Sydney's Iconin Opera House

In 1952, the government of NSW wanted to build two concert halls which would put the city of Sydney on the world map. In 1956, it organised an international competition for submitting designs for the same. Jørn Utzon, an architect from Denmark, won this competition for his design of the Opera House and was chosen as the main architect and went on to receive the Pritzker Architecture prize in 2003.

The construction of the Opera House began in 1957 and continued right up to 1973 on the Bennelong point  close to Sydney Harbour.

It is a performing arts centre which has become a world heritage site and houses concert halls, opera and drama theatres; it is also one of the busiest and much acclaimed performing art centres in the world.

A wonderful walk on the promenade from Circular Quay Station took us to this magnificent piece of Architecture.

The monumental stairs from the Forecourt that lead to the two main halls are about 100 metres wide! The sheer size of this stairway had us  enraptured! There are elevators too by which one can reach the theatres. Within the Opera House, the foyer has glass walls through which one can view the harbour.

The only way one can visit all the theatres is through the guided tours. Once a day, tours are also conducted for a group of not more than ten differently abled individuals where elevators are used instead of the stairs.

There are shows running through the day which can be pre-booked or booked on arrival depending on the availability of seats. The act that we wanted to watch was to be showcased late in the evening, but for various reasons, we decided to return home.

-Aarina

Auburn Botanical Gardens

This is a Japanese style inspired garden spread over nine acres and houses an aviary, a fauna reserve, plenty of flora, a scented garden, a lake, and a reflection pool. We were told that the best time to visit the place was in Autumn when the leaves change their colour and the garden is simply in a riot  of colours.

We were suprised to be greeted by a peacock and a peahen at the entrance, these of course are introduced species to the garden. The aviary housed a couple of species of birds with different kinds of parrots. One of the enclosures also housed an Emu which seemed to be having a delightful conversation with a Raven. There were Ibis and ducks too in plenty.

There were boards put up informing one about the various snakes in the area, but we didn't manage to spot any.

The fauna reserve housed wallabies and kangaroos. It was amusing seeing the way the Kangaroos sat on their tails.

The reflection pool was lined with pine trees, one of them being a progeny of a pine tree from Gallipoli.

Overall, the garden had a good shade cover and was dotted along with benches. It also housed a lake which had big stones resting on the bed on which one could walk to go to the other side.

The colourful rose garden was indeed a treat to the eyes.

We also witnessed the arrival of a groom and his groomsmen on their Harley Davidson for the wedding ceremony that was to be conducted in the Japanese tea house.

The garden had barbeques, toilets, drinking water taps, but no cafe.