We travelled to Sydney for six days, as David had to go there on business. We arrived on Saturday evening and the following day we decided to do the 5km scenic walk from Bondi Beach all along the coast to Coogee beach. We have done this walk before and it is a great walk with amazing views from the clifftops.
Fortunately our walk happen to coincide with the Sculpture by the Sea Festival. This festival is an annual event that has taken place for the past 15 years. For two weeks of the year, the scenic 2km stretch of coast from Bondi Beach to Tamarama Beach, is transformed into a sculpture park with the works of over 100 Australian and international artists on display. Some of the sculptures were fantastic and our favourite one, by Korean artist Byeong-Doo Moon called "I have been dreaming to be a tree....II" (an Elk made from stainless steel), won the People's Choice prize. In attendance that Sunday, were the Crown Prince and Princess of Denmark who handed out all the prizes. This event is very popular with both locals and tourists alike and we can see why - great art, a great setting and a great way to bring people and the community together.
The Sydney Fish Market
After our walk along part of Sydney's beautiful coastline, we caught the bus back to the city and then hopped on the Metro Light Rail to the Sydney Fish Market. We walked around the market, had a late lunch and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for Jason Mraz's concert at The Sydney Opera House that evening.
Jason Mraz at The Sydney Opera House
We are both huge fans of Jason Mraz and his music, so when we heard that he was going to perform at the iconic Sydney Opera House, we knew we had to try and see him. As soon as David confirmed his business trip to Sydney a few months ago, we went online to book tickets, only to find that both his "You are Loved" concerts were sold out.
Fortunately for us, a few weeks later due to overwhelming demand, the Opera House decided to open the entire auditorium to include seating behind the stage (called "in-the-round" mode). This is apparently a rare occurrence, so needless to say, we were extremely happy with this development. As a result, we were able to secure seats for the Sunday evening concert, behind the stage, in the middle four rows from the front.
The concert itself was amazing even though we had a view from behind (he turned around a few times which was great). Jason Mraz is an incredibly gifted singer-songwriter, not to mention an amazing guitarist (and a pretty good pianist too). This was an Acoustic concert with only him and his percussionist Toca Rivera performing. The Concert Hall at the Opera House is the perfect venue for an acoustic concert, as it is an intimate venue. Jason Mraz performed some of his old hits and some new songs that will be on his next album. He sang to a sold-out crowd and he did not disappoint. We had a wonderful evening and are really thrilled that we got to see him perform live.
For the rest of the week, David worked and I (Sam) visited some of my favourite sights in Sydney.
