Friday, November 5, 2010

Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge


I had the opportunity to listen to a classical concert in the Sydney Opera House after a tour of the building. Got a nice box seat and enjoyed Sydney Symphony Orchestra playing Saint-Saëns' Piano Concert No. 5 and Rimsky-Korsakov's 'Sheherazade'. Beautiful, wild, soft and sensual all at the same time!



In the mean while a cruise ship from Rotterdam had arrived in the harbour. I, however, wanted to get up into the heights again and thus booked a bridge climb. The top of the bridge is 134 meters above the river and it wasn't too scary in spite of walking on steep metal ladders and narrow pillars because we were attached to a safety line. The view was fantastic. However the most impressive experience is to learn about and see close by how 1600 workes have built this bridge without any safety belts or nets to catch them if they fell down. 'Only' 16 men were killed building the bridge which is not a lot when you think of the dangerous conditions they worked under. Every single of the 6 billion bolts had to be heated up and hammered in by hand - out there on the beams!





Yes, it's me first row second from right.



I have seen enough bridge and opera house for now and I am not equipped for cold and rain - which by the way is very unusual for Sydney this time of the year - so tomorrow I fly up to hot, hot Alice Springs to spend 10 days in the Outback. I am going to do a 5-day 4WD tour to Uluru/Ayers Rock and other natural wonders. I garantee the next blog will be more colorful!

2 comments:

  1. Enjoy all the shooting stars in the night -you'll see heaps.

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  2. Great pics again! You will love the red desert and the facinating Urulu. Have the time of your life in this harsh but striking nature!

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