And on to Sydney!

Sydney was to be the last stop in Australia. New South Wales finally had rain, which helped to put out most of the bush fires........however the storm was the worst in 20 years and all flights in and out were held up for hours! It was the  bumpiest recent flight I have had, with lashing rain and 40mph winds. They desperately needed the rain so it was very welcome, despite the flooded buildings and downed trees!
So our first close up view of the Sydney Opera House was with grey skies...... but still very impressive!

We were lucky to be staying at the Sir Stamford Hotel which is close to the iconic Opera House.
Easy to go to an opera there! Which of course we did! We went to see Faust, which was a little dark!
We arrived a little early and found that in Sydney everyone arrives almost last minute!

Our first view of the harbour was actually a little disappointing..... a large cruise ship was docked and there was just a glimpse of the opera house hidden by, undoubtedly very expensive, new apartments!!

The first cruise ship seen above was very large....

But the next one  was even bigger!

.... such a shame .....the cruise ship cannot be ignored from harbour views at the Opera House!

 We checked out the famed Bondi beach....

......which had impressive waves because of the storm......

...and  they were filming  an episode of Bondi Rescue....

....then a trip around the bay.... lunch cruise..... on quite a large catamaran!

...with great views of the opera house......

...and of course views of it after the opera were also spectacular!

...as was the bridge.....