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

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.

Fish and Fairy Floss

April 16th

One of my favourite views of the
ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) Bridge
from a secluded park

Ended up walking all the way from Newtown to the Sydney Fish Market in Pyrmont, a 40 minute walk. The Sydney Fish Market is the largest in the southern hemisphere. Every weekday there is a large auction of fish. The fish for all the restaurants in Sydney, and beyond first go through this market.

Outside the Sydney Fish Market

Following the fish market, I met up with a few people at Circular Quay (Circulay 'key'), a central transportation hub in Sydney, where we all decided to walk across the Harbour Bridge.

Sandra walking through the Fish Market

It was not as bad of a walk as I thought it would be, as it only took about 15 minutes. Luna Park was our final destination, right on the side of the bridge. The entrance to the park is marketed by a humongous (and dodgy) smiley face that is modeled after the creepy face at Coney Island. Within the park is also the oldest operating fun house in the entire world.

The Harbour Bridge with Luna Park beneath

The park is very small with only a handful of rides. Still, it reminded me of many other carnivals, and the fun times I've had at them in the past. I only rode one ride, because it was a whopping ten dollars a ride. I mostly just walked about and took in the sights.

Creepy smiley face

It's pretty cool to see a ferris wheel operating with the picturesque view of the Harbour Bridge in the background and the rest of the harbour as well.

While taking in the picturesque view, I ate fairy floss. Fairy floss is what Aussies call cotton candy. The floss really completed the experience! Tomorrow I am going to Star City Casino, the 2nd largest casino in Australia.

Keep it level!


Jono

Taronga Zoo

March 19th

My size compared to the largest bear in the world

Classes have started to pick-up . I've survived 3 weeks of lectures and I'm finally getting settled into my tutes (tutorials), which are very similar in class size to Bryant. I'm very prepared for participation in these tutes (10%-15% of the final grade), coming from business classes at Bryant as well. I have my first two items due Monday: I must engage in a debate on Deor in English, and a 500 word essay in sociology. I'm not too worried about the essay, as I just wrote more than 4/5th of that essay in this blog post alone, and sociology is of vast interest to me anyways (one of my minors).

Seal at the entrance to the Taronga Zoo

In other news, I finally made it to the Taronga Zoo! It was just a short ferry ride from the Central Business District. The zoo has some breathtaking views of the CBD. In one particular exhibit mountain goats climbed terrain backed by the opera house!

Look at the Opera House in the background of that goat!

Th exhibits at Taronga are impressively varied. They contain animals that are endemic to Australia, as well as ones from around the world.


Taronga is very good at breeding. The Taronga Zoo is the 2nd zoo in the world to successfully breed the Australian native platypus, and most animals have offspring within the zoo. A young gorilla jumped on its mother's back while we watched, and its mother handed it some cabbage. In another case, two elephants shaded their young from the sun.

Little one rides on its mother's back while consuming cabbage

So what was my favourite animal? By far it was the Meerkat, because I do not remember ever seeing one in a zoo before. Take a look for yourself.

Meerkat

We ended the trip to the zoo with an educational and intriguing bird show. The zoologist showed us some unique birds up close and put on a show for us with birds flying every which way. If you are ever in Sydney, DON'T miss this bird show, and Taronga Zoo in general. I liked this zoo even more so than the world famous Bronx Zoo, or the San Diego Zoo. It takes about 4-5 hours to fully see, so plan accordingly.

Bird show with the Sydney CBD skyline in the background

Oh! and here is a really cool (I think at least) video I took of a bird helping her chicks back into their exhibit: click here


Keep it level!


Jono De Costa

elephant shade

Am I the only one that thinks this fella is goofy looking?

A Tribute to the Queen

March 6th/7th

Standing under one of the ginormous plants in the Royal Botanic Gardens

The Queen Victoria Building is a sight to behold. It is an old Victorian building that has been converted into a shopping centre. Its beautiful intricate design is reminiscent of an old English mansion, only it has got moving stairs running right through the middle of it.

Grey headed flying fox--these Australia native bats are some of the largest in the world
they typically stay in roosts during the day of hundreds to thousands of bats and are quite common in Sydney.
What is almost more stunning is the fact that beneath the building is an elaborate set of shopping tunnels that continue where the QVB left off. I did not realise that I was standing over floors of stores when walking on the main thoroughfare in the Central Business District.

(Will update this with photos of the Queen Victoria Building soon)

Vivid painting at the Art Gallery of New South Wales

The day after visiting the QVB, I ventured with Zach into the Royal Botanic Gardens area near Circular Quay. We first went to the Art Gallery of New South Wales, a state funded art gallery. It exhibited primarily Australian artwork but also had artwork from around the world. It was a mid-range sized art museum with several floors, not bad for free.

Statue outside the gallery

The Royal Botanic Gardens held a wonderment of pathways stretched along neatly planted flowers, and other flora. The Gardens sprawled in and around the harbour and ended at a gate near the Opera House. Quite the dedication to the Commonwealth of England I must say.

Suitcases shaped like humans, how metaphorical

2nd week of classes start tomorrow.

Cheers!


Jono De Costa

P.S. I've naught been this healthy in a long time. I've been walking all over the city and I plan on taking up jogging nightly under the cool breeze.

Powerhouse Museum

Feb 26th

Madoc proving he knows where his country is located on a map

Went to the Powerhouse Museum on Harris Street with Chad, Zach, and Madoc. It consists of a big warehouse that used to literally be a powerhouse. The designer of the museum deliberately made it so that you get lost within the museum's exhibits. It was really difficult to navigate to a specific exhibit because many walkways just end.

Madoc, Zach, and Chad, deciphering

Many exhibits were interactive. One particularly cool one had you smell synthetic aromas and try to pick out the real smell of a sample set of food. This is really interesting to me because I unfortunately know that much of our food's smell is now synthetically made (McDonald's burgers not the least of which). Some other exhibits: let you try chocolate, had you pick out the correct surgery procedures, simulated what it was like to be in zero-G, and let you mix your own fireworks and simulate the explosion.

Tubes of synthetic smells, which one is real lemon extract?

My favourite interactive exhibit was one where you verse a robot in a game of 'who can press buttons quickest as they light up'. The robot always wins. He also danced with some particularly funny disco moves.

Motoman, interactive bot

Needless to say the museum was world class. It's in my top 5 museums that I've ever been to, and if you know me at all then you know that is quite the bold statement, as I've been to a lot of museums across the globe. Best of all it only cost AUS 5 to get into. This is a must do in Sydney.

Funny 80s Australian AIDS education cartoon

Keep it level!


Jono De Costa

P.S. There was also old arcade machines with Dig Dug, Galaga, and Pacman on them. We spent way too much time playing those games today.

Dancing musical bearsSome important inventor , whose name I should probably remember, comes back to life

Wicked in Oz

Feb 24th

Ozmopolitan

I saw Wicked today and it was wicked good. The plot lays out an intricate and operatic set of tragedies nonexistent in the original story. It is darker in nature, one character even gets hung up and beaten in a field. The story turns everything on its side with the wicked witch, the protagonist, actually being a purveyor of justice. The tragedy is that she does naught but positive for Oz and everyone hates her for it. A totalitarian regime labels her falsely evil because she is their opposition.Me and Michele

My favourite song is called "No Good Deed". It talks about the wicked witch and how no matter what good she does she seems punished by it; she is ready to give up, but to do good is in her nature, and she is cursed by this.

Possible Spoilers: Link

The set changes were so elaborate. none of the special effects came off as cheesy. The only negative mention about the play is the ending. It ends happily, unlike the original story. I enjoy happy endings, but for the story to come full circle the story must end badly to retain its meaning.


Keep it level!


Jono De Costa

P.S. Hearing the line "There's something wrong in Oz" takes on new meaning here.