When you suddenly find yourself on a cruise ship, not going to Cairns as initially planned, but instead heading down to Sydney for an overnight tender during one of its heat waves, it doesn’t leave much time to decide what to do in town. With minimal cruise excursions available, and a bit of uncertainty around doing my usual approach of cramming as many musicals and theatrical productions in as possible, it proved to be a good opportunity to tick something that had been on my bucket list for a while, something that I have constantly said I’ve wanted to do but never found the time to action it. This item was to do a tour of one of Australia’s major architectural landmarks – The Sydney Opera House.
Unlike local offerings up here in Queensland, where venues that offer tours may consider a tour as “something on the side”, it is clear that such offerings are big business for the Sydney Opera House. Just from their website alone, they offered five specialty tours, and tours in six languages in addition to English – French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean and Mandarin. While I wish that my schedule allowed for the comprehensive two-hour backstage tour, with the promise of an architectural, scenic and historical look at the Opera House, complemented by air conditioning for a good portion of the tour, I opted to go on the aptly named ‘The Sydney Opera House Tour‘, pitched as allowing guests to “discover the legendary history and extraordinary secrets of the Sydney Opera House”, and is pretty much run every day of the year.
First of all, before diving into this review, I would just like to acknowledge the amazing box office service me and my family received from the Sydney Opera House. Booking this tour only the day before from the cruise ship, expecting to maybe arrive on-land by noon, we booked an early afternoon tour. So, on an incredibly hot day, we found ourselves at the tender port just before 9 am. Great. The team was more than willing to amend our booking to an earlier session, and while it is not something I would expect every time or take for granted (especially from the context of seeing a show there), I would like to acknowledge the extra little bit of service they provided.
The tour commenced just outside the exterior-facing Sydney Opera House gift shop (aka. The Welcome Centre), also located adjacent to the restaurant and dining strip (which as I would learn, sold surprisingly expensive bottles of water). There was a little bit of confusion on our part around what exactly to do around check-in (pretty much show your ticket to the tour guide), but with bags stowed away securely, we departed promptly at the designated time, and commenced a tour that while being an hour in length, really epitomised the quote “time flies when you’re having fun”.
While I unfortunately cannot remember our tour guide’s name, they were informative and were always willing to answer questions from the tour group. They sufficiently kept the narrative running around the initial development of the Sydney Opera House, particularly around the original architect Jørn Utzon, the events that commenced following the change of government from one political party to another that ultimately led to Utzon leaving the country and never seeing his masterpiece in-person, and Peter Hall who completed the work on the acclaimed building. Even if you are well familiar with the story, and can acknowledge that its presentation is arguably a bit subdued to tailor towards the broad audiences taking the tour, they paid proper homage to the works of both architectural stars, in many ways cut through a lot of the drama that can blur the artistry and effort of many that went into the building itself, and didn’t shy away from the events of their founding.
If you are a regular at the Sydney Opera House, then you probably would already be familiar with many points of interest in the tour. but if you are looking at the tour through the lens of a tourist or someone like myself who doesn’t regularly get the opportunity to visit the landmark, then you will likely find the tour to be very comprehensive. Starting with a short 5-minute movie about some of the works that have been performed at the Sydney Opera House over its 50-year history, the tour takes guests on a short walk around its exterior, offering some picturesque views of the Sydney Harbour, Bennelong and surrounding areas, and a comprehensive tour throughout the foyers and (in our case) the Sydney Opera House’s two largest venues – the Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre.
A notable downside of this comprehensive tour is its physical demand, which can be challenging for individuals with mild physical impairments, which aren’t a constant element of the tour, but instead come in short, steep bursts. My brother struggled with all the stairs, and another member of our tour group, while soldiering on, you could tell they enjoyed the relief of a seat whenever we stopped for even a minute or two. Ultimately this is something that they make clear when you book, but I would strongly suggest keeping this in mind should you opt to go on this tour. Thankfully there were more than enough opportunities for quick breaks, as our tour guide shared fun titbits and information about the location we were in, in addition to sharing their own memories, experiences and anecdotes about attending different performances at the venues.
Alternatively, since everyone deserves to enjoy the tour without pain or complication, they offer two tours daily aimed at those who may require their mobility needs to be considered, which can be booked by directly contacting the Sydney Opera House.
But on a more positive note, while you don’t get any exclusive behind-the-scenes back-of-house looks that other venues might provide as standard with their tour, you cover a lot of ground in the hour, get to enjoy some amazing views, a comprehensive insight into the venues you visit, and if lucky, a sneak peek at rehearsals and something happening on stage. In my case, the Concert Hall was set up for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 in Concert, which provided a clear unobstructed view of the dazzling theatre and allowed for photography (always a plus for me). On the other hand, stopping at Joan Sutherland Theatre meant we got the rare opportunity to watch a rehearsal of the Australian Ballet in the former half of their season of Swan Lake. Even if this was more of a fly-on-the-wall experience, it was a fascinating one nevertheless, and while experiences will vary tour-to-tour, kudos must also go to the companies that make opportunities like this – to potentially even inspire the next generation of performers – possible.
As I mentioned before, the tour [really epitomised the quote “time flies when you’re having fun”], as after it concluded I felt like we had covered a lot of ground, but was left wanting to learn and hear about even more – and that technical tour has definitely replaced the main tour on my bucket list. Even as someone who has spent five years working across performing arts venues here in Queensland, it is always fascinating to appreciate the architectural styles of different venues through that specific lens and immerse yourself in the culture and design choices of that venue. With the luxury of being located in one of Australia’s most prominent tourist areas, the Sydney Opera House takes advantage of this by offering so many tours every day, but in paying respect to their history, don’t toe the line at “gimmicky tourist trap” but instead provide a comprehensive and rewarding experience that I can highly recommend considering on your next visit to Sydney.
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Pricing
With multiple tours taking place pretty much every day with only a few exceptions, The Sydney Opera House Tour runs for approximately 1 hour and is priced at $43.00 AUD per adult, $33.00 AUD for concession card holders and $23.00 AUD for children between 5 and 15 years of age. From April 2024, these prices will have $2 AUD added to their base price. The content of the tour and photography opportunities may vary based on what is happening in the Sydney Opera House, this article reflects a sampling of photographs that I was allowed to capture during my tour.
A ‘tour and dine’ opportunity is also available for $80.00 AUD | $70.00 AUD | $45.00 AUD, which offers a meal and drink at either the Opera Bar or House Canteen from a select menu.
It is also possible to buy an official Souvenir Guidebook upon booking the tour online for $18.00, which I did. It is a nice keepsake of the tour, and a lot of work has gone into creating it and it made for an interesting read, but some clarity around where and when to pick it up would have been nice instead of just assuming it would be given to us at some point (You must collect it at the Welcome Centre).
Hearing the Tour Guide
Every member of the tour group is provided with a pair of headphones and a radio receiver at the commencement of the tour, which is used throughout the tour so you can hear the guide. The audio was consistently crisp and clear, and by sticking with just headphones, there was more or less zero discomfort through constant wear. The signal also carried across to the televisions used at some points in the tour as well, so you should go in expecting to hear every word perfectly.
Imagery in this Article
Image Credit for All Images in this Article: The Otaku’s Study
