Sydney sightseeing

Sydney, finally!  We flew in here six weeks prior but left almost immediately in order to reach Adelaide in time.  At last we would tour this lovely city.

Starting with a sunrise view of the Opera House:

Wandering through the area called The Rocks, we found a bit of the Old World:

And a bit of the newer world - although beer has been around a long time, maybe "beer plumbing" not so much:

I believe this is the Customs House:

That's where we found this model scale of the city, under glass (and under foot):

The Harbour Bridge on a bright blue day:

Walking toward the Opera House for our morning tour, John says, "Hey, there are people on top of it!"  What?  Sure enough, we could see 3 figures up there, how odd:

I'm wondering if they are washing it or doing some kind of maintenance.  John is wondering if they are ninjas fighting.  Sure John, ninjas on the roof of the Sydney Opera House, right.

Except they were throwing punches and kicks, like people fighting:

And there was a large drone hovering around (didn't get it in a photo).  And more fighting movements.  Maybe a Japanese movie being filmed?

Quite curious.  We watched until it was time to get suited up for our tour:

So the tour guide tells us that normally we'd go here and see this and that, but today we are dealing with some reroutes because Jackie Chan is here to shoot a movie.  JACKIE CHAN!  On the roof of the Opera House!  And us without binoculars!

That is so cool.  We'll be on the lookout for the movie, maybe this one:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5813366/

Fun, possibly related, photo:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000329/mediaviewer/rm730860288

Someone else got better pictures than I did:
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/jackie-chan-films-stunts-on-sydney-opera-house-roof-for-bleeding-steel/news-story/80098d874aa8474162ddd0be3b01a0d8

With movie filming continuing on the roof, we started our tour and tried to focus.  Here's a nice place to hang out during a performance intermission:

Hey, we know that actor!  (The one on the screen, not our tour guide, although we got to know the tour guide by the end of the morning too.)  A favorite from the series Flight of the Conchords, and most recently in Hunt for the Wilderpeople - which I highly recommend:

Another lovely view from inside the Opera House:

Not a good angle to catch more of the movie filming (but we did keep a lookout for Jackie Chan maybe wandering around, just in case):

After the tour - which really was excellent (and we weren't allowed photos in some of the best places) - we went back outside to see what was going on up top.  More photographers doing what looked like close-up shots, no more drone shooting.  And it's possible Jackie Chan had "fallen off" the roof, so that would be dramatic.  Maybe worth watching the movie to see!

More faraway shots of tiny people up high, in this case people doing the Bridge Climb to the top of the Harbour Bridge - fascinating idea:

The heart of the city:

I really like the design of this fountain:

Fun tree with lots of roots - John could sleep here:

Sydney's first bricks, preserved under glass outside the Museum of Sydney:

A slightly interactive mural:

Heading up the Pylon Lookout on the bridge, with a nice view back to the Opera House:

Inside the pylon, where we learned about the building of the bridge (no, it's not John, just a wax model):

John's over on this girder taking another nap (we got up kinda early this morning):

Showing how the two sides of the arch were joined together:

Nice view from the lookout:

Selfie with Jackie Chan:

We purchased lunch at the outdoor market in The Rocks, including the perfectly sized cupcake:

We found an art installation at Barangaroo Park, which was really neat, but we learned later that we had missed a bunch of other cool stuff.  John did his daily run back to see it, and I put it on my agenda for the next blog post (to be continued).  For now, creative woodpile stacking:

Imagine that!

Working our way around Darling Harbour, admiring this version of yellow cab:

One of the more famous Australians (and sidekick) at the wax museum:

We thought this was a funny perch for a seagull to pick:

The totally-enclosed Harding Lifeboat, designed to be launched by a 20 meter free fall and able to roll 360 degrees and pass through burning oil without damage to the boat or passengers.  I think this should be a ride at an amusement park, in a new "real life vehicles" section:

Tall ship!  It would be fun to sail on one someday:

Without even planning to, we had walked far enough that it made perfect sense to take a ferry back to Circular Quay to catch the train home.  Genius idea.

Sunset view of new high-rise buildings under construction:

Seeing the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House from water level:

Now that's a nice sunset:

The lights of Sydney:

On the train home, John demonstrating the ingenuity of the seat design - you can flip the back over and face forward or backward, so the train can change direction and so can you:

John got to do some work!  My cousin Shannon was installing a deck, and John was very excited to learn that he could help.  I believe he assisted with concrete work during our first pass through Sydney, and now it was getting closer to being done:

For my part, I was excited to learn that there would be an Australian barbecue dinner.  Julie and I went shopping (she's not used to planning a barbecue for a vegetarian) and then Shannon did the grilling:

Plenty of seafood, meat, and a nice set of vegetables for John - all delicious!

One day remaining in Australia... sad that it's almost over!