Opera House and Manly Beach

Going to the Sydney Opera House yesterday allowed me to check off one item on my bucket list!  It was bigger than I imagined.  First of all its two buildings each featuring a large concert hall.  My favorite story about the Opera House was that its haunted.  There are two seats in the opera and ballet hall that if sold a light always breaks or something bad happens on stage.  However if the seats remain unsold nothing bad happens and the seats are folded down as if a ghost is sitting in them.  Our tour guide was great.  She said she didn't believe the story herself until she became an usher and saw it for herself.



Another cool thing we did today was go to Manly Beach.  Although its a major tourist trap it had a beautiful beach.  The sand was more orange than it is at home, and the ocean was warm enough to swim in.  Several of us took full advantage of that fact, even though it was cloudy and "cold" by Australian standards.  The main reason for visiting Manly was a visit to Environment Center.  We got to learn all about the penguins that live in the harbor and how the volunteers help protect them.  We also got a walk though of the Co-op shopping center in the back of the center.  Overall, Manly was very quaint and fun to walk through.  The best part was the beautiful orange sand and swim in the ocean!