Tuesday 2nd - Thursday 4th Opera House & Ashes

After late nights, naughty birds and early rising, this morning we awoke at 9.45 to yet another sunny, hot day.
 
All showered we set off for the 12.30 ferry to Pyremont and the Hard Rock Cafe. After lunch we headed to Westfield and the QVB, originally built as a market the QVB now houses 180 shops and takes up the entire block on George St.   It is here that the Swarovski Christmas Tree is housed, a 24mtr high tree and is decorated with 65,000 lights and 82,000 Swarovski Crystals. Quite a sight. We all wandered around for a while but Jon & Caz went on to shop whilst we headed back on the ferry, later all meeting at Blues Point.
We headed home at 9pm and thankfully missed the thunder storm. Quite a sight to see the lightening flashes.

The day after, Jon & Caz returned to work and we decided to have a guided our of The Opera House. We did some washing whilst having breakfast and then headed out to Circular Quay on the 10.35 ferry.  Not long after we arrived light drizzle came and we headed to the covered cafes and bars. it is here that we got chatting to a girl from Blackburn who was a junior school teacher at the school where I went to as a young girl.  If the drizzle hadn't come .......
We lunched at The Rocks and mooched around before our tour at 3.45. It can be sometimes the luck of the draw just how much you see and the information that you receive on these type of group tours. We were extremely lucky to see the Studio Theatre and the stage crew blocking the stage for the  next production.   I reckon that we were even more lucky to be allowed at the back of the Concert Hall to witness a sound check that was in progress for that night's concert. 
A really good and interesting day and getting to places in the Opera House that are usually off limits.
We caught a train to North Sydney and did a spot of shopping in readiness for our evening meal of tuna and salad.

Thursday was to be the day to witness the first day of the Ashes Test at the SCG. We showered and breakfasted on strawberries before heading out on the 8.30 ferry to Circular Quay. It is now worthy to note, (if I already haven't), that schoolchildren are extremely polite and stand up without question and are very  courteous. They will not get on a bus until all the public are on. Not only that they wear full
uniform including hats and always look smart.
A fleet of buses ferried fans to Noble Park and we were inside the ground by 9.15.  An extremely quick journey without any hitches.  A steward offered to assist us and we ended up in the Corporate lift with a very smartly dressed husband a wife. A moment to savour. Well, for us!
Light rain delayed the start until around 12.40. During the intervening time there was a Parade of Juniors, an Aboriginal Welcome and two National Anthems were played. It is also at this time that we chatted to a guy from Loveclough who was a Burnley FC supporter and whose son in law has connections to the place where we live!! Thousands of people in the ground and this man was sitting in front of us in The Churchill Stand.

Caz had provided a cool bag of salad, tuna, crisps, fruit and drink. A very welcome addition to this memorable day.  We left with 5 overs to go and caught a bus to Circular Quay. Friendly camaraderie and light hearted banter was the order. Well, what else do you do when you are sitting nest to a bra-wearing Monk! We caught the 7.20 ferry to McMahons Point and met up with Jon and Caz for a meal at Blues Point.
 




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