Day 9 (September 18, 2015)   Sydney Harbour

Before   

   This entire day is for exploring the Bay of Sydney: we’ve got a tour to visit the Opera House building and we’ll take the ferry to Manly to have three of the highlights:

 - Enjoying the Bay views from the sea in the ferry trip to Manly
 - Living the beach atmosphere in Manly
 - Enjoying the Bay views by night in the ferry trip back to Sydney.

Sydney area map

   The spots marked at map are:

 0- The Bayswater Sydney
 1- The Rocks, Bay Bridge and Opera House
 2- Manly
 3- Central Station

After

   When we leave the train at Circular Quay station some minutes past 10 AM we get our first views of Sydney Harbour, with the bridge and the Opera House, from this platform, as the train is running one level up of the ground here..

Circular Quay train stationSydney Harbour from Circular Quay train station
















   Our Opera House tour is at 11:30 AM, so we address to the bridge as we have spare time until that time. We can enjoy the views from the bridge.

Harbour BridgeHarbour Bridge















Opera House view from Harbour Bridge

  Then we explore the picturesque The Rocks neighborhood until the tour time comes, when we walk along all the ferry quays to reach the other side. There is a lot of live in this area.

View of Sydney Harbour
Circular QuayCircular Quay
















   We check in for the tour at the ticket box and follow their indications to the door they’ve marked as the meeting point.

Reaching Opera HouseSydney from the Opera House
















   Our guide leads us through the dependencies of the building and we can see three theaters, although in two of them photos are not allowed because the stage is set. Opera House is an amazing building inside too.

Sydney Opera House tourSydney Opera House tour















Sydney Opera House tourSydney Opera House tour

















   When we’re done from this one hour’s tour we want to enjoy the outside part of the building but, as we’re at lunch time now, we go back to The Rocks to get our meal in a place we saw before there: soup, roast beef and falafel by 29$.

The RocksThe Rocks
















   Then we can be back at Opera House to explore the building outside and, just at the last part of it, we find Kevin Smith filming something there.

Opera HouseOpera House















Opera HouseKevin Smith y Jason Mewes by Opera House

















   We make some time as the next in our plan is taking the ferry to Manly, exploring the place and taking the ferry back at dusk. This way, we’ll have the views of the harbour from the sea at daylight and by night as well. We board the ferry at 3 PM: 15.20$ each return ticket.

Ferry leaving Circular QuayOpera House view from the ferry
















   The poop is full of people looking for the best picture of the Sydney Harbour, just like us.

Sydney Harbour

   It’s a 30 minutes of a beautiful trip until reaching Manly quay, which is a lot more like a market inside. We take a coffee at the beginning of Corso Street, the main avenue, which links two beaches. We have no rushes and explore the souvenir stores and the street.

Manly's quay
Corso Street in ManlyCorso Street in Manly
















  At the end of Corso Street we reach Manly Beach, bordered by a promenade with tall fir trees. We go to the right to get the Cabage tree coastal walk, following the indications at the map I’ve got from the tourist information office.

Manly Beach
Manly BeachEsculptures at Cabage Tree coastal walk
















   This walk follows the coat line and we can see surfers playing with the waves at our left and funny metal sculptures about the sea life in the rocks at our right. When we leave the coast it is getting dark and we try to find a shortcut. Just when some drops are falling from the sky, a surfer changing clothes in his car hears us speaking Spanish between us and identifies as Gonzalo, from Madrid. He is living in Manly for 13 years now and offers us to take us to the quay. We can see how happy he is living here.

Cabage Tree coastal walk in ManlySurfer in Manly
















   We reach the quay just on time to take the 6 PM ferry, but don’t go out to the prow until the very moment we have Sydney Harbour in front of us as the wind and rain make the worst conditions to be outside.

Sydney Harbour by night
Vista nocturna de la Ópera House

   We take beautiful pictures of the city lights and take the train back to the hotel. We’ll only leave it for some dinner in the same sushi place than yesterday by 29$.

Circular Quay by night