The big city

  Sydney, Australia
Thursday, January 10, 2008

Harbour Bridge

Well here I am on the last leg of my Australia trip.  I have been slowly getting rid of the cumbersome kiting gear (although I still have my kite to send) and the backpack is slowly gettting lighter (but still pretty packed- I need to get better at packing lightly).  I will be staying in the Sydney area until I fly out from here- I had hoped to see more, but you can't see it all and I think I got in a good bit.  I have learned why Australia is so damned expensive- the minimum wage here is $16 an HOUR (Australian dollars) and the weak US dollar is not helping.  So even though lodging is relatively cheap (about $35 a night for 4 person rooms) food is expensive, plus the entrance fees and entertainment expenses (in other words drinking), it has been adding up and taking a toll on the finances.  I am not going all out each day and am taking the sightseeing at a slow pace, since I am here for a while.  The hostel is close to central Sydney, which is easy to get around in and is relatively small, on par with Boston.  In size and closeness to the water that is probably the city that I am reminded of most so far. 

shark ray

So far I've been to a few museums, with the stand out being the Aquarium.  Instead of trying to cover the world's sea life it focuses on Australia's many different types of water environments, from the ocean, to tidal pools, to rivers.  Right at the start they have a big display of 3 platypus which are really unique creatures in every sense.  They actually have a venomous spike on the hind leg, along with many other odd adaptations to their environment- for example they can sense the tiny electrical currents in the muscles of animals it hunts which helps it find food, and is the only mammal with this capability.  I would think just the duck bill and the laying of eggs would be odd enough!  Another unique creature was the shark ray- a type of shark that really looks exactly what you would imagine the offspring of a shark and a manta ray to look like (hence the imaginative name).  There were also two underwater tunnels for a seal area and a shark area, both of which use natural water pumped in from the harbor and attached like docks to the rest of the museum. 

Endeavour

I went to the Maritime Museum which has a working replica of James Cook's ship the Endeavour available to explore-

Crew spaces

it was really cool and was neat to see the spaces and imagine the conditions the crew lived in.  After reading a few books concerning that journey I had to take a good look around.  The spaces were cramped and only the officers had a bit of privacy, and that in a tiny room you couldn't stand up in. 

stern cabin

But I would say that they had probably the same amount of total space as I did on the carrier- with the Captain having some more (but less than my superiors) and the crew of the Endeavour actually having less that the carrier's enlisted.  Of course the space available to house the crew is vastly different, but just as a comparison. 

Port Jackson

From there headed to the top of the Sydney tower, a tower specifically built for views and an expensive restaurant, but it did have an amazing view of Port Jackson (the actual name of the harbor around Sydney) and it's many headlands and peninsulas.  It has to be one of the most picturesque harbors in the world and I look forward to exploring it on foot and by ferry. 

I was also excited to hear that John McCain won the New Hampshire primary (but disappointed at the Democrat result).  Hopefully this momentum will carry on and not be sidelined by some made up story like in 2000.  I urge everyone to vote in their state's primaries if they can (I can't since I'm registered as an independent in Florida) since that is what really determines the choices we will have come November.