Day 9: Indigenous Tour and Sydney Opera House

We started our day off with an Indigenous Tour of downtown Sydney. Our tour guide is an Australian Native Aboriginal.

During our tour, it is a ritual to have this white pigment on your hand. Men had to put out their right hand and women had to put it on their left hand. 

He pointed out every indigenous plant in the area and explained the importance of their Totems. When you are born, you are given a totem. It is then your responsibility to learn and understand everything about that totem and to protect it for your entire life. If your totem is a fish, you can not eat that fish. You must trade it to someone else. 

This is the last location, in all of Sydney, that shows what the original beaches looked like prior to modern civilization. The sandstone in the Sydney area is a huge part of the Aboriginal people's heritage. 

The group observing all that Sydney had to offer. 

Mom spotted a telephone booth and insisted that she take a photo. We are currently being left by the group for this photo opp. 

This plant has natural sweet flavors that come from the flowers. Here we see Mom and Dad getting a taste of the sweet nectar from the plant. Not pictured, Dominique is in a bush behind us trying to smack as much juice out of one plant to make him some Kool-aid. 

This is Cadman's Cottage. It is the oldest standing building in Sydney. 

After our Indigenous tour, it was time to head to the Sydney Opera House for our Tour and Tasting. On our way there, we got a beautiful view of the Harbour Bridge.

A beautiful water fountain outside the Sydney Opera House. 

Dominique sitting on the steps of the Sydney Opera House. He really just stopped cause he didn't want to climb all those steps. LOL

It was time to head on our 1 hour tour of the Sydney Opera House. We all had to wear headphones and a transponder so we could hear out tour guide during the tour. 

This is the second largest theater in the Sydney Opera House. Due to shows and copyright rules, we were limited to only a few photos. Interesting facts about the seats. The seats are the only things that have changed at Sydney Opera House since it opened in 1973. To insure comfort, these seats are checked every single day, in every theater, 5 total. There are over 5,000 seats in the Sydney Opera House. 

Another view of the Harbour Bridge from the top of the Sydney Opera House.

The architecture of the Sydney Opera House is phenomenal. You can tell that it was designed with very distinct detail. It is really exceptional to see such a building that was built in 1973.

More architecture of the building. The architect was so into designing this building as perfect as possible that he even designed the restrooms in the Sydney Opera House. They are pristine. 

Charm and I enjoyed the Sydney Opera House. I mean, look at it. How could you not enjoy that?

Mom and Dominique had a great time as well. Interesting fact about the Sydney Opera House, from afar it looks as if the tiles on the roof are white. They are actually a mixture of beige and brown tiles. So when you look from afar, it looks white. Had the tiles been white, no one would ever be able to look at the Sydney Opera House on a sunny day. You would be blinded.