I woke up quite late, so didn't make it to the tourist office until around 10am, where I met the lady who had served me a few days ago. We organised the Groovy Grapes tour from Alice Springs to Adelaide, as well as the Great Ocean Road tour, which allowed me to avoid having to book hostel accomodation over Christmas and New Year.
After that was sorted, i headed over to STA travel, where Gabrielle helped me out with getting flights and an itinerary together for the rest of the stay on this continent. That took a long time to organise though as I had to make up my mind how long I wanted to stay in what places, and try to fit in all I wanted to do. I eventually managed to get it organised, allowing me on a barrier reef snorkling trip, a rain forest wine tasting tour and a trip out to Stradbroke Island.
I didn't leave there until 2.45pm, which didn't leave me much time for my planned trip to Bondi beach, but I went anyway. The bus stop was at the main park, and I hopped on at 3.06pm.
The weather today being 31 degrees celcius, it was unrurpising to me that the bus became more and more crowded the closer to Bondi beach we got, but what did surprise me was that it had emptied again before we reached the beach. We did this at 3.47pm, and I disembarked and headed to the sea.
The beach itself was not as crowded as I was expecting, but it was still a lot of people. My plan did not involve solely sunbathing on the beach though, as the Norwegian girls in the room had told me that there was a coastal walk to Coogee beach, which was a nicer and quieter beach to be at. As such, I made my way along this walk, aware that I needed to get there in a reasonable time if I was to make it to the Opera House for the performance.
All the beaches along the walk were filled up with sun bathers, swimmers, and surfers, and I kept being distracted by many great views, as well as various birds. I mused that some of the people on the path may have thought I was slightly strange when I spent 10 minutes or so pointing my camera at a bush, but I had found 3 superb fairy-wrens (blue), and they were just too cute to ignore!
The path seemed to run out along one part of it, though I saw some young people climbing up the cliff, so I followed suit - slightly perturbed when I reached the top to discover that it wasn't the official route - the way back to the main path was achieved by climbing through a hole in the fence! It didn't feel too risky to me though, and since I nd to suffer from vertigo, you can all be reassured that it wasn't verticle!
At one of the smaller beaches, I found a rainbow lorikeet enjoying the offerings of a tree, and later learned that they are super common in the area, and a bit of a nuisance - though that doesn't take away from how bonny hey look with their bright green red and blue plumage
I reached Coogee beach for 5.47pm, which was just in time to get on the bus to Circular Quay where the opera house awaited.
My original plan had been to go back via the hostel so that I could change in to a good shirt and tie, though since the travel agency stuff had taken so long I didn't have the luxury of being able to do that. I had taken the shirt with me anyway though just in case I got sun burn and needed to cover my arms, so I went to a rest room and changed in to that before heading to the opera house.
I had to leave my bag n the cloak room, so I advised the attendants there that Nessie was on a strict diet of salmon, and not to provide any snacks. I was asked whether it should be Tasman salmon or Atlantic salmon, and I explained that it had to be Atlantic Salmon, given that Nessie was from Scotland. They noted that it may take longer to get here, which I said was fine, as long as it was kept on ice.
The Ballet was spectacular, and a nice happy story, which made a difference from the last few I had seen (Swan Lake, La Sylphide, Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty), and it was quite overwhelming to be watching such an uplifting and amusing performance in such a prestigious venue.
When I went to recover my bag at the end of the show, the attendant remembered me without my having to produce a ticket, thanks to the earlier interaction about Nessie, so it was a quick process to get outside, and admire the lightening storm which was happening in the direction of Bondi Beach.
After I had spent a bit of time admiring the storm, I headed back and found a spot to try and take a selfie, when a group of 3 girls approached, one asking if I wanted them to take the photo for me. I agreed, and then one of her two friends pulled the other in to a photo bomb, much to my amusement, and her amusement, though the other was of the opinion it was a terrible intrusion.
I walked the rest of the way back to the hostel, but stopped in at the Glasgow Arms hotel for a drink of juice, as I felt I couldn't leave Sydney without having gone there first!
Back at the hostel, I packed my bags ready for a stupidly early start, had a shower, and went to bed