Sydney's "Chance To Impress"- Australia 2011- Day 2

Dear pipsqueaks,

What could possibly be worse than waking up to rain on the morning of ur "The Rocks" walking tour in a couple of hours n an evening harbour bridge climb?! Seriously a traveler's worse nightmare: the uncooperative weather. Oh wells, there're always indoor attractions to visit without the weather's random tantrums. It's ironic that I'm from rain-couver, yet, I'm still quite bothered by the gloomy clouds n their teardrops. Except, I'd mostly be driving my baby when I'm at home, so it's a little different for a fair comparison. Anyways, just a quick morning update. Gotta get ready for rain-dney. Catch up later tonight.

Thinking back, despite the rain, today was a very "tourist-productive" day. With my dinky new dinky 3-fold umbrella (that also broke down during the day- note: never to buy umbrellas in Malaysia), made it to the tube, hopped on, arrived at circular quay n randomly found "The Rocks" walking tour that I was actually suppose to find 25mins later. Oh wells, good to just shake off the weather for a bit indoors before heading out for the 1.5hr walk around the first area that non-indigenous people settled down. Usually, I'm not too attracted by any history ranging less than thousands of years, but I did give this a chance. It was actually quite funny to learn that 2 convicts ended up on australian dollar bills n crazy how the last convict to arrive in australia died in the 1930's. Also, I bet u didn't know that the sydney harbour back in the day was actually more like the east hastings in Vancouver- aka slums- n had definitely upgraded big time since. But yes, it was a rather interesting tour indeed with our traditional australian tourguide in her long red raincoat- kinda resembles an imaginary character. Nonetheless, worth braving the rain for.

(Me in my most tourist form)

Looking at my schedule n seeing how the next item isn't until 2:45pm, I thought to squeeze in the sydney opera house 1hr tour just before. But nah, all sold out. Oh wells, it was worth a try anyways n in the end, I booked the 5pm tour instead. Note to self: always book ahead if possible. But then again, that's also not a really good thing either because there won't be flexibility to change plans. Arg, why so complicated. Anyway, so I shopped around n bought more postcards until the clock striked 2:40pm. I quickly went to check in for the 2:45 majestic smartcruise that basically took us around the harbour for a different look of the place. Though, I can't figure out what was putting me in such a bad mood: the horrible weather or the group of china tour that just needs a lot more international curtesy training. But of course, I couldn't let them spoil my day. With tons of pictures, I retreated indoors to avoid the crowd. Finally docking, I decided to have a quick snack before going in for the tour. A nice plate of salad- honestly been in serious slack of greens these couple of weeks. Don't even mention the lack of exercise. I'm gonna need a lot of tuning when I get back home. So I enjoyed the harbour view while having my salad n writing postcards- half the time being taunted by seagulls swooshing past my head. It's all good, I was in a better mood seeing that the weather started to clear up a bit.

The Sydney Opera House tour was definitely worth the trip! We got to listen to the story of how this icon came to be n visit some of the available halls. Apparently, when they started the whole project, they estimated to take 3years n spend about 7million dollars. But when it came down to tallying, it took a whopping 16years n 102million dollars! Crazy! Sad story thought: during the process, the designer for some political reason, was forced to resign. He returned back to (Denmark) n never got the chance to see his finished masterpiece. Even so, his legacy stays even till this day- having the only room to be named after a person be his name, n rightly so. Side note: the studio once held an APEC meeting of 21 world leaders, n u can imagine the amount of security present for such an event. Surprising or not, when Ophra visited, she had the same amount of security as the APEC meeting. How Oprah, lol!

(inside the beautiful creation)

Having been talked into getting a sydney hop-on hop-off bus ticket, I thought I should probably start making use of it since I somehow managed to find the SOH station. Except, after a good 20minutes in the chilly wind, I decided it was probably better just to walk. I mean, it couldn't be that bad- one street all the way down n a right turn to reach the Sydney Tower. Surprisingly, I was able to pay a visit to the NSW state library (funny because this was probably the first time in a library for me since graduation, n I'm actually only there to take a few pictures). But hey, at least I went! It was quite an old-fashioned library with an open concept with walls of books under natural lighting. Quite relaxing actually. After that, as I was suppose to turn right for the Sydney Tower, something caught my eye on the left. It seems I've found St.Mary's Cathedral (dates back to 1868) on my way! There's just something captivating about cathedrals, especially the really ancient ones! Too bad no entries, but I did learn that there'd be christmas light show later on in the evening, so I planned for a return after the tower visit.

(natural lighting n open space? would love to study here!)

(can't remember just how i got here but a nice place to be found!)

Honestly though, I wasn't expecting much from Sydney Tower just because the weather was so crappy, but u'd never guess! The sun actually popped out for a peep! Even with just a slight sunlight beaming through the clouds, it made my day. Thanks mr.sunshine! Then, as I wanted, I made the trip back to the cathedral for the lights show, n was it the best choice ever! Finally, I feel some "true/real" christmas spirit. I could feel my steps get a little lighter, n maybe even possibly somewhat of a skip, back to my stay. I gotta say, not bad for a rainy day, if I say so myself.

(What an awesome timing to drop in, Mr.Sunshine?!)

(from here a few were sent...)

(Just what I needed to get xmas back in my life...)

Anyway, an early wake for a 7:10am pickup, I better get some shut eyes. Day two complete! Jessy out.