Sydney again – Hobbits, birthdays and dismal batting

View to the Opera House from our upgraded room.

Wow, I'm 57 again. I awoke on the 27th, convinced that I was 58, to discover that I had gained a year of life and that I was, in fact, only 57. What a great feeling. Unfortunately, I also awoke with the mother of all sore throats. It was only a question of time I suppose. I have moved around more, and had more flights, in the past 3 months that at any other time in my life so it's a minor miracle that this is my first lurgy of the trip.

Not feeling great, I opted for a quiet day watching England's bowlers finally limit Australia to a low first innings score. I left for the cinema feeling buoyed that they might even win the test. Foolish I know, but we have to stay positive. 

Harbour Bridge and Opera House from down river.

My birthday treat was my first experience of the iMax phenomenon on the world's largest iMax screen. We watched The Hobbit, The Desolation of Smaug and, while the film was good, the iMax presentation was awful. The screen was so big, it was impossible to see all that happened in a scene. And this was particularly true for action scenes, where the movements were so 'in your face', and consequently so fast, that they simply blurred. Until 3D technology improves significantly, I think I will stick to plain old-fashioned 2D in future.

These cheeky Kookaburras laughed at us. Perhaps
they thought we were English Batsmen.

The following day, seemingly eating a handful of razor blades with every swallow, I stayed at the hotel, took to my bed and left Fo to shop for the day. Dangerous I know, but I couldn't have mounted a decent defence of the bank account even if I had accompanied her. Instead, I watched England's batsmen fall apart yet again and squander the first real chance to put the Aussies under pressure. With hindsight, shopping might have been less painful. At some point (still wondering was why I wasn't batting at number three), I fell asleep and stayed that way until late afternoon.

I can only assume that the heat drove her to it.

In the evening we enjoyed some great, but expensive, Chinese food overlooking Circular Quay harbour before heading to the Opera House. Keen to experience the famed acoustics, we'd acquired the only tickets available, a mixed programme of classical, jazz, theatre and pop music. The artists, other than the Australian Philharmonic, were unknown to us and, with the exception of the jazz musician James Morrison, were some way past their best. Still, this was always more about the Opera House than the music, and we enjoyed ourselves anyway.

Tomorrow we leave Australia and head for Middle Earth. And I am taking with me a cold worthy of a fighting Uruk-hai.