Our Adventures Take Us To Sydney

Diane and I went to Sydney a couple of days before the start of our seminar to purchase some materials for the seminar attendees and to do some reconnaissance for some planned activities later in the week. That meant that we had to make a couple of different trips to downtown Sydney. While there we had a great time seeing the sights and playing the tourist role.

One of the first things we noticed was that like many large cities we’ve been to, there were many sidewalk vendors and performers. In this case an Aboriginal, playing a Didgeridoo, was willing to have his picture taken for a small voluntary contribution. Diane didn’t want to saddle up too close, as you can see.

This street performer calling herself, “Bendy Em,” was quite amazing, except she put on a hard sell plea for contributions.

As a contortionist, she twisted herself into several unattractive and painful positions, and then climbed into a clear plastic box that was not much bigger than a milk crate. If you’re interested, she has a web-site: bendyem.com.

Both Diane and I posed for pictures of famous landmarks in the background. Here we have the Sydney Opera House. We have dozens of pictures of it.

Diane is sitting on the wharf beneath the Sydney Harbor Bridge. It is a beautiful bridge, and seems to just beg to have its picture taken – so we obliged.

Another of our street performers didn’t perform much. He just sat there motionless for hours on end – spray painted silver—while people (not us) put money in his box. Some folks will do anything for a buck. In this case he has to rent his space (on the sidewalk) from the city of Sydney.

This performer wasn’t trying to perform; nevertheless more than a few of us tourists took its picture. It was sitting on the railing of an outdoor café.

This guy, and all of his cousins, kept walking away from us when we tried to take their picture. That long beak was very handy for them as the grubbed around under the trees.

While I’m on a roll with pictures of birds, we enjoyed watching these Cockatoos dance around with each other. They sure had a horrible sounding squawk, though.

I never did find out what kind of bird this was, but it was pretty with its colorful markings and longer than normal legs.

We were both fascinated and repulsed by the thousands of flying foxes we saw in one section of the Sydney Botanical Gardens.

We were there just before dusk when they were all coming in to roost for the night. They were not the small little bats that I’ve seen elsewhere – these guys were enormous. Diane read where they have become a major city attraction.

After those grotesque bats, you probably won’t mind looking at a little bit of architecture. Every new city I visit, I am fascinated by the unique architecture.

Here is a beautiful, yet very old, Catholic cathedral of the Sydney Diocese. We stepped inside, but they were conducting mass so we didn’t see much of the interior.

In stark contrast to the cathedral, is the modern ultra-modern Sydney Opera House. This picture was taken from out in the harbor on a cruise ship we were on. The ”cruise” only last a couple of hours, but included a very fine dinner.

I was very fascinated with the roof structure of the Opera House – not just the shape, which most people are familiar with, but the materials.

Here Diane and I are up close so you can see the white ceramic tiles that make up the exterior. They a glazed 4X4 tiles set in an intricate pattern. It must have taken some poor bloke a very long time to lay all those tiles on that curved roof.

Certainly you didn’t think I could go to Australia without getting out in the wild, even if just for a little bit.

Not too far west of Sydney are the Blue Mountains. They are called the Blue for the same reason the Blue Ridge in Kentucky are.

Although the day we were there it was raining pretty steady, it was fun to be out and I saw some very beautiful country. They warn hikers to be careful about getting lost. It didn’t take me long to see how utterly easy that could be. (I didn’t, but I could easily have.)

While we were in Sydney, Tropical Cyclone Oli – a category 4 storm – hit this small outer island in the French Polynesia Archipelago, called Tubuai.

Consequently, I spent a fair amount of my time while we were in Sydney coordinating emergency relief efforts for the residents of this small island. They had more than 500 homes completely destroyed.

Here we have a group of volunteer workers cleaning up sand out of buildings. The sand was washed ashore by the tidal surge. You can see some of the destruction inside this building.

Less than a week after Tropical Cyclone Oli plowed through the middle of the island of Tubuai, another Tropical Storm (Pat) devastated this island paradise – the island of Aitutake (part of the Cook Islands).

This picture was taken while the storm was still raging.

As you can imagine, if a concrete block structure comes down, the stick frame homes on the island didn’t stand a chance.

More than 300 homes were totally destroyed on this small island.

Again, we have been busy coordinating relief efforts – which are still in progress.