sid-nee

Yesterday was a big walking day. First I woke up at 5:30, which didn't seem too bad for the first night of jet lag. So I spent the wee hours of the morning reading in the lounge, where there is a giant brown couch, deep cushions, huge ottoman, where I want to spend every lazy moment.

Naomi was arriving at 7ish, and through a series of mixed messages with the check in people, she headed up to my room to wait for me while I waited for her in the lounge. At about 8 I went upstairs and discovered her. She had been trying to wake up another girl in the room by called my name and the other girl was very sleepily ignoring her. We rejoiced and I marked the occasion by eating a power bar. (“Wait, you ate a power bar? I don't remember that.” --Naomi)

First stop: Paddy's Market for fresh produce. We got a bunch of stuff for salad and snacks and then ravenously ate back at YHA. I miss salad dressing and have vowed to buy a bottle at the next opportunity.

Second stop: Railway station to buy tickets to Byron Bay or just bug the ticket people about various passes, railway savers, student rates, YHA fares. Naomi's ticket guy sucked, but my lady was really cool and added up every single train ride I plan to take (9) and then established that none of the rail passes would save me any money. So after all that, we didn't buy tickets and instead “thought about it.”

I asked Naomi what we would do to mark the July 4 holiday and she remarked that I was wearing red earmuffs. And a white shirt. And blue jeans. We sang patriotic songs (badly) on our walk through the city. We both love You're a Grand Ole' Flag but neither of us knows the words beyond, you're a high flying flag.

On our way to Sydney Opera House! But first actually, we passed the NSW state library first, and it had a really impressive exterior (Victorian/Gothic stonework! Stained glass windows! Copper dome!) and an even cooler interior. A huge old map from 1644 was done in stone in the foyer, and you know how I love maps. The library had a huge reading room like NY Public Library, books stacked on three story walls with old fashioned banisters and ladders, open white ceiling that felt like a giant sky-light. We wandered into an exhibition of old panoramic photos of Australia, and I impressed Naomi by identifying most of them and reporting where they were taken. (2 movies, 2 books, and lot of Wikipedia research.)

Sydney Opera House! You all know what this looks like! Up close, it is way cooler. I thought the canopies were made out of canvas and billowed in the wind, but really they are stone and tiled in a shiny/matte pattern. Up close, they really do resemble huge clam shells. There was really good people watching and bridge-walker watching, so we sat awhile and marveled.

Then off to the Royal Botanical Gardens which are like a great big manicured park with birds and bats and picnickers. We saw lots of fig trees (ficus!), ferns, bamboo which is really loud and frightening when blowing in the wind, seriously “creak creak creaky” as if they are going to fall down on you any moment, fruit bats hanging upside down, a wedding party photograph session, mini trees inside wrought iron jails, palm trees, a pond, lots of birds that we are not allowed to feed! Ever! And of course, the Wollemi Pine, thought to be millions of years extinct until it was found growing happily in Australia and now you can buy your own Wollemi Pine in the gift shop. Also we saw a group of twenty-somethings wearing red and black and tutus and hats and really just lots and lots of clothing that fit the color scheme, shouting and singing and drinking and they even had their own Donald Duck mascot. Maybe a class reunion? I wanted to join them with my red ear warmers but alas. While checking my hair for guano droppings I noticed that I had had a bloody nose and NAOMI DIDN'T TELL ME. Minus ten points.

Hungry and exhausted, we headed home but first stopped at Art Gallery NSW, because it was free. And the exterior was Victorian/Gothic/copper with Ionian pillars. SO PROUD that I can distinguish between pillar styles, thank you 6th Grade History Alive! I wanted to see the silk ikats of Central Asia, but the guard told us that it had just closed, but don't worry, “It's nothing, just a lot of clothes. You won't like it.”

We left our judgmental guard and slowly plodded home. Stopped to internet and discovered that SARAH PALIN RESIGNED!!??!?!!?! Wanted to spend the next three hours reading huffpo and mudflats and being flabbergasted and deliriously happy.

In celebration of our nation's birth, the bar next door was playing patriotic songs and having a pole-dancing competition to win a free trip to Fraser Island. We instead went to sleep.

Australian thing of the day: Custard Apple. Looks like an artichoke from a distance, a really lumpy giant guava from up close. It is squishy like a rotten apple. Inside is white, like a pear, but softer. It tastes like guava/mango/pear/apple. Once we established that it wouldn't make us gag, we cut it up and ate it in salad.
Verdict: Yum.