1973 at a cost of $102 million. But hey, if you've ever built a house, you know how those cost overruns can creep in!

In 1965, Utzon resigned from the project over differences with the newly elected government of New South Wales, and its new Minister for Public Works, David Hughes. Hughes had long been a vocal critic of the project, mainly based on his distaste for the use of foreign design talent instead of local homegrown architects. Hughes was a particularly banal man with no interest in art, design, or architecture. He saw the controversy as an opportunity to "assert local home grown mediocrity over foreign genius." So Utzon left the project.

Three Australian architects were appointed to take over the project, and it was ultimately completed an opened by Queen Elizabeth on October 20, 1973. Clearly it has become what Utzon and the original planners envisioned--one of the renowned and most celebrated buildings in the world.

Circular Quay sits between the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House.

There are some lovely condo developments around the Quay.

Here we are approaching the Opera House from what most people consider the back side, but which is actually the entrance.

Though the shells appear uniformly white from a distance, they actually feature a subtle chevron pattern composed of 1,056,006 tiles in two colors: glossy white as well as matte cream.

A closer view of the pattern of the tiles covering the shells.

The shells seen from the terrace below the Opera House fronting the Harbor.

Truly an architectural and engineering marvel.

In the late 1990's, the Sydney Opera House Trust resumed communications with Jorn Utzon inviting him to participate in future renovations and modifications to the building. In 1999 he was appointed as a design consultant to the Trust. In 2004, a new interior space based on his designs was opened and named "The Utzon Room." Utzon died in 2008 and a state funeral was held in his honor in the Concert Hall. So it all turned out OK in the end.

This is a view from our room at the Sydney Boulevard Hotel. If you look to the right of the condo tower in this photo, you will see ships of the Australian Navy docked there. And to the left of the condo tower, the tiled shells of the Sydney Opera House.

I would give our first day in Sydney as solid "10."