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rebeccmeister-Photos are at the end, for those who don't have long enough attention spans for narratives.
Yesterday, T, C, and I went for a hike along the shore. Although D had warned us that it wouldn't be all that impressive, we found it to be quite lovely indeed and are convinced that she must have visited some other shore.
We started out in our now-typical fashion for starting out, by eating breakfast and then having coffee in a cafe. "Coffee" here means "latte." I also introduced T to the marvel that is the almond croissant. I don't think he has ever lived in a land of baked goods before. Then we hopped on the train and on a bus and headed to the beach.
Oh, the beach. The beach along Sydney is grand. There are coves with pale, fluffy sand interspersed with rocky sandstone cliffsides. Our handy dandy guidebook recommended a two-hour hike along the shore with stops for swimming here and there, so that's what we did. Some of the highlights of the hike included: seeing an eel in a rocky tidepoo;, doing a wee bit of rock climbing; walking past a large, old cemetery; and of course people-watching.
Being the moron that I am, I neglected to put sunscreen on my feet and was rewarded with a painful chaco-line sunburn, as well as a not-quite-so-painful sunburn on the front part of my throat, the back of my left arm, and the backs of my calves. My sunburns are always so splotchy and annoying. Be grateful that you don't have to listen to me whine about them TOO much.
When we finished with the beach, we returned to the hostel for a bit and then set off to visit the State Library of New South Wales. Because that is what I do when I visit new places: I visit coffeeshops and libraries, and then I compare them to the terrible downtown Seattle Public Library and gripe about it for a while. I might spare you the last bit for today and opt for an alternate comparison, although that reminds me that when we visited the National Art Gallery we saw a work by the same guy who did the weird thing along the escalators with the eyeballs projected on egg-shaped surfaces that was accompanied by poetry. His art creeps me out. C took some amusing photos of that artwork which I might have a chance to post soon.
In any case, the state library was even more fun than I had anticipated. In addition to housing books, they had a really cool exhibit on escaped convicts, but unfortunately we did not have time to read all of the tales because we arrived there ten minutes before the museum portion closed. From what I got to read, the bushrangers were crazy folk prone to cannibalism and recapture.
For some reason, visiting the State Library reminded me of visiting the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. It's quite difficult to see actual books at the LoC, although there were plenty of other displays and exhibits of impressiveness. In contrast, it was pretty easy to see actual books in the State Library in addition to getting to see all of the other accessory things that have become attached to libraries in recent years: a coffeeshop, a gift shop, and tons of computers everywhere.
After the library, it was time for dinner. Being the amicable tour guide he is, T suggested that we go to a street that was lined with lots of restaurants and gay bars. I think it was my favorite street out of all of the places we visited, perhaps because it felt like it was full of more locals than the other, touristy areas we visited. We had a delicious dinner at a Thai restaurant and drinks at a nearby bar, and then walked back to the hostel and I called it a night.
Today, T and I will fly to Melbourne. C will be here for a few more days before he heads north. And thus the adventure continues...
Yesterday, T, C, and I went for a hike along the shore. Although D had warned us that it wouldn't be all that impressive, we found it to be quite lovely indeed and are convinced that she must have visited some other shore.
We started out in our now-typical fashion for starting out, by eating breakfast and then having coffee in a cafe. "Coffee" here means "latte." I also introduced T to the marvel that is the almond croissant. I don't think he has ever lived in a land of baked goods before. Then we hopped on the train and on a bus and headed to the beach.
Oh, the beach. The beach along Sydney is grand. There are coves with pale, fluffy sand interspersed with rocky sandstone cliffsides. Our handy dandy guidebook recommended a two-hour hike along the shore with stops for swimming here and there, so that's what we did. Some of the highlights of the hike included: seeing an eel in a rocky tidepoo;, doing a wee bit of rock climbing; walking past a large, old cemetery; and of course people-watching.
Being the moron that I am, I neglected to put sunscreen on my feet and was rewarded with a painful chaco-line sunburn, as well as a not-quite-so-painful sunburn on the front part of my throat, the back of my left arm, and the backs of my calves. My sunburns are always so splotchy and annoying. Be grateful that you don't have to listen to me whine about them TOO much.
When we finished with the beach, we returned to the hostel for a bit and then set off to visit the State Library of New South Wales. Because that is what I do when I visit new places: I visit coffeeshops and libraries, and then I compare them to the terrible downtown Seattle Public Library and gripe about it for a while. I might spare you the last bit for today and opt for an alternate comparison, although that reminds me that when we visited the National Art Gallery we saw a work by the same guy who did the weird thing along the escalators with the eyeballs projected on egg-shaped surfaces that was accompanied by poetry. His art creeps me out. C took some amusing photos of that artwork which I might have a chance to post soon.
In any case, the state library was even more fun than I had anticipated. In addition to housing books, they had a really cool exhibit on escaped convicts, but unfortunately we did not have time to read all of the tales because we arrived there ten minutes before the museum portion closed. From what I got to read, the bushrangers were crazy folk prone to cannibalism and recapture.
For some reason, visiting the State Library reminded me of visiting the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. It's quite difficult to see actual books at the LoC, although there were plenty of other displays and exhibits of impressiveness. In contrast, it was pretty easy to see actual books in the State Library in addition to getting to see all of the other accessory things that have become attached to libraries in recent years: a coffeeshop, a gift shop, and tons of computers everywhere.
After the library, it was time for dinner. Being the amicable tour guide he is, T suggested that we go to a street that was lined with lots of restaurants and gay bars. I think it was my favorite street out of all of the places we visited, perhaps because it felt like it was full of more locals than the other, touristy areas we visited. We had a delicious dinner at a Thai restaurant and drinks at a nearby bar, and then walked back to the hostel and I called it a night.
Today, T and I will fly to Melbourne. C will be here for a few more days before he heads north. And thus the adventure continues...
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| Breakfast in OZ |
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| Tate at the shore! |
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| Shoreside real estate |
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| Bin Your Butts: We tried. |
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| There were lots of lovely sandstone formations |
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| Cemetary by the shore |
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| The State Library of New South Wales For those who love a wee bit of library porn |
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| What a lovely day for a walk! |
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no subject
Date: 2006-12-06 10:00 pm (UTC)#1 - It looks like Tate is pooping in the garbage can. I find that hilarious.
#2 - The cool-looking circular holes in the sandstone are called Tafoni and are caused by the interaction of the salt water ions with the sandstone. It dissolves the cement that holds the sand grains together and loosens the grains. I don't remember WHY they form circular holes, but they do. And there's a lot of it in Australia. Supposedly there's some on Ayers Rock, which, of course, must have been near the ocean, once. Cool. :)
Love hearing about your adventures, keep it comin'!
no subject
Date: 2006-12-06 10:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-07 02:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-07 03:51 am (UTC)Keep having fun!
no subject
Date: 2006-12-07 06:13 pm (UTC)