Sydney Opera House

Visiting Sydney Opera House was very memorable.  We visited it as part of a retirement trip that took us to Thailand, New Zealand and Australia - the ‘trip of a lifetime’

At the time of our visit to the Opera House my daughter was on a gap year and was employed as a cocktail waitress at the Opera Kitchen, situated just below the Opera House. She found the table on the terrace with the best view of the harbour for us and plied us with cocktails all afternoon. We left with a very rosy view of Sydney.

She was in Australia on a temporary work permit at the time and one of the conditions was that she had to take up agricultural work in order to extend the life of her visa.

This she did. She applied for and found work at a cattle ranch in a remote part of Queensland, 70 miles from the nearest settlement. The ranch was so vast that herding the cattle was sometimes accomplished by helicopter. One of the tasks undertaken on the ranch was to castrate young calves – a task in which she was invited to participate. Ever since we have teased her by threatening to inform boyfriends that they had better treat her properly otherwise she might use her experience of castrating bulls on them!

Facts about the Sydney Opera House

• 233 designs were submitted for the Opera House for an international design competition held in 1956

• The architect was Jørn Utzon from Denmark

• The original estimate for the cost of building it was $7 million. Eventually it cost $102 million – paid for largely by a State Lottery.

• It was expected to take four years to build it. It actually took 14 years. Work commenced in 1959 and ended in 1973. It was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 20th October, 1973.

• Paul Robeson was the first person to perform at Sydney Opera House. In 1960, he climbed the scaffolding and sang Ol' Man River to the construction workers as they ate lunch.

• The Opera House became a UNESCO's World Heritage site in 2007

• Seven A380s or eight Boeing 747s could sit wing to wing on the site.

• Arnold Schwarzenegger won his final Mr Olympia body building title in 1980 at the Opera House.

Top Attractions in Sydney

• Backstage tours of the Sydney Opera House

• Climbing the Harbour Bridge

• Lunch cruises and boat trips from Circular Quay

• The Rocks

• Royal Botanic Gardens

• Sydney Harbour

• The Sydney Tower Eye

• Sydney Beaches

• Taronga Zoo

• Kings Cross

• Queen Victoria Building

• Art Gallery of New South Wales