Spent a few weeks hanging out in Sydney while my wife prepped for a marathon. . .
Author: mark
My wife sometimes wonders why I can’t take normal pictures. When we go to new places, I’m often more interested in taking pics of the gift shop, the tour guide, or the ad posters, than the place itself. Anyway, I tried to take a normal pic of the Sydney Opera House. I swear!
if you want to see what Sydney looked like before the city evolved into a massive sprawl, there’s no need to visit the bush. The botanic gardens have a fake rain forest with planters, signage, colored mylar canopies, and a snack bar.
Spotted a dementor in the Australian Museum. And nobody seemed to notice. Muggles.
The Australian museum had some original Blaschkas, which I first became familiar while visiting the natural history museum at Harvard. According to the display:
“The Blaschkas were known for their exquisite models of sea creature made in the 1870’s and 1880’s. The models were widely used in museums as it was almost impossible to preserve soft-bodied creatures. They are of limited educational value today – many are anatomically incorrect or cannot be identified – but their worth resides in the provenance and artistry. Our collection is one of the few neither lost nor damaged over the years.”
Maybe I can be one of those people who photograph dogs, particularly dogs who are waiting for their owner’s to return from some important errand. When I gather enough of these photos, I’ll make huge prints and sell them at a gallery in Sydney. The exhibit will have a clever title that captures the essence of these dog’s existence, something like “Providore.” I’ll set up a table in the gallery with a box of wine, California Rolls, and homemade dog treats. And I’ll station myself at the front, watching the doors, tilted on my shoe tips, waiting for somebody, anybody, to come inside. And I’ll wait. . . and wait. . . and wait. . . and wait. . .
Coles, a large grocery chain, is jumping on the de-colonializing band wagon, sort of? They don’t mention any specific tribes, nor place names. And something’s off with the phrase, “traditional custodians.” This makes the aboriginals sound like groundskeepers hired to keep the place tidy before their betters arrived.
On the plus side, lovely fake ferns!
Because my wife was prepping for a marathon, we only had one afternoon to visit the Blue Mountains. So we did the most touristy thing possible; we visited SCENIC WORLD in Katoomba, a hybrid national park / theme-park. We rode a tram, a plunging railway car, a cable car, and hop-on, hop-off buses. Almost our entire experience was mediated through windows! Very weird.
SCENIC WORLD did have a few places where you could escape into the national park. Unfortunately, this one was closed.
tree frog is watching you. . .