Didgeridoo and the Opera House Too

Friday morning February 29, Rachel and I took the "Early Bird" tour of the Opera House at 9 AM. It worked out very well, as it was not only cheaper, but there were only 6 other people on our tour. The Opera House is, of course, the most famous building in Sydney. We also learned on the tour that it is the second most photographed building in the world, behind the Taj Mahal.

We first toured the outside of the building, where we were able to get good views of the Sydney Bridge, also called the "Coat Hanger" (pictured to the right). The Sydney Bridge is home to the "Bridge Climb", which will be the subject of a future blog. We also had nice views of the harbor, the fort in the harbor, and Circular Quay and downtown Sydney.


The Opera House itself is certainly an impressive architectural piece. Unfortunately, I must say that it is more impressive from a distance than it is up close. It is starting to get some age on it, and the roof tiles are dingy and need replacing. Still, the building is very large and houses multiple theaters, not only for opera, but also ballet, plays, modern dance, a concert hall, and an experimental theater. Kate Blanchett is currently the Chairman of the Board, and they are preparing for over $300 MM in renovations.

The inside is dated, but beautiful. We were unable to see the Great Hall because of a meeting of young heads of state being held there. We did get to see the Opera Hall though, and it was absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, the architect focused on the "artistic" and not the "functional" (which, as an engineer, drives me nuts), so the building was built from the outside in. Therefore, they wedged all of these auditoriums and concert halls into spaces not truly designed accoustically. Some of the renovations are supposed to help this.

As in many projects of this nature, the original architect went over budget and over time. He was asked to leave and has not actually seen the finished product. He is now 90 years old, and they are trying to get him to Sydney to see it.

After our tour, we headed back to the Nagy's apartment to finish packing for New Zealand. As we passed through Circular Quay, we stopped to watch the aboriginees perform. There are 2 or 3 groups of them performing at the harbor every day. The guy here is playing a didgeridoo, which is a wooden aboriginal instrument. Ironically, I don't think the guy playing it was aboriginee (maybe a 3rd cousin, once removed), but a couple of the guys were. The didgeridoo makes a very unique sound. I'm surprised that no rappers have tried to use one in their tracks.



REFLECTIONS - The Age of Innocence

On Friday afternoon, we flew to New Zealand with Tim and Liz to begin our 8 days there. New Zealand is what I anticipate America must have looked like in the 1950's or 1960's. We did not see a 4 lane road the entire time we were there. It is sparsely populated, although we did not visit Aukland or Christchurch, which are the larger cities. New Zealand does not even have an Air Force; they suspended it several years ago and rely on Australia's Air Force for protection and the belief that George Bush has no intention of invading them (let's hope they are right). I don't remember ever seeing a police officer the entire time we were in New Zealand.

The largest display of their innocence though occurred when we flew from Wellington on the North Island to Nelson on the South Island. Since it was a domestic flight, we never passed through security. That's right... you heard me... we were never scanned, X-rayed, physically searched, or even mildly scrutinized. It was very strange to experience, especially given where the rest of the world is relative to airport security.