A Day with Trish and a Night at the Opera

Trish and Tom at Palm Beach

Trish and yours truly with Palm Beach in the background.

Thursday, Trish our new friend from the New Zealand air cruise, picked us up at the hotel and showed as some areas of Greater Sydney that we would never have been able to see otherwise.  Because of Sydney's varied coastline and innumerable coves and bays there is beach after beach, each with its own character and personality.  She drove us through Neutral Bay and Mosman Bay, Seaforth, Balmoral, Collaroy, Dee Why, Broken Bay, Newport, The Spit--I'm sure I don't have these suburbs in the right order--but it was all interesting and she supplemented the sights with a running commentary about each area and its points of interest.  Our destination was the Northern suburb of Palm Beach which is fairly hallowed ground where stars like Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman hang out.   Along the way we saw marinas dotted with cruisers and yachts, a few golf courses, and of course lots of shopping and restaurants for all tastes.  I noticed that the trees were full of beautiful white cockatoos.  Trish said that had become a bit of a nuisance because there are so many of them--a bit like our pigeons or squirrels I guess.   At Palm Beach we walked around a bit where these pictures were taken and then had a lovely lunch at Barrenjoey's, a favorite haunt of Trish's.  

All day it had threatened rain, but again we were so lucky and there was no rain until we started the drive home.  I wish I had more good pictures of these beautiful areas of Sydney.

Lovely prawns for lunch.


That evening we had tickets for a performance of the Australian Ballet at the Opera House.  I had made the reservations months ago so that we could experience the Opera House.  Trish got us back to the hotel through rush hour traffic and in the rain and we said our goodbyes so that we could make the performance on time.  Trish and I will keep in touch I know.  She has a great sense of humor and style and I think we could talk forever.  Good on you, Trish and thanks for a lovely day!

Back at the hotel, we changed and made for the Opera House.  I was nervous about negotiating our way through the maze of entrances and stairs but it was surprisingly easy and we had time for a glass of wine and some excellent people watching before the performance.  We loved the performance--three different short ballets, called Icons and represented the best of Australian ballet.  But mainly it was just being inside the beautiful Sydney Opera House.

Inside the Opera House overlooking Sydney Harbor

Ditto