October 28, 2014 - Mrs. Macquarie's Chair, Opera House, Rock, Harbor Dinner Cruise

Daily itinerary were:

• Mrs MacQuarier's Chair for photograph (Sydney Harbor Bridge and Opera House as backdrops)
• St. Mary's Cathedral Church
• Archibald Fountain in Hyde Park
• Sydney Opera House
• Lunch at Sydney Seafood Market
• Queen Victoria Building (QVB)
• Shopped in the Rock
• Harbor Dinner Cruise
• Walked across Sydney Harbor Bridge
• Night photograph near Port Jackson and the Captain Henry Waterhouse Reserve

The Sydney Harbor Bridge and Opera House are the most impressive attractions in Sydney, therefore it was our first stop of the Sydney tour to have photos with these attractions.  We actually came to the same spot where some of us came the night before.  Since this was daytime with much better visibility and lighting, we took many photos with beautiful Sydney Harbor Bridge and Opera House as backdrops.

Next, we visited the St Mary's Cathedral Church along with the Archibald Fountain in Hyde Park. From there, one can see the Sydney Tower along with many downtown buildings.

Sydney Opera House is a must seen attraction.  It has a rigid schedule with appointment only, therefore we had to be there on time to meet our Opera House guide to visit this wonderful world-known establishment.  Our guide detailed the construction challenges of building such an unique structure.  It features a modern expressionist design with a series of large precast concrete "shells" to form the roofs of this structure.  It has 2 large spaces of Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre.  There is no way for visitors to choose which one to visit, however, we were lucky to be able to see the larger one - Concert Hall. Inside the Concert Hall, it has 10,000 pipes which need 20 people to control them.  It also has audio reflection dishes on top of the stage to enhance the audio effects. It has only 2679 seats. We were even luckier with the opportunity of witness Sydney Symphony Orchestra practicing while we were visiting.

Photos are allowed outside of the Concert Hall. Of course we wouldn't give up this picturesque opportunity and took many pictures.

Per Emma's recommendation, we went to the Sydney Seafood Market for lunch.  It was the freshest seafood we ever had.  We had Rock Lobsters, Abalones, Crabs, Tiger Prawns, Oysters, Sashimi, and Calamari.  They were all very fresh and tasteful, however it also shocked us when we got the bill.  Some of us had $145 US per couple lunch and it marked as the most expensive lunch we ever had.

Then, Emma took us to do some shopping in Sydney CBD.  The particular shopping center we visited was Queen Victoria Building (QVB).  QVB was built in 1890s and restored in 1986, and is the most popular and prestigious shopping center in Sydney.  They have 2 mechanical clocks, each one featuring dioramas and moving figures from the history.  The Royal Clock activates on hour and displays 6 scenes of English royalty; and the Great Australian Clock includes 33 scenes from Australian history.

Then we did some more shopping in The Rock which is an urban locality for shopping and tourism. The Lanolin Cream and UGG shoes were the popular items for our group.  Some of us skipped the shopping and ventured out to see the surround area including the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.

Next, we went to a harbor cruise dinner on Magistic Cruises.  It sailed out passing the Opera House and then back.  It provided a good opportunity to take more photos of Opera House from different angles.  However, the service and dinner were lousy.  The services were so bad, we had to gang up on one of the bartender's helper and complained to their manager.  As a matter of fact, after we came back, I did registered a terrible rating on TripAdvisor.com for their bad service and food.

After the cruise dinner, Emma took us to walk across the Sydney Harbor Bridge.  We went to Port Jackson and the Captain Henry Waterhouse Reserve in Kirribilli (across Harbor from the Luna Amusing Park) to take some more night photos of the Sydney Harbor Bridge and surrounding areas.

The Sydney Harbor Bridge walk and the visit of 2 additional photo spots were additional to our itinerary and we had to pay another $26 US per person for these attractions.