Date First Posted: April 2, 2007
Log Entry Start Date - March 17, 2007
Log Entry End Date - April 2, 2007
Present Location: Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, Newport
Latitude: 33 Deg 39.4 S Longitude: 151 Deg 18.3 E
Weather: Low 70's, clear
Distance covered since last entry: 25 nautical miles
Total distance traveled since departure from Antigua: 10,730 nautical miles
Commentary:
Sydney – Part 2
Sydney Opera House
Everyone
takes a tour of the Sydney Opera House. The complex is one of the most
recognized architectural wonders of the world, drawing over a million
visitors each year. A world-wide competition was held for the design
and the winning architect’s theme of billowing sails won. However, it was determined that his original
design couldn’t actually be built. He modified his shapes so that all of
the curves are actually taken from sections of a sphere, somewhat like
taking slices out of an orange peel. Even with the modified design, the project
took much longer and over ten times the cost to build than planned. The
architect left before the project was completed and only recently has come
back, decades later to see the complex and assist in some projects.
The roof is made up of over one million ceramic tiles.
The
complex actually has two large auditoriums for concerts (6,000 seats) and two smaller ones
for opera and theater (2,000 seats). The interior has two different styles.
The original architect wanted to leave the concrete beams and columns
exposed showing the construction and allowing visitors to feel the design.
The architects that took over after he quit, decided to use wood slats to
cover up the concrete. This picture is inside the concert hall, with the
pipes of an immense organ at the back. Photographs in the opera
hall were not allowed as the sets from operas were still on stage and they are "copyrighted."
The opera we saw, The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart, was very enjoyable, especially given the venue. Perhaps as an example of Australian humor, were little anachronisms throughout the production. The opening scene, set a few hundred years ago, featured Susanna using an electric iron and Figaro lying in a “Lazyboy” chair. Later during the wedding scene, there was a large electric coffee pot, and a photographer taking flash pictures.
Sydney Botanical Gardens
Just
south of the Opera complex are Sydney’s Botanical Gardens, which date back
to the earliest days of the settlement of Australia. At one time, a large
palace had been built on the grounds for a worlds fair, but it was later
destroyed by fire, leaving behind a huge rose garden that was part of the
palace. A music conservatory now sits in one part of the Garden, built
inside what had been the stable complex. Walking an hour only took us
through one edge of the Garden. The Garden includes several lakes, and
features such as a
large
sundial.
Sydney Museums
 |
New South Wales (i.e. Sydney) Art Museum |
One entire floor was devoted to contemporary aboriginal art including paintings and carvings. Another floor was dedicated to Asian exhibits featuring pottery and sculptures from China dating back 4,000 years, and many pieces from the Edo period of Japan. The variety of modern art from Australia was impressive and pretty interesting. One large mural and exhibit was created by a former classmate of our friend, Michael Marsh.
|
National Maritime Museum |
On
the wharf were two naval ships including a submarine. Inside the museum were
exhibits of ships relevant to Australia’s history up through WW II and the
American fleets. There was a boat on display similar to
Encore I that was sailed by the first “lady” to sail non-stop around the
world back in the 1970’s. The museum guide explained that technically
she might not have been the first woman, but in the opinion of the museum,
she was the first “lady.” We explained that we had just sailed to
Australia and started an interesting conversation with him.
Later as we were leaving, he caught up with us and invited us to join him
and the rest of the museum guides who stop after work once a month for a beer and snacks. This was perhaps a
good example of how outgoing Australians are and how easy it is to make new
friends.
* Human Body Exhibit
This is the same traveling exhibit as in the States that will be in Detroit this year. The display has several dozen exhibits of various body parts and organs as well as complete bodies without skin that have been preserved with a special plastic. The exhibits could have simply been man made models, but they wouldn’t have all of the intricate details. In this form you can study the muscles, organs like the heart and lungs (some showing evidence of disease or cancers) nerves, bones and blood vessels. The aim of the exhibit is to teach children about human physiology and encourage adults to lead healthier lifestyles. It was very well done and we would encourage anyone interested in medicine or anatomy to visit it. Particularly interesting was one body that exhibited examples of hip and knee replacements, and bones that had been reinforced with steel plates.
* Australian National Museum (Natural History)
We walked past hundreds of skeletons ranging from a dinosaur larger than a tyrannosaurus rex and a sperm whale, to tiny birds and mammals. Having just visited the Human Body exhibit, the skeletons were even more interesting. Australia has a major mining industry and the second largest exhibit in the museum was all about minerals and gems. In addition to the huge crystals on display was a replica of the largest gold nugget ever found, weighing in at over 70 kilograms (160 pounds). The exhibit of unusual birds and insects found here was more extensive than any we had seen at other museums around the world.
Finally, we toured the exhibit on Australia’s indigenous peoples which include the aboriginals that lived on the mainland, and the Torres Straits Islanders. In addition to paintings, carvings and items such as boomerangs and spears, it included representations of rock art, video interviews and an extensive explanation of their religious beliefs. While we had learned a lot about their culture during our previous visit to Australia, this exhibit greatly expanded our understanding. Perhaps the bleakest part of the history here, was the period when in an effort to assimilate the aboriginals into the “western culture,” children were taken from their families and put into foster homes. This practice continued up until the middle of the 20th century and the young people are now referred to as the “lost generation.”
In general, because the aboriginals had not established permanent settlements and didn’t have apparent boundaries for their tribes land, the British had declared at the time of their arrival that the land belonged to no one. This justified ignoring any land rights (or other rights for that matter) of the indigenous people. Only in the late 20th century did the government issue a formal apology for its actions.
Sydney Harbour Bridge 75th Anniversary Celebration
The bridge was closed to all traffic,
and to the sounds of historical recordings and music from the past 75 years
playing on speakers along the bridge, over 200,000 people (including Tom and
Anne from Stormsvalen with us) walked across. During the day, everyone was
given a bright green hat, and the
river of walkers made quite a scene. During the day there were races on
the river between the various ferry boats, flyovers by seaplanes,
helicopters, fighter jets, and even
several passes at a low level of a Qantas 747 airliner.
At
dusk there was an aboriginal ceremony rededicating the land the bridge
connects, with pots of burning eucalyptus leaves enveloping the entire
bridge in smoke. The walkers in the evening were given hats with
little headlights on them. Instead of the usual fireworks (Sydney
seems to have them every few weeks), the bridge was lit up with varying
colored floodlights and bright white stripes along the bottom girders.
Blue Mountains and Southern Highlands
Our
final road trip out of Sydney was to visit the Blue Mountains and Southern
Highlands. The Blue Mountains are only an hour or two west of Sydney as you drive slowly up to a altitude
of about 3500 feet. We had
booked a cottage in Blackheath along a road to an outlook into what is called the Grand
Canyon of the Blue Mountains. The cottage was very cute with a gas
fireplace in the middle of the living room for heat, and a deck off the back
for watching the stars. We played a round of golf at the local golf
club and enjoyed great views of the rolling hills and the trees just
beginning to change colors for the fall.
The
next morning we drove out to Evans Outlook and were surprised to be looking
down into their “Grand Canyon.” The area we were in was actually a plateau
and the gorges in the canyon were several thousand feet deep.
In
contrast to the Grand Canyon in the USA, and in spite of the prolonged
drought, these valleys were lush green from the recent rainfalls.
Further
down the rim of the canyon at a second outlook we were able to see a
waterfall dropping at least a thousand feet. It seems
that last November, during this drought in Australia, there were forest
fires covering many of the forests all around the state of New South Wales.
We saw charred trees amongst the relatively new greening woods every where
we’ve been. The fires forced the closure of
almost every one of the hiking trails, destroying rest facilities and other
forms of infrastructure. Just the same, the views were spectacular.
Our next destination was the Southern Highlands. We took the “scenic route” around the end of the Blue Mountain National Park where no cross roads for cars exist. The drive was easy enough, going through the end of the mountain range and across a wide valley of sheep farms before reaching the rolling hills of the Southern Highlands. The views were worth the extra time and miles.
We
ended up near the Scottish town of Sutton Forest at an old manor house now turned
into a resort (Peppers Manor House). This was part of the
same Peppers chain that we visited at the Anchorage Resort in Port Stevens,
and in the Hunter Valley. The manor house sits on an estate of what was
maybe a thousand acres, and was built in the early 1900’s.
There
has been a garden wing built along with some cottages that in total provide
only 40 rooms. In the main house the high ceiling rooms reflected a bygone
era with antique furniture and artwork.
Overlooking a courtyard, the dining room was a small restaurant
called Katers, named after the original family that built the estate.
A
championship golf course surrounds Pepper Manor that claims to be one of the
longest courses in Australia. The pro shop and club house were in one
of the older buildings on the estate. We enjoyed checking out the
views, but decided the course was too challenging and expensive for our
skill levels.
Instead,
we played golf the next day at the Bowral Golf Club, established
in 1901. Nancy couldn't stop taking pictures of the birds and even
these unusual mushrooms.
We were fortunate to have great weather during our road trip, with sunny skies and warm temperatures as fall began in Australia. The colors on the trees were just beginning to change, and the visibility was good. Just as we pulled out of the golf parking lot we noticed we had a flat tire and coincidentally the "southerly change" bringing rain and cold weather moved in. By the time we drove back to Cammeray, the temperature had dropped 20 degrees, the sky was black and the downpour had begun. It would be several days before the weather turned better, with almost a fall football Saturday crispness.
Back to Brisbane
We’ve
finally left our mooring in Cammeray and begun our trip back to Brisbane. This
was the longest we had ever stayed in one place.
We'll miss the peaceful mooring we had as well as the sights of kayakers and
rowers, and small sailing dinghies going through the harbor near us.
Even more, we'll miss the many friends we met and visited in Sydney.
Our first stop was Broken Bay, about 20 miles north from Sydney. After using our SCUBA tanks to scrape all the barnacles off our propeller (from sitting at anchor so long), we had a nice sail with the Marshes and some of their guests from back home.
Most of Broken Bay is made up of deeply indented coves and branches of the Hawkesbury river surrounded by the Kurangai-Chase National Park. It provides great cruising grounds that are totally remote. One branch however, Pittwater bay, is literally filled with well over a thousand boats between two major yacht clubs (Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club and Royal Motor Yacht Club) and hundreds of moorings. We've spent a couple nights at the Royal Prince Alfred admiring all the boats including several very impressive racing boats such as "Wild Oats", a famous Aussie maxi-racer that won the Admirals Cup. Many of these racing boats compete in the Sydney to Hobart race each year, one of the most competitive and frequently dangerous races in the world.
During our sail back north, we may not have as frequent Internet access so this may be our last website update before we leave for New Zealand. We’re going to spend 10 days on New Zealand’s South Island as we fly home in May. This will be getting into late fall there, and we’re expecting to see cool weather as we visit their Southern Alps and the glaciers along the west coast. At the same time, we look forward to getting home for the summer, spending time with our family and friends and making plans for Jennifer and Matt's wedding.
If you missed the first part of our Sydney Log Entry, you can find it here.
Go to Log 2007 Index
This site was last updated 04/17/07