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Australia: Looking Back

09 Tuesday Jul 2019

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At the end of six months in Australia there is a lot to look back on. Our experiences here have been excellent. We’ve met lovely people, had all kinds of adventures, and saw beautiful land and sea. I have such mixed feelings. There’s a pain in my heart for all that we are leaving behind, while I know that this isn’t a permanent place for me.

We did an excellent job of following the seasons in Australia. Starting in Tasmania in January and working our way north through the summer, we ended up in northern Australia in May and June as Darwin and Cairns started to cool down from the intense heat of northern summers. We’ve been rewarded with fine weather everywhere. It was hot in Melbourne, but we lived near the beach and I got to swim often–just what I like. Six months later, New Brighton has cooled off over the past two weeks and the solstice. We are leaving just before I run out of enough layers to keep warm.

Though we stayed six months and saw a lot, would I do anything differently if I were to visit again? Hmmm… I don’t think I’d do anything differently if I were making my first visit all over again, but if I were to return to Australia, here are a few things I would try and include in my further travels.

Our schedule kept us in good weather, but that doesn’t seem to match up with some of Australia’s best known festivals. I might try harder to catch at least one of these on another trip:

  • Tasmania: MONA FOMA, Launceston, January; or Dark MOFO, Hobart June 14-23, 2019  These are two festivals put on by MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art. Always controversial, each festival includes quirky and interesting displays.
  • Brisbane Art and Design Festival, May 10-26, 2019
  • Sydney Vivid Festival, May 24-June 15, 2019  Remarkable here is that images are projected on the “sails” that make up the roof of the Opera House, and on structures all over the city
  • Opal festival in either Coober Pedy, June 21-22, 2019; or Lightning Ridge, July 24-27, 2019  There are so many quirks to the world of opal hunting that three days among the miners and purveyors should yield some crazy good people-watching.
  • Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, July 10-14, 2019
  • Sculpture by the Sea, Sydney (Bondi) Oct.24-Nov. 10, 2019; Perth (Cottesloe) Mar. 6-23, 2020

I’d also like to take about six months and drive the length of western Australia from Albany on the south to Arnhem Land on the north. Every inch of the coast has interesting rock formations, reefs, fish, towns, and wineries, too. I’d like to see more.

The far north would be on my list for another visit. I’d take a tour into Kakadu National Park and then on to Tiwi Island, and into Arnhem Land. There is aboriginal rock art from millennia past in some of these places alongside the homes of aboriginal people who still live in a unique way trying to maintain their culture in the face of the contemporary world.

The far north on the east end of Australia would also make my list. I’d visit the Cape York Peninsula and the islands of the Torres Strait that are in the process of being swamped by rising sea level. Near the tip of Cape York I’d like to see palm cockatoos before they die out like so many other exotic species.

My wish list includes extreme points of the Australian continent. Otherwise, there aren’t any must-see destinations left on my list. I enjoyed all the places we went, and I recognize there are many more places that we missed. We drove by only a few of Australia’s “Big Things,” and there are many, many more.

Australia’s Big Things (Wikipedia)

That pretty much sums up Australia. No matter where you’ve been, there’s more to see. You can stay in one place and find everything you want, or you can keep moving and see something new around every corner. Whether I return to Australia in the future or this is my one visit, it has been super fabulous wonderful and I will always be happy we were here.

The Other Giant’s Causeway: Fingal Head, NSW

04 Thursday Jul 2019

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Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland

Fingal Head, NSW

A year ago we visited Giant’s Causeway, a fantastic natural formation of basalt pillars in Northern Ireland. The rock’s regular shape is very intriguing, unique in all the world–except it isn’t unique. There is another formation of columnar basalt just like Giant’s Causeway at Fingal Head, near Tweed Heads, NSW. Once we heard about the rocks at Fingal Head, we had to visit.

The formations are identical in geological terms, formed by cooling volcanic rock. At Fingal Head the columns are larger and coarser, which makes them too heavy to be quarried and used for building. Columns at Giant’s Causeway were cut into blocks and used to build nearby Dunluce Castle.

 

This patch of distinctive basalt pillars is not as large as the version in Northern Ireland, but it had far fewer visitors on the day we were there.

When we visited Giant’s Causeway people were spread over the site like ants at a picnic.

There is a low spot separating Fingal Head from the shore. It was just past low tide, and as I considered crossing onto the heap of rock, a wave crashed into the low spot from both directions at the same time!

We spent quite a while looking at the sun on the rock formation, and doing some whale watching. There was a lot of spouting but not much jumping on this gorgeous sunny day.

We strolled the beach north of Fingal Head, where small boulders cover much of the beach and show that pieces of the rock columns break off and get rolled in the surf before piling up on land. In among the rocks we began to find beach glass, more than anywhere else we’ve been on the east coast of Australia. We picked our way along the water for quite a while, then had a picnic lunch overlooking the shore, where a dozen different kinds of birds swooped down to see whether we’d like to feed them some crumbs. We didn’t feed them, but got a good last look at interesting Australian birds, just about our last before we leave for New Zealand and home in a couple of days.

Amanda and Jim’s Cairns Adventure

06 Thursday Jun 2019

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Amanda and Jim are just ending their two week visit with us. We’ve packed a lot of new experiences into this short time. It gives you a snapshot of what there is to do in and around Cairns.

Day 1:

Leaving Los Angeles at 11 pm Friday, they arrived in Cairns at noon on Sunday, though it was only about 18 hours later.

Day 2:

Our first visit was the beach, so that Amanda could take up her signature pose, marine biologist looking into tide pools for tiny critters. The rest of us went beach combing, exploring the rocks and sandy beach at Kewarra and Yorkey’s Knob.

Day 3:

Seeing a bit of the rainforest that covers north Queensland was next. We rode the Skyrail aerial tramway, stopping to look out over Barron Gorge, then hopped back on and rode to Kuranda.

Kuranda is a small town of tourist shops and restaurants that makes a pleasant visit. There is also a section of small vendors’ stalls, the Heritage Markets. We returned on the old-fashioned train. Originally built for mining and local transport, it is now solely for tourist use. It’s not a long ride, and the line is flanked by thick forest, steep hillsides, and a curve so tight the wheels screech against the rails.

Day 4:

The Big Event of the visit was our trip to go snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. (See my previous post “Snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef.”)

Day 5:

On another beach day we continued exploring the ends of Kewarra Beach in the morning and Yorkey’s Knob in the afternoon. We stopped to photograph the field of wallabies that live in a big park in Kewarra Beach.

Day 6:

More exploration of the shore at Trinity Beach.

Day 7:

Yungaburra Markets, the Curtain Fig, and the Great Platypus Hunt. (See my previous post “The Great Platypus Hunt.”)

Day 8:

At the Tanks Art Centre, market stalls are dispersed in parts of the Cairns Botanical Gardens as well as along the paths of the Art Centre. After admiring arts and crafts and buying a few of the food offerings, we went to the Cairns Esplanade for a stroll along the esplanade and lunch at Muddy’s. This area is a wonderful city amenity, with a bike path, walking path, barbecue stations, children’s water park, climbing walls, and a pool facing the shore.

Day 9 and Day 10:

We revisit Kuranda for a last bit of shopping on our way to Cassowary House for an overnight of birdwatching and a raucous after dinner game of Yahtzee in the middle of the rainforest. (See my previous post “Riflebirds at Breakfast.”)

Day 11:

Beach exploration at Redcliffe Point, north of Gatz Balancing Rocks. Amanda found some strange creatures that look like rocks but move when touched. Hermit crabs hid in shells from the tiniest to the largest on the beach.

Day 12:

The advantage of taking the Crocodile Express tour is that it starts from Daintree Village and is good for as many additional one hour tours as you request. After a break for lunch, we took our second Crocodile Express trip on the river from the Daintree Ferry Landing. We saw lots of crocodiles both times, all chubby and uninterested in moving from their muddy sunbathing spots.

Day 13:

Another tour of Kewarra Beach hunting for the flipflop Amanda inadvertently dropped in the ocean, followed by Amanda and Jim  tasting beer at CocoMoco in Clifton Beach.

Day 14:

Trip south of Cairns to Etty Beach to see cassowaries by the roadside and begging at the picnic tables. We’ve now seen cassowaries in two places.

Day 15:

At the Palm Cove Markets Jonathan made friends with the best trained cockatoo we have ever met. Our market visit was followed by a final stroll and swim on Kewarra Beach. We celebrated the end of our visitors visit with dinner at the Paperbark restaurant at the Kewarra Beach Resort, only a short walk from our house.

Day 16:

The Cairns Aquarium displays sea life of north Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef. We spent three hours combing the exhibits and watching the fish–we could have stayed longer. We watched a giant hump head wrasse spit out the squid it was fed for lunch just like a little kid who spits a grape across the room. That’s him in the photo.

From the aquarium, we dropped Amanda and Jim at the Cairns Sheridan Hotel, so they could catch a cab for the short ride to the airport at 4 am for their 5:30 am flight to Brisbane and on to Los Angeles. They’ll be home after a very, very long Day 17 of travel. I am sad to see them go, but we will visit with them in Los Angeles just a month from now.

Summary–Two weeks in Cairns

Attractions:

  • Skyrail to Kuranda
  • Snorkeling Great Barrier Reef
  • Crocodile Express tour
  • Cairns Aquarium

Markets:

  • We visited four markets in two weeks: Kuranda, Tanks Art Centre, Yungaburra, Palm Cove
  • Market stalls sell crafts, local products, food and drink. A few have fruit and veg stalls. We bought pillow covers (fit in suitcase), gifts, and treats (macadamia nuts grown locally).
  • Markets are held in different places every weekend from May through November. During the wet season there are still some indoor markets, but fewer.

Animals:

  • Cassowary House
  • Etty Beach (cassowaries)
  • Yungaburra (platypus)
  • Kewarra has several hundred wallabies in Centenary Park, we dropped by to take photos a couple of times.

Beach Exploration:

  • Five days when beaches were the main event, not counting any of the trips already mentioned.
  • Afternoon or sunset visits to nearby beachesIt was a busy two weeks, yet we didn’t have to rush off early other than the day we went out snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. We all had time to put our feet up, swim in the pool, and read, as well as go on lots of explorations.

 

 

Snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef

23 Thursday May 2019

Posted by in Amanda, Australia, Cairns

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Floating in the water over coral stacks around 20 feet tall watching a cloud of tiny blue and orange fish darting around my hands, I forget what it took to get here. All I can think of is how mesmerizing this view is, I want to remember it clearly. The sun has been in and out, and when it strikes the water, the fish and the coral are illuminated. Fish are sparks of color on the mossy brown coral.

I enjoy snorkeling, any chance to snorkel is a treat, and we’ve seen some wonderful underwater scenery here and there. For that reason, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR), is an iconic place we’ve decided to visit. There are hundreds of boats that go out to the reef, and many different ways to have a look. Non-swimmers can ride glass-bottom boats or semi-submersible watercraft. Families can visit a large pontoon that provides a place for kids to jump in and splash around. Divers can explore deep places. We chose to go with a group based in Port Douglas, Wavelength, that provides a snorkeling trip to Opal Reef. The company is owned and operated by a marine biologist based in Port Douglas, and all the on-board staff are marine biologists.

We had an early start to a long day, leaving home at 7 am for Port Douglas, arriving before 8 am. With about 40 of us aboard, the boat left port at 8:15 or so, driving out across the water so fast that waves broke against the windows while the boat rocked and pitched. It was impossible to walk across the room without clinging to the rails. During this, the staff gave us orientation briefings and described what we’d be seeing, calm as though these were everyday conditions–I guess they are. The boat finally stopped and anchored, yet we saw nothing around us other than a slight change in the color of the water and breaking waves a few hundred yards away. This was the reef. It’s not like snorkeling around the edge of an island, there’s nothing above the surface.

Amanda and Jim arrived in Australia on Sunday–we saved this adventure for their visit so that Amanda could use her skills as a marine biologist to point things out to us. They were among the first into the water. We suited up and flopped in, taking pool noodles for a little extra support.

Under the water, we could see coral of all kinds. Some has been bleached by warming seas, as much as 40% at the first site we visited. The effect is disconcerting. Dead coral is either white or brilliant, neon colors. Living coral is green and brown. If you visited the Great Barrier Reef twenty years ago, it might make you sad to return.

Our second stop along Opal Reef was more typical of a living reef, with 10% or less dead coral, and impressive outcrops of flat “table” coral. Water currents keep this section a bit cooler than other areas, thus the lacy, flat corals have survived.

At our last stop, we saw stacks of coral. Huge boulders are solid corals that could be thousands of years old. Smaller corals grow along the sides of the oldest corals, and on top of them, and gradually the stacks grow larger and larger. The shapes are wonderfully complex, and thronged by fish from tiny shimmering flecks to big ones longer than 18 inches. Teal green, brown striped, and orange pink parrot fish nibbled the corals, flicking their tails. Some of the colors were very tropical, pink, orange, turquoise, lemon yellow.

While Jonathan and I snorkeled on top, Jim swooped under the surface to take close-ups with his new Go-Pro camera on his wrist. Amanda dove down and up as well.They peeked at the tooth marks the parrot fish leave on the coral, and peered at sea feathers (a type of star fish). I’ve never gotten the hang of diving under the surface and clearing my snorkel when I return to the air. I was happy to watch them.

Most of the photos in this post come from the tour company. We decided to buy the photos from our day on the reef, and they throw in a group of their best reef photos so that eveyone could have a photo of a shark, a “Nemo” fish, and a giant clam. The giant clams were one of the highlights of the trip for me, I didn’t realize there were still enough of them that you could easily see them on the bottom. They are huge, and often a glowing bright blue or purple in the middle, where algae live in a symbiotic relationship with the clam. Our stop was a sort of “clam garden” and we saw quite a few, including some that are so old they’ve been engulfed by coral. One of the crew members swam down to a giant clam and waved her hand about six inches from the opening and it slammed shut! Very fun and creepy, it reminded me of an old cartoon.

We had a glorious day,  a wonderful time, well worth the boat ride and getting up early. We hear a lot about the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef, and all that is true. The reef is under immediate threat from warming seas, pollution, dredging, mining, and too many people like us who would like to see the GBR in person. It is a fascinating environment, unlike anything else I’ve ever seen.

Good to Know About Visiting the Great Barrier Reef:

We went with a snorkel-only trip because we knew we didn’t want to Scuba dive, and the focus on a single activity would make a smooth visit. Wavelengths is locally owned by a marine biologist. With one in the family, we’re sympathetic, and were pleased to find the staff really all were marine biologists.

Timing:

Our visit was May 22, toward the end of “stinger” season, and it was not necessary to wear a lycra suit to prevent stings from tiny jellyfish. (I wore a full suit, head cover, and socks to keep warm.) The water was warm, 26° C (almost 79° F) and that made our day easier because we didn’t have to worry about getting cold right away. High season is June-October. Since we visited before the busiest time of year our boat was almost but not completely full–max. number of passengers is 48, and we had around 40.

Conditions:

We visited at the end of the rainy season, and found it was still rainy on shore. We were concerned that the trip would be canceled and we’d have to rebook. They had promised to call, text, and email if there was a schedule change, and when we heard nothing, off we went, and the trip went out on time. On the reef it was partially overcast, with periods of sun that were very warm (nice). The sun on the water improves visibility, and those moments were the best.

The ride out to the reef was pretty rough. I don’t get seasick, but we bumped quite a bit, probably because going slower would end up taking most of our day going out and back. Some people felt nauseous, but sitting outdoors looking at the horizon seems to settle most stomachs.

When we arrived at our first snorkeling spot on Opal Reef, the water was rough. In fact, this was the roughest water we’ve ever tried snorkeling. It wasn’t a problem, other than occasionally getting some seawater in the snorkel, but you spit or blow it out and keep going. Interesting, though, that the experience of the people who do the trips makes them say, “No Worries,” when on our own we would not go into such choppy water. Once in the water, I rarely gave it another thought. There were a couple of spots where we had to kick and paddle pretty enthusiastically just to stay in place, so we probably got more of a workout than on a calmer day. There were always crew members in the water with the group and crew members keeping watch in case anyone signaled the three things we learned: Help (save me), Turtle (come look) and Shark (come look).

Crew/Guides/Staff:

One aspect of the trip we liked was that everyone on the boat worked on all the tour activities. The marine biologists gave safety briefings, doled out coffee and tea, kept things neat, led snorkeling tours, and took photos. We even caught the captain mopping the deck at one of our stops. Everyone pitched in to make a good trip and that was the result. Crew members were well-informed and willing to chat about the weather, the reef, fish identification, whatever questions came up. They were uniformly pleasant and helpful. I’d give Wavelengths high marks as a tour provider.

Cost:

Our trip was about $250 AU per person. We got ourselves to the landing in Port Douglas, though it was possible to be picked up from hotels in Cairns and Port Douglas. Everything on board was included: tea and coffee before departure and after our first and third stops, lunch at the second stop. There were bottled drinks for sale, and the photos did cost extra ($30 as a download; $45 with a cute Nemo usb), but there weren’t unavoidable added costs.

Rainy Day at the Cairns Botanical Garden

16 Thursday May 2019

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Despite on and off drizzle, the Botanical Gardne was at its best. The rain washed all the leaves clean and gave a bit of shine to all the plants.

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Outdoor plantings are complemented by the indoor collection of bromeliads, orchids, and butterflies. We also saw the weirdest mushroom I’ve ever seen. It grows a little lace dress for itself. Very strange indeed. They probably came out during the rain.

 

Opal Hunting in Coober Pedy

04 Saturday May 2019

Posted by in Australia, The Ghan

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There are said to be two million spoil heaps from opal mining in and around Coober Pedy, and the same number of holes…

I wanted to hunt for opals. I like rocks and minerals, have years of experience poking around in the dirt as an archaeologist. If anyone can find them, it should be me. True, thousands of other people have hunted for opals over the years and most of them have not become rich. I don’t need riches, but I want to find an opal.

Opal hunting areas are remote, and the annual opal festivals are held in the dead of the austral winter when temperatures subside and we will have left Australia. (Coober Pedy’s daytime temperature can hit well over 100° from October through April.) Taking a day trip from the Ghan to Coober Pedy was the way we could visit this strange mining town where half the population lives underground.

Jonathan emerges from the underground Serbian Orthodox church.

Underground life began as a practical choice. People dug into the soft rock hunting opals and camped beside their works. With a bit of enlarging, the former mining areas became rooms that maintain a constant mild temperature. Occasionally, the opal mined during room construction paid for the digging.

Opal is a fickle material, formed as liquid evaporates from cracks in other rock. Lots of opal is very thin, a sheen on a surface. There are beautiful opalized fossils where opal formed on the fossil’s surfaces in the hairline crack between fossil and parent rock. Unfortunately for jewelry lovers, this means that a gorgeous colorful solid opal is a great rarity. I was told that you cannot get opals wet. Part of the reason was that inexpensive “triplet” opals (a sandwich of backing, opal layer, glass) can peel apart when wet. A salesman said that these days there are excellent waterproof glues used and now opals are watertight. It also means that it is more difficult than ever to tell whether the opal you buy is solid or a composite. Honest dealers clearly mark the differences. Colorful opals run well over $10,000 for an attractive ring with a medium sized stone.

Though the train had a day-long stop in Coober Pedy, the staff didn’t understand that some of us (me) really wanted to hunt for opals, not just spend five minutes poking the rock after a mine tour. Jonathan and I got directions to the “Public noodling” site and set off. We promptly got confused, possibly by the “Waffles and Gems” sign across the street. It took part of our precious time to find the place, but then we got to work. There are acres of crushed pale rock. It’s very soft and you’re immediately covered in dust from the surface. It is possible to rent shovels and sifting screens locally, but we contented ourselves with poking around, which is why it’s called noodling, or fossicking.

My opal

Because opals can be one side of an otherwise plain rock, people are always finding new items in old piles. We found very little, and wished we had more time, but I did find a tiny piece of opal, and that was my goal. We chatted with a mother and daughter who were giving the piles a full day. They had hunted around, gone into town for equipment and were settling down for an afternoon of hunting. The daughter showed us the pieces of pale opal they had collected–more than we found.

Rejoining our group, we visited a mine and looked at the shaft, heard about how you make explosives (alarmingly easy), had lunch along a long table in an old mine tunnel, and did a bit more poking. This time we got to pick the rock out of the cave wall. It could have yielded something. Mining opal is a bit like spending your days scratching lottery tickets. Every strike of the pick is another try, but at the end of the day you are more likely to have nothing than a jackpot.

An opal mining works above ground portion.

Hot Days in Darwin

28 Sunday Apr 2019

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Gunn Point Campsite

It doesn’t ever get very cool in Darwin, you have to seize the day and then duck into the shade, so that’s what we did and our ten days flew by. The park adjoining our deck continued to yield new birds, from tiny crimson finches to orange legged scrubfowl, a brown chicken-sized bird with long stilt legs the color of traffic cones. Nightcliff Beach gave us beach glass for more projects. Further along was the Casuarina Reserve, another lovely walk on the shore. One day we decided to take the road to the north until it ended, which is how we visited the Gunn Point campsite and the Tree Point Conservation Area. These places may not be on the top ten list, yet we saw something new at every one. We ended with an evening at the Foreshore Cafe watching the sun set over the ocean.

In Darwin city, we visited the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territories (MAGNT). We looked at the Australian art and Aboriginal art, the stuffed animals, and a display about the sky and art that blended everything from meteorites to contemporary painting. Not far from the museum, the Saturday Parap Market has lots of food stalls, craft shops, flowers, and even some fruit and veg. Art galleries nearby feature Aboriginal artwork. The best known market in Darwin is the Mindil Beach market. To avoid the drenching downpours of “The Wet,” the market runs from the last Saturday in April through October. We arrived a week too early, but Parap operates all year long and had a little bit of many things. Downtown Darwin is not the most popular part of the region, but we went on an aboriginal art crawl, visiting five different galleries and seeing a lot of artwork. There are so many pieces, and prices are high. We wondered how they will manage to sell it all.

The Darwin area is best known as the gateway to Kakadu National Park, but a visit requires at least one night away from home and a healthy hike in the heat. Instead, we drove out to have coffee in Humpty Doo. With a name like that, it was a must see. Beyond Humpty Doo, we stopped at the Fogg Dam nature preserve, an excellent place for bird-watching. There were crocodile warning signs all along the road, and I was happy not to see one.

For a close up with crocs, we visited Crocodylus Park on our final day in Darwin. Crocodiles are a hazard in this region, but they are also protected. A recent article suggested that Australia’s success in protecting crocodiles has resulted in an increase in crocs as far as New Guinea and Indonesia. Sounds like a mixed blessing. Crocodile breeding is big business and relies on wild crocs to provide lots of eggs. During the egg-laying season, collectors with special permits collect thousands of crocodile eggs from nests and bring them to facilities where they are raised in controlled temperatures, since precise temperature differences result in the hatching of males vs. females. Males are the delicate ones, needing to incubate at around 88° F. Otherwise, hotter or colder, the hatchlings are female. Australia exports both salt water and fresh water crocodiles, and croc skins for fashion products. I almost fell for a croc clutch for only AU$200. Then I thought, When would I carry it?

We had a great time in Darwin and wished we had allotted more time for our visit.

 

 

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Meeting friends in Sydney

31 Sunday Mar 2019

Posted by in Australia, Sydney

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We had a sociable week getting together with friends and family in Sydney, a week in which we met up with new friends from birdwatching, visitors from home, and finished up with the arrival of our daughter, Lyra. For us this was more festivities than normal and we had an unusually good time.

We met Barbara and Tony during a walk with a group from Birding NSW, starting at Deep Creek Reserve and going on to Long Reef Point. As we walked and looked at the birds around us we chatted with members of the group, about Chicago, Australia, birds, children, travel. It was an excellent day. Barbara invited us to come for Sunday lunch with them in Roseville, and at their home we met Donna and Neville, another couple with wide experience of Australia and beyond. Barbara’s garden is really lovely and the sun was shining on a some purple-leaved plants in a way that produced a bright spot of magenta beneath a tall spreading tree. The glass walls between living room and the outdoors were opened up so that we were at the dining table but felt like we were in the garden. We spent the relaxing afternoon appreciating the indoor/outdoor nature of Australian homes.

The same week, our good friends and colleagues Sue and Bob stopped in on their way to Brisbane. With them we went to stroll around the Opera House and Botanical Gardens. The next day we walked a section of the Bronte to Bondi Beach trail. We caught up on news from home and chatted about where we might cross paths next year over a few good meals. Greece, next time?

Finishing out the week, we made one last trip to the airport to collect Lyra, who will be with us for two weeks. It is a special pleasure to have one of our children visit, and we are savoring every minute. We decided to go to the opera while Lyra was with us, so after a very good dinner at The Bridge Room, we saw Salome in the Joan Sutherland Theater at the Sydney Opera House. The backdrop was black with what looked like skeletal rib cages in red. The voices were excellent.

The Opera House is as interesting on the inside as the outside, as its unusual shape requires the interior facilities to adapt to the spaces created during construction. The theater is enormous with plenty of space under the highest of the “sails” that make up the roof.

After that it was time to pack up and get ready for our next adventure.

Sydney from the Opera House

05 Tuesday Mar 2019

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For us, the Opera House is the heart of Sydney. We made our first pilgrimage to this icon by bus to Circular Quay, then a stroll toward the point where rounding a row of apartments, the Opera House is revealed in all its glory. On a sunny day the roof tiles create a dazzling reflection.

We walked all around the building, noticing that it is three separate rooftops, not a single one as it often appears in photos. From one spot it looks like three giant-sized Spanish conquistadors helmets.From another angle, it looks like a spaceport, with at least one spaceship ready to take off.Close up, the Opera House is a busy place. Tourists walk around taking photos, runners avoid them as they circle the Opera House on the path. Women in black dresses walk in and out. Either Sydney is a lot like New York or the dress code for staff is “wear black.”

From the Opera House you can see tiny figures of the groups climbing high up the sides of the Harbor Bay Bridge. We walked around the edge of the ferry docks into the neighborhood called “The Rocks.” It is full of shopping and restaurants, and a lot of stairs. We ended up in the park beneath the huge bridge where plaques explain the process by which the fort located on this point was demolished and the bridge built. From a distance the Opera House looks quiet and peaceful, a ship at its mooring.In this age of celebrity architects, we couldn’t name the designer of this marvel, Jørn Utzen. After winning the design competition, new construction techniques had to be invented in order to build his design, methods that made later more free-form works by Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid possible. Construction was both expensive and political and Utzon resigned from the project part way through. He never returned, not for the opening or to receive any of the awards offered to him by subsequent Australian governments. “If you like a person’s work, you don’t give them an award, you give them something to build.” There are a lot of stories there. Here are a few:

From the Sydney Opera House website

 

Movies in Melbourne

20 Wednesday Feb 2019

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The Australian Centre for the Moving Image is right in the middle of Melbourne, on Federation Square across the street from the main train station. This vast center(re) offers a schedule of movie screenings every day, along with permanent galleries, and temporary exhibits. We spent all day there and ended up with visual overeload while completely running out of steam. It was great.

The temporary installation is a piece of performance art in which snippets of films have been spliced together to span twenty-four hours of real time, using images of clocks from movies showing the time. Do we really see that many clocks in the background of movies? And so many pocketwatches! The artist is making a commentary on time and other themes, but the clips are so short it could be an all day vimeo contest: Can you identify these movies/actors/places? The clip from The Third Man was so short that I only recognized it from the music. There’s Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin, Mata Hari, everyone. We sat for forty minutes and could easily have stopped in for another hour. Just think, it goes for 24 hours like this! There are all night showings!

It’s wondrous for non-movie fanatics, I wonder what movie fans think? I’d guess they love it, so much trivia, so many details. Here’s what the Centre says about it:

The Clock is a 24-hour video installation created from thousands of clips of clocks, watches and other references to time from film and television. These are masterfully edited together and synced to the present moment in one mesmerising collage. The result is an epic journey through cinematic history as well as a functioning timepiece.

Minute by minute, hour by hour, hundreds of characters are jolted awake by alarms, run for trains, wait for lovers, or dream strange dreams. Stitched together from hours of cinematic history, The Clock gifts audiences the addictive joy of recognising favourite actors or scenes from beloved films, as well as being wildly compelling and dream-like itself.

Here’s a review by someone who watched the entire twenty-four hours.

Review of “The Clock” installation

Can you see us projected on the side of the building?

The permanent exhibit focuses on the history of the film industry emphasizing Australia when possible. There are views from old devices and lots of movie clips, lots. Silent movies, Marx Brothers, Clark Gable and Katherine Hepburn (Bringing Up Baby), but the Australians, Moulin Rouge, Cate Blanchett, producers, directors. By the time I’d looked at clips from the first silent films to the advent of sound, color, and television, I was up to my eyeballs in movie scenes. From there, the exhibit branches off into Australian TV, movies, costumes, special effects, animation, video games, and digital media. The only game I could manage was Pong–slow motion ping pong. We took a break for lunch and returned for another round. The gallery is arranged around their two big pieces, a vehicle from Mad Max, and the piano from “The Piano.” There are some places to sit when your feet start to give out, as well as a cafe and lots of outdoor seating for resting or picnicing. Amazingly, all this is free. The only charge is for screenings of full-length movies. You could spend all day looking at the exhibits and then take in a film that starts at 6:45pm. There’s even a series called prosecco + film. The ACMI is a place that really does have something for every taste and level of enthusiasm.