Sydney - Part 4

[I know, what gives with the two week break?  All I have to say is that I have a really good excuse and you'll find out soon enough...]

Our day trip to the Blue Mountains started out with one of my favorite things - the Australian wildlife.  Well, not so much "wildlife", as a local zoo, but still.  We were greeted as soon as we got off the bus with a game keeper and a baby wallaby.  So.  Cute.

The wombat is my new favorite animal, he's just a big wobbly fuzzball.

There were a lot of birds there, too.  I can't remember what the first one is (an emu?) but the second one is an Ibis.  I've always wondered what they look like.

And then came the koalas!  Still sleeping, and I still didn't get to hold one.

David absolutely fell in love with the kangaroos.  "I told them we'd take this one, and for them to ship it back to Singapore..." he said, "...he's coming on Tuesday."  Good to know.  Millie will be thrilled.

An albino peacock!

And an albino Wallaroo!  He looked like a big giant rat, but because he bounced instead of scuttled, it sort of made up for it.

Next stop was a boomerang lesson, where David won the Best Boomerang Throw of the Day award.

Our next stop was to view The Three Sisters rock formation in the Blue Mountains, where first we were greeted by an aboriginal playing the diggerydoo.

For background, here is the Three Sisters legend:

The Aboriginal dream-time legend has it that three sisters, 'Meehni', 'Wimlah' and Gunnedoo' lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe.

These beautiful young ladies had fallen in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe, yet tribal law forbade them to marry.

The brothers were not happy to accept this law and so decided to use force to capture the three sisters causing a major tribal battle.

As the lives of the three sisters were seriously in danger, a witchdoctor from the Katoomba tribe took it upon himself to turn the three sisters into stone to protect them from any harm. While he had intended to reverse the spell when the battle was over, the witchdoctor himself was killed. As only he could reverse the spell to  return the ladies to their former beauty, the sisters remain in their magnificent rock formation as a reminder of this battle for generations to come.

(The Three Sisters are the rock formation in the bottom left, in case you were wondering what to look for:)

Nearby was an "artists representation" of the legend.  Somehow, my imagination didn't quite picture this:

I mean, the "sisters" look positively gleeful, like they're having a water balloon fight, not facing imminent death.  And yes.  I'll say it.  The nakedness is a bit distracting.  Especially the witch doctor to appears to be casting a Spiderman web.

To cleanse your mental palate, there were beautiful parrots stationed nearby.

We headed on a railcar down into the valley...

Where I learned that eucalyptus trees shed their bark every year, like snakes!

Our last stop was to see a pretty waterfall...

...and a view to remind why they were called the "Blue" Mountains.

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And thus ends our whirlwind trip of SE Australia.  G'day and good on ya!

Sydney - Part 3

The Sydney Opera House

So many things we learned today, the first of which was that Joern Utzon's design for the opera house was actually picked from the "discard" pile.

The "shells" were originally designed as parabolas (smooth, not pointy), but they couldn't figure out how to build the darn things.  After a couple of years, Utzon finally came up with a solution, based on taking shapes from a sphere.  Being a math nerd, I find this completely brilliant, but since there are others out there who are not (math nerds), I'll move on.

The plan was to build it in four years for 7 million dollars - it actually took 16 years and 102 million dollars.  One million ceramic tiles imported from Sweden may have had something to do with it.  And did you know they're actually yellow?

You get a nice view of the Harbor Bridge from the front.  See all the people who have climbed to the top of the bridge?

Here's a shot from inside one of the halls, with a view of the smaller hall next to it.

Even the inside is 60's spectacular.

And spotted in the gift shop, someone wearing a University of Minnesota sweatshirt!  A little taste of home...

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Hopping back on the bus, one of the last stops was a view of the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House from afar.  Really far.

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Next time - Boomerangs, Wombats and The Three Sisters.  I love Australia!

Sydney - Part 2

[Sorry for the short post - I'm a bit overwhelmed by my other life and needed something that consisted of mostly pictures.]

Our first stop in the blink-of-an-eye tour of Sydney was the Queen Victoria building.  Originally built in the late 19th century as a government building, in the 1950's it fell into disrepair.  And what to do when that happens?  Turn it into a mall!  Inside is a "visual feast of Victorian fussiness".

The Great Australian clock (there's a little mechanical guy who constantly runs around the outside of the clock to represent the continual passing of time)...

The Australian coat of arms (sheep, ship, shovel and... hay).

And more colors I wish I had in my house.

Next up?  Sydney Opera House, or - "Huh.  It's Not White."

Sydney - Part 1

Our little trip from Melbourne to Sydney was a long time in the making.  It all started a few months ago when we found out David's dad was coming to visit and that we would be going to Melbourne for sure.  What else should we do besides Melbourne?  Since David never does anything halfway, his suggestions encompassed: "Well, we have to go to Sydney.  And if we're in Melbourne and Sydney, we have to go to Canberra to see the capital.  And since we're on that side maybe we should go to the Gold Coast too, and Brisbane.  I know, we can drive from Melbourne to Sydney!"  Hold on there, sport, how long are we planning on being in Australia?  And drive from Melbourne to Sydney?  Isn't that like, 700 miles?  With nothing in between?  I polled all my Australian friends about this plan, and they all looked at  me like I was crazy.  "Why would you drive?" they all asked, "didn't you know you can fly for like, eighty dollars?  And it only takes an hour?"  After much convincing, cajoling and arguing, David was finally talked out of the drive, though he wasn't happy about it.  "Hmph.  I bet we're really missing out."  Really?  Missing out on a 16 hour car ride with a guy who only listens to public radio, when I could be eating in fabulous restaurants and wandering around the Sydney opera house?  I think I'll survive.

After arriving in Sydney and, on the way, learning why people tell you not to drive in the city (crazy traffic, tons of one-way streets), we found the hotel and immediately took off for a harbor tour.  It was evening, and the lights of Darling Harbor were spectacular.

Under the Harbor Bridge...

...and there it is!  The opera house!

We wandered off the boat, found a great seafood restaurant, and stared at the Sydney Opera House all during dinner.  So much better than eating gas station snacks in a car.  Right, David?