First things first, the Sydney Opera House.
Backing up just a bit, we took the ferry in from Bondi Beach,
where we were staying with Carmel’s
relative, Miri.
SOH in the background and Carmel’s
sinking head in the foreground.
Bay panoramic.
Another shot of the building that was designed based on the inspiration of a
peeling orange.
Walking around The Rocks.
Aboriginal music.
It’s funny to hear these guys talk with perfect Australian accents.
They used to “steal” drunk people here
by putting them on ships—when they woke up out of their stupor, they
found that they were enslaved to work on the ship.
We strolled around the fish market before lunch.
Among the local fish such as barramundi, whiting, and Tazmanian
salmon, were also blue crabs.
They call their prawns bugs.
The lunch was absolutely delicious.
After lunch, we took off into the city again.
We went to the aquarium, which had these fun tunnels into the marine life
tanks.
Carmel uncomfortably
watches a seal glide overhead.
Da duh, da duh, da duh da duh da duh!!!
That was a close one! Exactly
this close.
The turtles swam with confidence around the sharks.
Usually you don’t see turtles moving so quickly.
Wavy stingray.
Lazy fish resting on the tunnel.
Outside the shark area, were other interesting things like the platypus,
which is sacred in Aboriginal culture.
Oooh, jellyfish.
Cool frogs.
Sock puppet fish. It looks
vaguely like Dick Cheney saying, “Waaah!!”
(Jon Stewart impression).
Penguins look funny when the waddle around.
They look funny when the float around too.
Lazy croc.
Croc didn’t like my last statement.
Excuse me! Coming through!
I wouldn’t go down there if I were you—there may be mysterious
dancing sea creatures deep below.
The odd and mysterious dancing sea creature of the deep ocean.
Next we went to the top of the center point tower, after going through a
virtual reality tour (like Disneyland’s Star Tours) of Australia
called OzTrek.
Lots of water around Sydney—the new Venice?
Stadium in the distance.
Taking a short-cut through the QVB mall, which is 100 times
more stylish than a Westgate mall.
We ran back to the Sydney Opera House to catch an opera inside.
We saw A Masked Ball, which was about a guy overreacting when he sees the
King hitting on his wife so he kills the king. Afterwards he apologizes. Perhaps they should have required
permits to carry a sword back in the day.
A walk around the OH at night.
Exclusive in-house restaurant.
We headed back home to Miri’s, where giant
spiders roam her walls. They are
harmless, eat other insects and don’t make webs so they keep the house
tidy. And you can pet them
(needless to say, we did not).
Bondi
Beach at night.
Our last day in Sydney, we left Bondi Beach to meet up with John Prescott, a colleague of
Carmel’s.
Dandelion fountain along the way to brunch.
A quick stop at one of Australia’s
many juice bars.
After lunch John pointed us in the direction of the botanic gardens, but
there were street signs if you were to ever get lost on your way to, say,
Moscow.
This sign was put there for Oxford
people—“Please walk on the grass”
A top view of the botanic gardens.
The gardens in Sydney
were fantastic.
Bats!
A pyramid greenhouse.
We stopped for dim sum (called yum cha here). Here is a family that silently sat
down and began to play with their digital portable devices.
We met up with Yas, who is a friend of a friend.
At the airport, our last photo before leaving Australia.
|