Play: 10 days Sydney and it's surroundings in March 2014 (Day 2)

Day 2

After resting well on our first day, we are going to Sydney Opera House on our second day in Sydney.  Everyone is excited because the opera house is one of the icon in Sydney and one could not say that they have visited Sydney unless they have step foot into the Sydney Opera House.

Girl girl showered and having her breakfast!

En xin posing :)

We took a cab from our hotel and reached the opera house in less than 10 minutes. I was surprised, didn't think that we actually stayed so near to the opera house, the cab driver even said that we could walk there if we wanted to.

Do note that if you have kids and wanted to take cab in Australia, please kindly specify that when you booked for the taxi because not all taxi in Australia has car seat for children and they are very strict, if you have children that requires car seat, you MUST order the taxi with car seat. Otherwise, the taxi driver won't let you in their taxi.

Upon reaching the opera house, one of my first impression was... "erm... the opera house is not as impressive as i had pictured". In postcard or tv, i always see the iconic opera house, looking so pretty with the super white roof... but when you look nearer, the roof is actually quite yellowish... but because of its design and angle, the roof reflects the light from the sun and therefore making it looks white in picture or when you see them from a distant.. the opera house definitely looks better in a distance!

PIL, BIL and my mum went for the chinese tour around the opera house but I prefer an English tour because i scared that they will be using jargon during explanation on the construction of opera house etc, so decided to go for the english one instead. The english tour doesn't start until 45 minutes later so hubby, kiddos and me walk around the surroundings to enjoy the harbour bridge scenic view. We actually bought the ticket for the chinese tour and the information centre which sells the english tour ticket kindly let us exchange for english tour ticket, and we only need to top up the difference.

Prices and tours timing can be found on their official website
English tour: http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/whatson/soh_tour_english_2013.aspx
Mandarin tour:http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/whatson/asian_language_tour_mandarin.aspx

Do note that the English tour is for an hour and Mandarin tour lasts for 30 minutes.

The two happy siblings posing :) Wearing matching T-shirt from Switzerland!

While waiting for the tour to start, the kids had some gingerbread man cookies which i purchased from Woolsworth yesterday... Qin has been a big fan of gingerbread man cookies so when i saw yesterday, immediately thought of her. Bought an original flavour and a chocolate flavour.

They really love gingerbread man cookies.

Love the view of the bridge from the opera house.

Sydney Harbour Bridge, another icon of Sydney

After eating, now have energy to play... but Justin still very lazy to walk... squat and doesn't want to budge... jie jie got to use her charm to make him walk.. soo cute!

Jie jie: come on, lets go....

Justin: haha... i wan to stay here.. jie jie: *sweat*... no eyes see

Finally, walking side by side :)))

Tours started.... the tour guide explained how the opera house came about, the construction process and even the material used in their opera house. The material used are of good quality so even the carpet that was used, it is the original carpet and has never been replaced before... no wonder the budget for this place went much over the ceiling...

Love the inside of the opera house...very grand! I am sure it would be nice to enjoy a concert or performance here!

After the tour, we took a ferry from Circular Quay to Darling Harbour, and walked to the fish market. Had a good view of Opera House from the ferry.

While walking from Darling Harbour to the Sydney Fish Market for a late lunch, we passed by this sea aquarium with some animal on display.. saw Koala :) this is my first time seeing koala in person, they are soo cute , clinging to the tree...

Love the view and the blue sky!

Lunch time!!! Seafood feast!! We had lots of seafood at the fish market from Peter's Fish Market. The seafood and fish are very fresh and sold at a very reasonable price. We had crab, prawns, oyster, eel, salmon sashimi, and fisherman's basket (comes with fried fish, calamari and fries)..all very nice. At the end of the day, we also bought some crabs, and prawn for dinner...

Big crab!

Took a cab back to hotel... the kids took nap. Mum and me went down to walk around the hotel area and Woolloomooloo Bay. At night, we heat up the roast chicken that my BIL bought from Woolsworth and eat the crab/prawn which we bought from fish market for dinner.

Day 3 will be exploring Bondi Beach, Bondi Weekend Market and Paddy's Market for souvenirs.