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Australia 2013: The end
posted : Monday, May 19, 2014
Hotel stay didn't come with free breakfast so conveniently skipped it heh. Checked with reception and found that I can extend check out hours to 12pm so went for it. Coz I don't foresee myself returning before 10. And my flight is at around 2pm so it does still seem pretty comfortable coz the airport isn't really very far away.
Off to the Opera House and surprise! There's a long queue already! Totally underestimated the level of kiasuness of tourists. :S
Opening hours are from 9am onwards and I was considering giving up at one point coz was scared that I wouldn't be able to make it back in time. But luckily when the queue started moving the speed is actually pretty okay and I managed to enter in about 20 minutes which wasn't too bad considering the queue length. Not to mention those thick skinned PRC tourists cutting queue like nobody's business.
 
Detailing of the walls.
Inside the theater
Set for the musical "South Pacific"
Space where live band performs..underneath the stage.
Concert hall and its acoustics.
 
Giant birthday cupcake. Happy 40th!
Basically with the amount of time I had and being guide-less, got only a brief snapshot of this iconic landmark. Apparently the regular tours are really good and worth it and was kind of on my agenda but I scraped it after finding out about the event.
For some reason still don't really feel the urgency so I even hung around Circular Quay for a bit before heading back to the hotel. Had a quick shower, picked up my luggage, checked out and set off towards the airport on train.
Checking out!
Lol at the analogy
There was a long queue. Sigh. Another good half an hour and I am now running very late. So much for having lunch in the airport too. Cleared immigration, rushed all the way to the gate to find that passengers haven't boarded yet, so went to tapao a burger for lunch during flight and by the time I am back at the departure gate, I was one of the last few to board. So yep. A super hasty goodbye.
At least I still manage to snap a photo while boarding.
And that's a wrap, folks! Set out on this trip with pretty high expectations, but come to think of it many of the places I went are sort of for a "been there done that" purpose. I guess I won't exactly label this as a self discovery trip in the first place..the only thing I discovered, or rather confirmed, is that I really like the freedom that comes with solo travels, even though it gets lonely at times. Definitely a milestone in my life. Remembered getting pretty inspired at the end of the trip (as usual at the end of any trips for me) to go back and visit other cities like Adelaide, but inspiration had died down by now lol and focus is more on other countries now. I want to do it again this year! A trip with friends/family and one by myself. Haven settled on a place though.
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