First up, talk about checking things off your bucket list! 🙂 Australia has been on mine for as looooong as I can remember (and of course Nowshad‘s as well.) So when we were invited to Queensland to live, breathe, explore & blog it all – we jumped at the chance!
In fact, we even “pre-poned” our trip to sneak in a few days in Sydney to see family and visit the Harbour Bride and magnificent Sydney Opera House!
And yes, we did the nerdy thing and went on the tour (desi kid habit I suppose!) which of course was AWESOME. Take a look at some facts and figures I was astonished to discover that might also blow YOUR mind.
PS. A BIG thank you to my Borro Khalla & Khallu for the massive treat, reminded me of all the cool trips I did growing up around the world with my family, yay! 🙂 xoxo
Now let’s get straight to the trivia!
1. In 1957 Danish architect Jorn Utzon won the international design competition beating 232 entries from 32 countries with THIS sketch…
2. You can’t possibly imagine how complicated this architecture was back then and to this date (and I can’t possibly explain it to you.) Suffice to say the design represents a ship at sail to fit into the setting of the Sydney Harbour 🙂
3. The architecture inside is unbelievably MIND-BLASTING and often appears to defy gravity. Even the glue that binds the windows together contains flakes of gold to give the light and it’s reflection an ethereal quality!
(Oh and I’m a BIG fan of the purple carpeting! Trés Royale.)
4. Sometimes they screen movies like The Gladiator on a giant screen in one of the halls while a full symphony orchestra provides the soundtrack! How badass does THAT sound?!
5. The1,056,056 Swedish tiles of Sydney Opera House are all dust proof so they don’t need to be washed! *Phew!*
6. The Sydney Opera House is home to the world’s largest pipe organ with over 10,000 pipes. It is 16 metres high and 13 metres wide and can also be played remotely by way of an electronic console. (VERY creepy but cool in a Phantom of the Opera sort of way!) Oh and this angle of outside totally reminded me of Star Wars – The Phantom Menace for some reason.
7. Sydney Opera House was first projected to be completed in 3 years and $7 Million but after many hiccups it finally took 16 years and a whopping $122 Million! But just LOOK at it and tell me it wasn’t worth it!
Psst! If you go to the gift shop you will find the LEGO version up for grabs!
And if you stick around maybe someone will put on a Aussie accent and pretend to be a boxing kangaroo for you… (Now you see why Nowshie is the BEST travel buddy EVER?)
PS. Note to Nemo, I found your greedy seagull buddies, they were lined up on the pier looking hungry!
(But truth be told: I’d trade my rats-with-wings Mumbai pigeons for these sleek white feathery friends any day!) Especially when you find one looking particularly pensive like this guy 🙂
Tomorrow we’re going to the ZOO with my cousin-in-law Sherief Razzaque! I can hardly contain my excitement. I’m hoping to make some Koala friends (although I HAVE heard they’re not ALL as friendly as our little Kiki.) Remember to think of a cool name for YOUR Koala and leave me a comment to win a stuffed toy souvenir from my travels…
For the rest of my Queensland adventures across social media, just follow the hashtag #Room753, #thisisqueensland and #DesiGirlTraveler 🙂