A Walkabout Sydney

May 8th

There are no ancient ruins near Sydney's skyline, so they made them

Set out for the Australian Museum today, which I knew was near Hyde Park. Unfortunately, I didn't know where exactly, so me and my friend Dora had to walkabout a bit.

War Memorial

We ended up at an ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, for recap) memorial. It was an elaborate monument complete with a reflective pool up front. Inside the actual monument there are 120,000 stars, one for each troop that Australia sent into battle during World War I.

Fallen soldier inside the monument

After walking out of the ANZAC memorial, we found our way to the Australian Museum.

Aboriginal dance hat

The first exhibit we entered was a massive exhibit on indigenous Australians. Aboriginal facts are hard to follow, because there are hundreds of tribes, and each mythology is different. It is wonderful to see efforts to preserve the mythology of many tribes. Many are in danger of being lost from human history.

Praying for dinosaurs to come back to life

The next exhibit we went through was called 'Surviving Australia'. It had a really fun portion that let you interact with deadly animals. After getting (visually) bitten by each animal you were told what to do for first aid. The animals included: sharks, crocodiles, snakes, and the Sydney Funnel Spider.

Rex

The last important exhibit we entered was the dinosaur one. This one had real dinosaur bones. I can't believe how behemoth these creatures were!

Venomous Sydney Funnel Spider cage

We ended up walking around a lot after this, as it was rather nice out. In the course of our walking, we went through the Royal Botanic Gardens, to Circular Quay, and into the customs house near Circular Quay, which had a replica of Sydney that you could stand above!

Sydney replica in the customs house

Back in the Royal Botanic Gardens, we discovered some really pretty sites. A garden pyramid was on one side of the park, and fake ruins were in another area. We ended up revisiting the Art Gallery of New South Wales (free) before heading towards Martin Place.

Pyramid

Martin Place is where several scenes from The Matrix were filmed. It is most recognisable in the famous fountain scene.

Matrix Fountain Scene
I was just standing in front of that fountain...not that many people were wearing suits

Tomorrow the Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves!


Jono

Statue outside of St. Mary's with Sydney Tower in the backdrop

P.S. In the course of meandering we also walked into St. Mary's. Photos are not allowed inside, but it had high archways , and reminded me of much older churches in Europe. It is still in use as a church, and there were several weddings going on today! We saw a bride and groom taking photos outside.