Australia Day 12 - Blue Mountains and Sydney Opera House

A bus ride a short way out of the city took us to Featherdale Wildlife Park just after breakfast.  This was a great experience.  Up until now we’d seen a few native Australian animals in their own habitat but didn’t have too many great pictures.  Although these animals were not in the wild, we do have plenty of pictures of native Australian animals!  There were multiple species of Kookaburra in addition to a myriad of other birds, including the Southern Cassowary, Spoonbill, Brolga, Magpies, and too many more to name.  We were treated to a feeding session with a saltwater crocodile (a dead chicken on a stick, anything more would have been way too exciting!).  We fed the kangaroos and emus, got our picture with a koala, tried to get a picture of a Tasmanian Devil while he was standing still (doesn’t happen often), watched the dingoes sleeping (grateful our babies weren’t there!),  and really had a great time! 

We boarded the bus again and followed the route of the earliest explorers to cross the Blue Mountains to find the Three Sisters monument.  We ate a nice home-style lunch at a little revolving restaurant which offered a spectacular view of the Three Sisters.  When we headed out to take pictures of the rock structure, the rain started!  Oh well, we have plenty of pictures of us in our rain jackets, they were a much needed part of our wardrobe for this trip.  When we went to the next Three Sister’s lookout, Echo Point, the sun started to peek through the clouds a little bit allowing some spectacular views of the Blue Mountains, which look blue because of the evaporating eucalyptus oil coming off the dominate tree in the area. 

We had close to a 2 hour drive back to the hotel so Frank and I got our tour evaluations done, some reading accomplished, and looked out the window a good bit as well.  Coming back into the city we saw several of the venues used for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.  Upon arriving back at the hotel we did a quick change and headed out again for our night at the opera!  The concierge at the hotel recommended a great restaurant for us and I enjoyed the pumpkin ravioli and Frank dined on the Mea and Guinness pie.   From there it was about a 10 minute walk to the opera house (not yet raining but threatening).  Our seats were great and the venue was amazing.  I don’t think there is a bad seat in that house.   Following the Act I there was a 30 minute intermission where Frank and I watched the rain pouring off the opera house roof.  It was beautiful but made us question the romantic walk home we’d planned.  After Act II the rain had subsided a little and we were able to walk outside and get a nice night view of the Harbour Bridge and the city.  By the end, the rain was coming down pretty steady though, so we ended up in a cab on the way home and began to pack up some of our things for our departure tomorrow.  The opera was awesome and I am so glad we seized the opportunity to go!