Sydney, Australia

Day 2

The iconic landmark in Australia is the Opera House of Sydney.  I often wondered why it was shown frequently during the Australian Open (tennis) broadcast from Melbourne, Australia.  The Opera House represents all of Australia and is used as the iconic picture representing the country.

Shortly after WWII, the Aussies wanted to build something very special.  A design was chosen that was to cost 6 million dollars.  Many problems arose.  One of the problems was that the curved ‘sails’ were new to construction in the 1960s.  The planned price tag soared to over 100 million dollars.  Most Aussies were determined to have it built, so the government started a public lottery much like Powerball, and all the net proceeds went to funding this Opera House.  The picture shows the concert auditorium which houses the largest mechanical organ in the world.  Not shown are the Opera venues and other smaller venues.

Sydney has quite the transportation system.  While Viking cruises provide many tours, we had several hours of free time in Sydney.  It was exciting to travel out on ferries in the many bays of Australia’s largest city.

One of the highlights Australia offers is its unusual flora and fauna.  One of my favorite animals is the Koala Bear which is not a bear.  Koala means ‘no drink’, an appropriate name since it does not drink water. It obtains all its fluid needs from eucalyptus leaves.

If you are stranded in the ‘bush’, the eating of eucalyptus leaves is highly discouraged unless you have a digestive system like a Koala.  The leaves are loaded with tannins and toxins.  

Of the fauna of Australia, almost half of the native species are Marsupials.  In other words, they give birth to underdeveloped embryos that climb into the mother’s pouch after birth. The location of the pouch depends on the nature of the species.  Most know the kangaroo pouch is in the front midsection and ‘joey’ happily bounces along.  The wombat digs much of its life, so her pouch is at the rear end, as the above picture shows.  

The wombat has a most unusual 'poop' in that it is cubic.  Somehow this works to attract a mate.  This probably works only in Australia.

The human population of Australia is around 27 million, but they are far outnumbered by kangaroos.  

G'day