Yesterday in Sydney!

The days are full and the days are fun and this is yesterday.  Today was a huge day for a wildlife park and foodie tour of Sydney - more on that!
Yesterday:  It was supposed to be cool and a little rainy and this is what we got so most of us were overdressed for the sunny boat ride but it was perfect!
Just another view of the Sydney, Australia skies:

 Sydney Harbor -one of the top tourist spots in the world with the Harbour Bridge in the background.  It is a very expensive city if you wanted to live here.  The minimum wage is set at $18 and a fixer upper in a nearby suburb is $600-800,000.  Our busdriver Barry's salary is $70,000 and he is having a hard time finding a house he can afford to buy.

 The famous Sydney Opera House completed in 1973 and approved to begin in 1958 and we got a private tour.  The design was by a Dutch architect and it was supposed to take 3 years and $7 million dollars to complete and it took 16 years and $102 million - talk about cost overruns!  But it is beautiful and supports itself.

A little history of Mrs Macquaries Chair and yes I sat in it and yes the view is wonderful!

 Touring the city yesterday we stopped at another beautiful place overlooking  the sea and I guess there are many people who decide to jump off the cliff to die.  There are security cameras, signs to get help and it appears to have helped a bit but who knows.

 The cliff where the jumps take place - no fences, barriers etc.  I think that if someone is going to kill themselves they will find a way to do it somewhere somehow.

 Beautiful Sydney Harbour with an old Captain Cook type ship and yes he is quite famous here in Australia - sort of like Christopher Columbus is to the USA.

And today was Melbourne Cup Day and we have heard of it as "The Day That Stops the Nation" since we arrived.  It's like the Kentucky Derby - a 3 minute horse race and actually the winner was a young woman from the USA.  It's a big deal and the ladies all over wear the fine British hats and as we walked to dinner with our friends we realized how busy it was everywhere.  Finally found a nice quiet Italian restaurant.  We had a fake "Bus Stakes" where we got to draw a paper and bet $ into the pot and Ross' horse actually came in 3rd so tomorrow we should get $20 back!  Who would think that could happen to nongamblers.