When I was in Sydney, still miss it to this day, I passed the Opera House a million of times and every time I was amazed by the building and wondered how it would look inside but for a whole year I didn’t go inside. Just a week before I had to fly home I told myself I had to get inside the Opera House so just two days before flying home I took the tour: the Sydney Opera House: Summer House Tour.
Sydney Opera House: Summer House Tour
The reason I took the Sydney Opera House: Summer House Tour and a different tour or a concert was because this tour was a bit more in my budget, $45, as a backpacker. I was really broke after a year of backpacking but so worth it!
But like I said before I really wanted to see the inside of the Opera House.
So on Wednesday 28 January 2015 (5.30pm) I finally went inside and I don’t regret any second of it!
We had to meet the guide downstairs where they took a picture of you and they Photoshop the Opera House in it. Very touristic I know! Not my thing to do so I just skipped it.
After that our tour started through the Opera House! Our guide was amazing, I forgot his name sorry, you could tell he loved the building and talking about it.
First we went into the Drama Theatre where he introduced himself and where he asked our names and where we came from. When you told him where you came from he talked about a connection about the country and the Opera House. Which was pretty amazing to hear.
The connection with Belgium was that the man behind the construction of the Sydney Opera House was Sir Eugene Goossens (1893-1962), an English conductor and composer of Belgian origin, who was director of the NSW State Conservatorium of Music at the time.
After that we went into the Playhouse. He talked about the play that was going on, Girls Girls Girls. Unfortunately we couldn’t go into the Joan Sutherland Theatre because they were rehearsing. After that we walked through the Studio where the actors were having a little break. It was pretty cool to see everyone just relaxing in all their outfits. Looks a bit weird, haha.
Part of the play: Girls Girls Girls
Then we went backstage where we couldn’t take pictures, which I understand. We also took a look into the recording studio.
Even though they were rehearsing in the Concert Hall it was possible to take a quick look inside. Because they were rehearsing we weren’t allowed to take pictures. They were rehearsing for the movie ‘The Godfather’. This means you can see the movie at the Opera House but the instrumental is live. It sounded amazing!
Then we went to the Northern Foyers that looks over the water. Here you could see purple carpet. Our guide told us that when Pavarotti was there,1983, he refused to walk on it because purple carpet is the same color of a coffin lining. Yeah I wouldn’t want to walk on that either!
In the meantime our guide talked about how they put the Opera House together but I don’t want to say too much because then I have spoiled everything.
So if you want to know more about the Opera House (architect, history, ect) I would definitely recommend taking the Sydney Opera House Summer House Tour or a different one.
Our last stop of the tour we took a look inside the Bennelong. This is the restaurant of the Opera House. The restaurant will open on the first of July 2015 so when we took a look inside there was nothing there.
I work in hospitality and would love to eat there some day but I think this would be out of my backpackers budget, haha.
To finish the tour you will get a free drink at the bar that looks out over the Harbour Bridge. Which is just amazing. I can look at that bridge every day!
Did you know you can buy a tile of the Sydney Opera House roof?! I had no idea!
Would you consider taken the Sydney Opera House: Summer house tour or would you prefer seeing a concert?
Public transport: Catch a bus, train or ferry to Circular Quay. From there it is a 5-7min walk to the Opera House
Summer House Tour price: $45
Duration: 1 hour (if I remember correctly)
Oh men, krijg heimwee van deze post! Anderhalf jaar geleden door Australie gereisd, en uiteraard ook dit fenomenale gebouw bezocht. Zelf geen tour gedaan helaas, heb ik soms nog wel eens spijt van haha. Gelukkig had het land nog zoveel ander moois te bieden!
Author
Dat gevoel ken ik Elana! Telkens ik iets over Australië post wil ik terug! Het land is zeker heel mooi en soms moet je keuzes maken maar na een jaar denken heb ik toch maar een tour gedaan, haha.
Het klinkt wel heel leuk! Ik en zelf nog nooit in Sydney geweest, maar zou het wel willen.
Author
Het was zeer interessant! Zeker doen als je de kans krijgt!
Wauw, wat ongelofelijk mooi!! Liefs, Florentine
Author
Ja the Sydney Opera House is echt prachtig! Ik kan er gewoon naar blijven kijken.
Wat is dat prachtig! Als ik ooit naar Sidney, weet ik het wel… x
Author
Leuk om te horen! 🙂
Wel vrij duur voor een uurtje, desondanks dat het zeker de moeite is hé, maar 45 dollar AUD, dang! Wat was de connectie met België 😀
Author
Het blijft inderdaad duur maar Australië is sowieso duur en je wilt niet weten hoeveel de andere tours koste…
De man achter de constructie was Sir Eugene Goossens een Engelse conducteur/leider van het Sydney Opera House en een componist van Belgische origine,hij was directeur van het NSW State Conservatorium of Music.
Wat leuk om zo een kijkje binnen te kunnen nemen. Wij hebben gekeken naar een leuk concert toen wij er vorig jaar waren, maar het was inderdaad pittig aan de prijs. Nu kan ik het toch ook een beetje afvinken 😉
Author
Ja inderdaad dat had ik ook en ik vond niet echt een concert dat ik echt leuk vond en om daar dan geld aan uit te geven…
Ik wilde er wel graag binnen dus daarom deze optie! haha. Blij dat je het nu toch een beetje hebt kunnen afvinken. 😉