HARBOURING DOUBTS
The TH insists that this is a holiday not a moving recce, but just for the record, I think I could probably live in Melbourne. The architecture is beautiful, the natives are friendly, the toilet paper is scented and the whole place is a manageable size, seemingly without the danger of boredom. Oh and they have the most random signs I have ever seen, which is always a plus in a City.
And so to Sydney.
By the time we'd had lunch, booked a guided tour of the opera house and the TH had satisfied his boyish urge to ride on a very fast thunderjet boat for half an hour, we had only been in town for a couple of hours and had said goodbye to over 150 quid. This was clearly going to be unsustainable over 5 days....
The (26 dollar) opera house tour only consisted of the largest auditorium, the foyer and a recently redeveloped room used for functions, which looked like an incomplete loft conversion. There was apparently another tour which takes you backstage, so I went to the information desk to investigate.
'It's at 7am each day and costs 140 dollars.'
'You what?!!!'
They must be having a laugh! 140 dollars to see a few dressing rooms and an orchestral warm-up area, when I used to take backstage tours of the Festival Hall for one pound!! (That's 2.4015 dollars to you, Mr Information Desk.) Hell, you can probably buy a named seat for 140 dollars at the RFH! I think, under the circumstances, I can probably manage to live without seeing another dressing room.
I guess on the upside for the opera house, with the number of tours which were pouring in and out and crashing into each other just in the short time we were there, I think they'll probably have raised their 1 billion dollars for refurbishment by the end of next week.
By the time we got out of there, I was 'outraged of 10010', and kept muttering '140 dollars!' incredulously. And it was raining. A lot. On top of which I was starting to worry that since being in Sydney I'd not heard the phrase 'no worries'. Not even once...
We decided to splash out and buy an umbrella with the remains of the kids inheritance. Luckily for the kids, we've got no kids. We then spent the rest of the day wandering around a selection of very similar-looking bays in search of a place where we could afford a coffee.
Julian Joseph used to have an excellent phrase for times like this, 'I'm not feeling it'. And I definitely wasn't 'feeling' Sydney that day.
Last night to Rose Bay to visit friends of T's, who'd kindly invited us round for drinks. There things definitely started to look up. Shona and Chris are totally adorable people, and drinks turned into much gorgeous wine and Thai food whilst sitting on their picuresque candlelit balcony with their lovely friends, bats, and a huge spider for company. Much entertaining conversation above the torrential rain. Lots of fun.....
This morning the TH was that person being breathalised at 8am before being allowed to do the (189 dollar) Sydney Bridge climb. He was also that person who was failing his breathaliser test at 8am. His second test was borderline, so he was allowed to do the climb, which is just as well, or we wouldn't now have an excellent 60 dollar photograph of him doing a Mexican wave 134 metres above some outrageously expensive restaurants.
Not that this City is making us totally bankrupt or anything, but tomorrow we are hiring a car and driving somewhere else, because we figured it would be cheaper to eat that way. Or we might just eat the car.
This blog was brought to you by 'rooms online broadband' (24 dollars 99 cents).
And so to Sydney.
By the time we'd had lunch, booked a guided tour of the opera house and the TH had satisfied his boyish urge to ride on a very fast thunderjet boat for half an hour, we had only been in town for a couple of hours and had said goodbye to over 150 quid. This was clearly going to be unsustainable over 5 days....
The (26 dollar) opera house tour only consisted of the largest auditorium, the foyer and a recently redeveloped room used for functions, which looked like an incomplete loft conversion. There was apparently another tour which takes you backstage, so I went to the information desk to investigate.
'It's at 7am each day and costs 140 dollars.'
'You what?!!!'
They must be having a laugh! 140 dollars to see a few dressing rooms and an orchestral warm-up area, when I used to take backstage tours of the Festival Hall for one pound!! (That's 2.4015 dollars to you, Mr Information Desk.) Hell, you can probably buy a named seat for 140 dollars at the RFH! I think, under the circumstances, I can probably manage to live without seeing another dressing room.
I guess on the upside for the opera house, with the number of tours which were pouring in and out and crashing into each other just in the short time we were there, I think they'll probably have raised their 1 billion dollars for refurbishment by the end of next week.
By the time we got out of there, I was 'outraged of 10010', and kept muttering '140 dollars!' incredulously. And it was raining. A lot. On top of which I was starting to worry that since being in Sydney I'd not heard the phrase 'no worries'. Not even once...
We decided to splash out and buy an umbrella with the remains of the kids inheritance. Luckily for the kids, we've got no kids. We then spent the rest of the day wandering around a selection of very similar-looking bays in search of a place where we could afford a coffee.
Julian Joseph used to have an excellent phrase for times like this, 'I'm not feeling it'. And I definitely wasn't 'feeling' Sydney that day.
Last night to Rose Bay to visit friends of T's, who'd kindly invited us round for drinks. There things definitely started to look up. Shona and Chris are totally adorable people, and drinks turned into much gorgeous wine and Thai food whilst sitting on their picuresque candlelit balcony with their lovely friends, bats, and a huge spider for company. Much entertaining conversation above the torrential rain. Lots of fun.....
This morning the TH was that person being breathalised at 8am before being allowed to do the (189 dollar) Sydney Bridge climb. He was also that person who was failing his breathaliser test at 8am. His second test was borderline, so he was allowed to do the climb, which is just as well, or we wouldn't now have an excellent 60 dollar photograph of him doing a Mexican wave 134 metres above some outrageously expensive restaurants.
Not that this City is making us totally bankrupt or anything, but tomorrow we are hiring a car and driving somewhere else, because we figured it would be cheaper to eat that way. Or we might just eat the car.
This blog was brought to you by 'rooms online broadband' (24 dollars 99 cents).
posted by jazzshark at 3:45 AM
1 Comments:
So what happened to using contacts ... Or does the Ozzy production manager not have a mate at the opera house any more. You didn't miss much - when I had my tour it was just like the RFH - all held together with gaffer tape and string ... Keep on enjoying it.
Jools x
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