For my last morning in Sydney, I only had one thing planned – a visit inside the Sydney Opera House. That was actually one of the first things I looked at when I started planning my trip. As I wasn’t interested in any of the performances during that time, I decided I would do a tour instead. While you can do a backstage or dining tour of the Opera House, I decided to buy tickets for their architectural tour, which dives more into the history and construction of the building. Since the tour only ran on Saturday mornings during my time there, that was why it ended up being the last thing on my list to complete.

On the morning of the tour I grabbed another bahn mi sandwich on the way to the station, then took the train all the way to Circular Quay. I joined the tour group just prior to 10:00am and got my headset. The tour was 75 minutes long, with time spent equally inside and outside. I really enjoyed going inside the main concert hall as well as the atrium, where you could see views of the harbour. It was super fascinating listening to how the Opera House was constructed, especially how they did about 30,000 mathematical calculations by hand. There were also a lot of politics involved during that time, which made it more incredible that it only took 16.5 years to build. 

After the tour I had big plans to grab laksa and Lode Pies back at Circular Quay, but soon found out that most of the restaurants in the area are closed on the weekend. Since I was set on Lode Pies, I ended up taking a bus out to Surry Hills just to try their signature Pithivier pie with caramelized pork, shiitake mushroom and chicken gravy. Then for good measure I also bought their raspberry tart and an iced latte. Everything was absolutely divine, although it was way too much food for one person, so I took the tart with me to eat later.

I continued exploring Surry Hills as I made my way back to the nearest station. Surry Hills is a super trendy neighbourhood known for its fashion boutiques and hip coffee joints. I wouldn’t have made it there if not for Lode, so at the end I was happy I was forced to go out of my way for their pies. =P

After getting onto the train at Central Station, I promptly fell asleep, then accidentally overrode by a stop. I had to backtrack as I was going to the nursing home to see my great aunt before flying out that evening. After the visit, we went over to the Cabravale Club Resort for an early dinner, then both my uncles took us to the airport. Our flight to Hong Kong was the last flight to depart that evening. It was bittersweet leaving Sydney knowing that the bulk of my vacation was already over, but I was so grateful for the time I spent there. Last two entries coming up!