A Quiet Ending to a Busy Week

Sydney, NSW, Australia

Wednesday, March 16th and Thursday March 17th, 2011

My last 2 days in Sydney were not nearly as jam packed as some of my previous days……and I was thankful for that. I took the time to visit the last few things I wanted to see and do a little resting and relaxing as well, After all I am on vacation so I think I’m allowed. Wednesday I made my way over to the Maritime Museum. Free to visit but make sure you have your entry sticker visible or they get upset. Anyway, as an Island nation/continent you can imagine the sea has played a very important role in many aspects of Australia’s history. While wandering through I found it quite interesting. They clearly have a love affair with the US Navy as there is a very large section dedicated to them.

This is the Westland Wessex Mark 31B used by the Royal Australian Navy from 1963 to 1989 for anti-submarine warfare training, sea-air rescue and as utility aircraft moving personal and equipment at sea. During the time they were in service they took part in many disaster efforts including the clean-up in Darwin after Cyclone Tracy.

A couple other interesting sections were the sections of European arrivals here. I love the old pictures and items on display from the trips families would have taken. No I’m not up to taking one of those voyages…..I don’t think I could spend 4 to 8 months on a boat……even a very big boat . Families would arrive with everything from clothing and jewelry to all their household belongings.

This is the medical chest that Doctors would have had on board the ships that were used to transport people from Europe to Australia. Each little bottle was labeled with a different medication.

There was also a small section about the children who were sent from the UK to various commonwealth colonies including Canada and Australia, in hopes of giving them a better life. There are some great tails of hardships that children faced once they arrived. For those coming to Australia is was often the heat and isolation of the Outback. In Canada it would have been the cold and the isolation of the prairies for many of them.

A couple of the boats used by members of the Australian teams in Olympic competition.

This is a beer can boat that was made for the Beer Can Regatta in Darwin. This boat was built for the 2001 Regatta by Lutz Frankenfeid, who was the founder of the very first Darwin Beer Can Regatta back in 1974. How am I not surprised that in Darwin they make boats out of beer cans. There certainly are a lot of empty cans and I am sure some people enjoy having to drink all that beer so they can make their boats.

I also enjoyed the section on the local aboriginals although it had nothing to do with life at sea. I did take the opportunity to learn a couple words in the Yolnu language…...which happens to come from the Northeast Arhemland in the Northern territory. I feel they are important and useful words. The first was baru which means crocodile. The second was napuki which refers to a non-aboriginal.

Some of the traditional items worn by Torres Strait Aboriginal dancers. Like many cultures, dance is a very important form of expression of culture to the Torres Strait people.

Some of the artwork also on display. These pieces are done on tree bark........ very commonly used by aboriginal artists.

Anyway, once I left the museum I wandered a bit and realized that I didn’t want to wander much at all. So I wandered my way over to The Rocks to find a place to hang out for a bit. I found a really great little restaurant with wine and couches……and some excellent homemade pasta as well. Not cheap but nothing in Australia is. I loved that even though I had stopped eating and drinking they didn’t bother me to leave. It was great.

An interesting piece of artwork that decorates one of the round abouts in The Rocks.

Sorry, sushi and gelato are not a good combination to me.......and then you throw in espresso. I just don't think it works.

Thursday I got up and thought about celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. I have heard that roughly 65% of the Australian population has some Irish blood so you can imagine they do celebrate pretty well here. I did see a whole lot of green and well the beer was being poured nice an early. I really didn’t have any plans except mail my new shoes home (I just don’t have room or them but it will be a long 2 month separation before I get to see them again). I made my way to Victoria Barracks because I had read about them but you can only visit at 10am on Thursday or 10am on Saturday. It was after 10 by the time I got there so I couldn’t look. I can’t lie; I don’t really know what they are so I wasn’t too sorry I missed them. I then made my way back down towards the harbour and then up the hill to check out the Sydney Observatory.

This is Nurses Walk in The Rocks. It was created in 1977 to recognize the first hospital in Sydney that stood on this site from 1788 to 1816.

This wasn’t even on my radar of things to check out in Sydney but I am glad I did. It is Australia’s oldest Observatory and was built in 1858 mainly to provide the time for ships in Sydney Harbour.

A shot of the Observatory.

Before the Observatory there was no accurate time standard in the city. It keeps time by using the movement of the stars. The ball on top would drop (well still does) at 1300 (that’s 1pm). At this time the officers on the ships in the harbour would check the running of their chronometers.

It was after 1300 so you can see that the ball has dropped.

Apparently Sydney is one of the only Observatories in the world who still has an operating ball. Unfortunately it was a cloudy day so I didn’t stay to look in the telescope (actually they wouldn’t let us since you couldn’t see anything) but it was a very interesting place to visit.

One of the old telescopes with a sliding chair beneath it. They don't actually use this one to look at stuff anymore.

This GPS looks far too complicated. Do you think it will talk to me in an Australian accent?

The new telescope. I think I like the way the old one looks better.

A closer look at the time ball on top of the Observatory.

The rest of the day was spent packing and organizing and that kind of thing. Friday I was off on the next leg of my adventure and reunion with Debi…..in the middle of no where.

One last look at the Harbour Bridge as seen from the Observatory.

Julie