It was a long 22 hours of travel time, but we hit Sydney Australia tired but ready to experience this wonderful city.

Opera House

The world renown Sydney Opera house is a UNESCO world heritage site.  Exiting Circular Quay and passing through the wharf we happened upon the fantastic building.

The beautiful sail-like construction appearing with blue-white tiles complementing the harbor and transformed the international cultural image of Australia.  Ultzon, the architect who decided the Opera House revealed in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald (Click here) that his inspiration was not in fact sails, but orange slices.  Which is probably why when construction started it was him that came up with the spherical solution for actually constructing the “sails” of the opera house.  Understanding the math of art allowed engineers to make a great leap forward.  Here is a nice write up about the math (Click here)

Royal Gardens

We walked along the cove in the The Royal Botanical Garden.  Even the common birds here, the Ibis, Rainbow Lorikeet, Dusky Morehen, Black Shouldered Lapwing, or the Australian Magpie, sounded amazing and looked exotic. It rained a little on us, but after months of planning, and stress, it was nice to have things come together.

Things had been tense for the last few months building up to the trip.  It was really nice to see the girls come together and love on each other.

In leaving the Royal Botanical Garden we were struck by this piece of interactive art. Trapped in a birdcage symbolized a great portion of our psychological and emotional state for the last few months.  Taking this picture was a great transition from what was, to what will be.

With a quick stop at Sydney’s China town, we hustled back to the airport to Brisbane.