It's nice that here trains are a more active form of transportation. Back home it's mostly just the bus or a car to choose from. But here taking the train a short distance is possible...I like it! Oct 26th, Pete and I took the train into Sydney. It was around an hour long train ride, cosy with a great view. I wish I could ride a train to work back home! We had intended to go to the Australian Museum and to the art Gallery that day but ended up only getting to the Australian Museum. It was for the best, we saw an amazing art show. Dozens of illustrations of bugs and plant matter by the Scott sisters back in the 1800's. The detail was amazing, we even got to see their paints and brushes. They painted with ink and watercolours (my favourite combination!). The colours were so vibrant and rich. I wish I could stand over their shoulders while they painted even one of their creations. Talk about inspiring.
The rest of the museum was amazing too. We went and visited some friends of Pete's, and saw some pretty fancy critters of the stuffed variety. If I don't get to see some Gang-Gang cockatoo's in the wild at least I spotted these ones. The bones, bugs and reptiles were all really cool - the spider display...a little frightening, even if they weren't alive. We even got to see one of Pete's pictures being used in part of a museum display. I was traveling with a celebrity :b :b
We took a detour for lunch, sashimi and tempura. Mouth watering deliciousness. I tried what I think was an uncooked oyster for the first time....EW. I am definitely never having one of those ever again. Salty, slimy, ew. Everything else was heavenly. The streets in Sydney are pretty, with lots of cute homes squished tightly together. Actually, all the architecture around here is great. The old brick buildings are almost whimsical...perfect for an artist studio! - After we ate, we headed back to the museum, saw a few more things then we hit the road.
We were going to an AHS meeting, Australian Herpetological Society meeting, so we killed some time in the Botanic Gardens on the Sydney waterfront. Beautiful birds everywhere. A sulfur-crested cockatoo overhead, ducks, lots of Ibis and some other exciting sitings. I saw the Opera house from afar, and saw once again these strange flowers that look like they've crawled out of John Wyndham's, The Day of the Triffids. I expect them to start walking soon, I think they're called Gymea Lilies.
Our last stop was the AHS meeting which was in Sydney, in a small auditorium where I listened to a talk about venom. I wish I could time travel back to grade 12 biology to refresh my brain on amino acids and peptides and...well, it was a little much for my brain. Still really cool though. It was interesting to see the speaker, Bryan Fry show images of his travels all over the world and to just hear the stories behind them. I also got to meet a lot of Pete's mates who all obviously love reptiles. We had drinks with some of them afterwards, and Tommy and Ollie gave us a ride to the train station with some true blue aussie tour guiding provided by Tommy as well as a quick stop to Harry's Cafe de Wheels. Here I ate the most delicious, scrumpdiddlyumptious meat pie ever. If I could fill my suitcase full of them I would! Mushy peas, potatoes and delicious beef and curryness. Droolworthy! I had a really fun night, so much fun!
A lazy train ride home was the finale to a good day!
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I know the blog still needs a little more TLC because it's a few days behind. But you should be all caught up soon!
- Maureen
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