From Spit to Manly

May 28th

From high up in the hills

Epic 3 hour walk from Spit to Manly today. We started at Spit Bridge, a 40 minute bus ride from where I live in Newtown.

View from Spit Bridge

The three hour walk took us all along the harbour, from expensive houses overlooking the harbour, to cliffs. It was a hilly walk. After 3 hours of walking I was more than done with walking. Arriving at the wharf an accomplished lot, we took the scenic ferry back to the center of the city.

Keep it level!


Jono

Ice Bar Sydney

May 18th

Going to the Ice Bar near Circular Quay today. An ice bar is a bar that is made entirely out of ice, right down to the chairs and cups. The ice bar were going to used to be a part of the Minus 5 chain, but is now under new management, and operates at -16 degrees Celsius or 3 degrees Fahrenheit.

We got to the bar and, since it was rainy, the lady seemed shocked anyone had even come. Little did she know that I'm from New England. The price to get in was 20 Australian dollars, discounted from 30 because of renovations. It included one drink. cocktails in Australia are usually around 10-14 Australian dollars (about 9-13 dollars American depending on the day), because alcohol is heavily taxed, so 20 was not bad.

The actual bar itself was rather small, but it was filled with some really elaborate ice sculptures. The bartender was really friendly, and the Eskimo gear we borrowed was nice and warm. We had fun, but after 30 minutes we had enough. I'd certainly recommend going with a big group. It will never become a regular place to go, but it is a fun one-time novelty adventure.

Maureen, Sandra, Rose, and me

Cheers!


Jono

Sydney Opera House: An Australian Hero and Some Laughs

May 15th

Jessica Watson, the youngest person to have ever sailed around the world nonstop and unassisted

Today, I saw Jessica Watson arrive at the Sydney Opera House. Jessica, as of today, is the youngest person to have ever sailed around the world unassisted, and nonstop. She is 16 years old until Tuesday.

The crowd in front of the Sydney Opera House for Jessica Watson

The crowd at the Sydney Opera House, some thousands strong, waited from 11 am, when Jessica was supposed to arrive. We got there at around 1:30, because we stumbled upon it while walking through to the Royal Botanic Gardens.

The flotilla arrives

Jessica was only half an hour from shore. At this point hundreds of boats were alongside her to welcome her home. This slowed down the arrival of Jessica's bright pink boat a bit, but it was an impressive fleet.

Jessica's boat

Once on dry land, Jessica wobbled a bit, as it had been 7 months for her at sea. She walked down a pink carpet, as a new Australian hero. Kevin Rudd, the prime minister of Australia, was there to greet her. He called her a national hero. Issues of the amount of training she did (only 6000 nautical miles) aside, Jessica is an inspiration for girls everywhere. She showed, by her journey, that it is worthwhile to pursue your dreams.

After witnessing history (no big deal), we went to see a show at the Opera house (no big deal). The show was stand up with Janeane Garofalo, and Greg Behrendt. Janeane was briefly on Saturday Night Live, and Greg is most famous as the co-writer of the book He's Just Not That Into You. Both comedians were really funny, but it was obvious they were just off the boat. They both pronounced Melbourne like it looked instead of Mel-ben, and Greg had just discovered Tim Tams, the best biscuits ever.

The best quote from the show was "Young people with their faces and their hope". I also liked a very true comment made by Jane that went something like: "I'm glad no one realises Australia is here, because there is literally almost nothing wrong with this country. Better make sure no one finds out about you guys or they'll come and mess things up."

Cheers!


Jono


Video links
Jessica Watson Arrives at the Opera House
Kevin Rudd Speaks to Jessica

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.