The Sydney Opera House is a big performing arts centre located at the Bennelong Point in Sydney, Australia. The Opera House is designed by Jorn Utzon. The construction started in 1959 and the construction of the building was completed in 1973. The Opera House is considered to be a must-see for those people visiting Sydney or Australia. It is actually so incredibly popular amongst tourists that the Sydney Opera House site has over eight million visitors each year. The Opera House covers 1.8 hectares of land and is 183 metres long. Although many people think that the Opera House just has one venue, this is not the case. The Opera House consists of the Concert Hall, Joan Sutherland Theatre, Drama Theatre, Playhouse, the Studio, the Utzon Room, the Outdoor Forecourt and the Recording Studio. In total, the Opera House has a capacity of 5738 seats excluding restaurants, bars and other available facilities. Since people from all over the world want to visit the Sydney Opera House, they offer a variety of tours in different languages. A tour that is available all year around is the Sydney Opera House Tour. This tour is available daily between 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM. The tour is approximately one hour. The price for one adult ticket is $37 U.S dollars. For one child ticket, the price is $20 U.S dollars. The child ticket is available for children of the age 5-15 years. Children under the age of five, can enter the tour for free.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel bridge that takes Sydney’s traffic from the Business District to the North Shore. The bridge has a total length of 1149 metres and is 134 metres high. The Harbour Bridge is a popular tourist destination in Sydney because of its beautiful view of the Sydney Opera House and the city itself. The Harbour Bridge is also called ‘’The Coat hanger’’ since the design looks like a coat hanger. The bridge was designed by John Bradfield, Thomas S. Tait and Ralph Freeman. The construction of the bridge began in 1923 and ended in 1932. The Harbour Bridge was open to the public on March 19, 1932. Archer Whitford was the first one to turn the bridge into a tourist activity. Whitford began promoting the bridge as a tourist destination in 1934, two years after the opening of the Harbour Bridge. He created facilities such as restaurants, museums and several standing points with telescopes where visitors could enjoy the view of Sydney and the suburbs. Since there was so much to do around the bridge, the amount of visitors increased a lot over the years. In 1998, a new attraction at the Harbour Bridge was installed, the BridgeClimb. The BridgeClimb offers people to run and climb up the southern half of the bridge. In 2006, BridgeClimb installed a new attraction for climbers and sport fanatics, the Discovery Climb. The Discovery Climb offers climbers and runners to climb up to the lower chord of the bridge, not all the way to the top. This way, the climbers have a magnificent view of Sydney. The Harbour Bridge does not only carry cars or motorcycles, pedestrians and cyclers have their own pathway. The Harbour Bridge is also a popular location under the local inhabitants to celebrate New Year’s Eve. The bridge is used for beautiful fireworks shows.
The Rocks is a local and urban tourist destination in Sydney’s city centre. The Rocks can be found easily, since it is located on the south of Sydney’s Harbour right next to the central business district. The Rocks is a popular destination for tourists because of its beautiful views of the Harbour Bridge. It is also very popular since the town is a perfect mixture of nature and buildings, so there is a lot of variety. Since The Rocks has a lot of history, the area offers beautiful walking paths where you could see and explore different historic buildings. The town consists of several souvenir shops and historic pubs. A popular event in the Rocks, is the Rocks Market. The market is a big market with numerous amount of stalls and functions which are held every weekend. The stalls offer typical Australian clothes, Australian food and Australian art with gallery exhibits from artists like Ken Done and Ken Duncan. Besides historic buildings and markets, The Rocks is also rich in pubs. Two pubs are the oldest pubs in Sydney called the Fortune of War and the Lord Nelson.
Bondi Beach is a popular tourist destination in the summer. It is a famous beach located in a suburb near Sydney, Australia. It is approximately 7 km from the Sydney central business district. With millions of visitors each year, Bondi Beach is one of the most popular destinations in Australia. Bondi Beach is estimated to be around one km long. The Bondi area became available to the public when Francis O’Brien purchased the land from his father in law. In that time, the area was called the O’Brien Estate. When the beach became a popular picnic and amusement place, O’Brien threatened to abandon the public from the beach. However, this never happened because the government thought they had to step in to keep the beach a public area. Since 1882, the Bondi Beach officially became a public beach. To keep the beach and the ocean a safe place, yellow and red flags were inserted to make sure what the safe swimming areas are. For extra safety, there is also an underwater shark net since whales and dolphins have been seen during the hot summer months. Other beaches in the area use the same shark net as well. Bondi Beach is a popular destination because there are a lot of activities you can do. There are Bondi Beach Markets every Sunday and food markets every Saturday. In addition, Bondi Beach also has a very big area that consists of pubs, restaurants, souvenir shops and cafés. Bondi Beach is also the end line of a famous run in Australia called the City to Surf Run. The run is held annually and entrants have to run from the business district to Bondi Beach.
The Royal Botanic Gardens is a huge garden in the middle of Sydney, Australia. The Royal Botanic Gardens opened in 1816, which makes it the oldest scientific institution in Australia. Australia has a history of studying plants, so this Botanic Garden is a very important collection of plants worldwide. Since 1816, it has also played an enormous role in the development of plants in other areas in Australia. The Botanic Gardens is open every day and is available for everyone. The Gardens is located right next to the Sydney Harbour and the central business district. Its perfect location guarantees that the number of visitors each year is increasing. The Royal Botanic Gardens are therefore considered to be one of the most popular tourist attractions in Sydney. The Royal Botanic Gardens cover thirty hectares. The Gardens is divided into four parts called the Lower Gardens, the Middle Gardens, the Palace Gardens and the Bennelong Precinct. In those four parts, they are divided into smaller gardens. The lower gardens mark places such as the Band Lawn, the Victoria Lodge and the Maiden Pavilion. The middle gardens characterize places like the Palm House, the Succulent Garden and the Threatened Plant Garden. The Palace Gardens feature the Rainforest Walk, the Rose Garden, the Herb Garden and the Pioner Garden. The Bennelong Precinct characterize the Government House, the Queen Elizabeth II Gate and the Parade Ground. In the middle of the Royal Botanic Gardens, you will find the Palm Grove Centre. That is a centre where you will find restaurants, cafés and bookshops.
Taronga Zoo is the biggest zoo in Sydney, which makes it the city zoo. It is located on the Sydney Harbour shore. The zoo opened its doors in October 1916. Albert Sherbourne Le Souef started with the idea of a new zoo. He created the Moore Park. Over the years, it became clear that this park was too small, so all the animals were transported to Sydney Harbour shore. Taronga Zoo is managed alongside the Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo. The Zoo’s refer to each other as ‘’sister zoo’s’’. the Taronga Zoo covers 21 hectares and is divided into eight areas. The Taronga Zoo keeps more than 4000 animals of 340 species. The Zoo has a souvenir shop, restaurants, cafés and information points. Nowadays, the zoo is also used as an education centre. Taronga Zoo offers ferry services to get to the zoo, which is preferred by many visitors. The ferry ride is twelve minutes from Sydney to Taronga Zoo. Other ways to reach the zoo is by bus services or a gondola lift. Taronga Zoo works with many different transport operators to offer a variety of mixed deals with regards to transportation.
