Harbour Bridge, Olympic Stadium and Manly Beach

One of the public ferries going in front of the Sydney Opera House

Today we did get some mileage down and I got a good first impression of this great city of Sydney.

Crossing the very large Harbour Bridge and having a look from high up over Sydney Cove and the majestic Opera House, I could understand why it is so well-known across the world. It’s such a sight!

We took the ferries to move along the Harbour and went into the hinterland to the Olympic Stadium on this fast catamaran. Standing in the breeze, looking at the changing neighborhoods of Sydney and enjoying the sun and 20° weather is great. At the Olympic Stadium, everything is ready for the Convention. It looks exciting!

To finish the day, we went out eastbound to the Tasman Sea at Manly Beach. The water is still warm enough for us to walk in there for more than 1 hour. Knowing that I cannot be considered being a Penguin in this respect, this does mean something. Besides, it’s winter in Australia. This was also the case, that we had a sunset very early. When we arrived at the beach at 16:30, the sun had already set and at 17:30 it was pitch-black. Since we still had 20° out, it felt like around 11 at night at the French riviera.

Coming back on the boat, we had a splendid view on the light installations and projections on the Opera House. In Sydney, they have a light festival going on these days and since it was so dark, the lit up Opera House contrasted impressively against the black sky. On our way home from the Quay, we go to see, feel and interact with even more and very interesting and inspiring light installations.