Australia & NZ (Land) -- Oct & Nov 2013

The Sydney Opera House (finished in early 1970s). This is the major landmark of the city, It replaced their harbor bridge (finished in early 1930s) as the key landmark. The bridge is still there and shows up on many later photos (as does this opera house).

This is the first of several photos taken from a tourist harbor cruise boat. There was a quite knowledgable sales guy walking near the ticket booth dressed as Captain Cook (British navy uniform from the 1770s and a white wig). Sadly, I did not get a photo of him.

He acted like he was impressed that we knew who he was. He said many tourists from the US think he is George Washington. Of course, he was in Sydney Harbor which Captain Cook never entered, although (as this "Captain Cook" explained), the original Cook sailed past the entrance to it and noted that in his ship's logs and charts. Cook's landing was in Botany Bay, just south of Sydney (and where their airport is -- the main runway extends onto a part of the bay that has been filled in).

Going on the harbor cruise had been planned as a potential first-day activity as the overnight flight arrived too early to check into the hotel. However, the hotel did store luggage (and they had a special early-arrival lounge to brush teeth, put on frest clothing, etc.(IMG_4025.SX40A.JPG)