Well we landed in Sydney early on the 21st of September. It was a nice clear day and we were not too tired even though we had to get up around 4 am to make our flight out of Wellington, NZ. From the baggage claim we made our way quickly to the train platform to catch the next train to Newcastle. Our first stop was Sydney Central train station where we had to change trains. It was a bit of an adventure trying to figure out which platform we were to take but we managed and found some seats by the window.
Train station at Sydney
copyright Kjelsty HansonThe train ride was nice and we saw some pretty countryside. The train route traveled through some national forest areas—the green is more desert in Australia. You can tell the rain fall is much less then New Zealand. On the train Glenn got a bit annoyed with all the people talking on their cell phones. It seems no one can leave home without one, we saw people biking, walking, swimming and sleeping with cell phones in hand beeping.
We made it to Newcastle. The trainstation was classy.
copyright Kjelsty HansonIt took us about three hours to make get to Newcastle, so it was mid-day when we arrived. We checked into the flash hotel we were staying for the few days Glenn had his conference. Our room was on the parking lot view side unfortunately—the other side had a wonderful view of the ocean but no complaints, as it was comfortable and lovely.
Beautiful beach at Newcastle lots of surf and surfers!
copyright Kjelsty HansonNewcastle is known for its beaches and beaches they do have. There was the surfer’s beach, the teenager beach, the family beach, the nude beach, the boogie boarder’s beach and there was even a dogs—crazy! Right out the door from the hotel was the beach so Glenn woke up and went for a swim before going to the conference. We also spent a day walking the beaches and body boarding. The pelicans were the funniest sights we saw in Newcastle. They would hang around the fisherman hoping to get some treats. They were not at all afraid of people and they are big!
The storks that made me laugh.
copyright Kjelsty HansonThere was a wonderful group of ladies from Newcastle at the conference and one of them offered to take us to see a wildlife reserve park called BlackButt—tehe! I thought they were joking when the told us the name, I guess the park is named after an Australian plant. It was kind of like a zoo park but it was great to walk around and see the koala bears and the funny birds of Australia and of course kangaroos.
This cute Koala bear is just waking up for his evening meal.
copyright Kjelsty HansonOne of the best parts of the park was seeing the emu; Glenn started whistling a tune and one of the emus started making this deep sound like a drum beat as it strutted around. It was amazing they seemed to be jamming together.
Here is Glenn whistling with the emu.
copyright Kjelsty Hanson
Emu dancing.
copyright Kjelsty HansonOur last day in Newcastle Glenn and I walked through town and went to the Newcastle Gallery. They had a video/instillation exhibition on called Experimenta check out the website about the show http://www.experimenta.org/, we spent hours looking at all there was there to see. Both Glenn and I thought this was one of the best exhibits we had seen since we have been in the Southern HemisphereJ. It made me want to get back working on video editing stuff and performance.
Just chilling out in Newcastle.
copyright Kjelsty HansonThere were also some fun little shops in through the town and we had a delicious Capone burger at Big Al’s. But we sure miss the thick milkshakes you get in the States down a milkshake is very literally just that flavored milk that has been shaken up. Oh well can’t have everything. That night we went to a music session at the local bar. It was music and dance. The dancers were unbelievable and very skilled. There were also some very good musicians. Glenn and I joined in and had some fun sharing stories and tunes.
Newcastle was a major port for export of coal, the large cargo boat is leaving the port.
copyright Kjelsty HansonThe next day we took the train to Woy Woy, a small town halfway to Sydney from Newcastle. It looked from the map that Woy Woy was close to a national park. When we got to Woy Woy people did not know what we were talking about when we asked about the national park so I guess you can not always trust maps or maybe it shows you how little people know about the area they live? Woy Woy was a nice little town and we found a small hotel to stay of the night. We spent our day resting and later took a nice long walk along the waterfront.
Ibis, dusk in Woy Woy.
copyright Kjelsty HansonThat was a great time to walk because all the birds were very active. There was an island what was chock-full of pelicans and ibis. There were rainbow parrots, pink parrots, white parrots and cockatoos all over the place. It was so amazing to see these birds out of a cage and living in the wild. Their calls were also unique from a sound like a goose honking, to the high pitch “wheeat, wheat”. Woy Woy was well worth the visit it we also found a great pizza haunt and a funky café, what more could you ask for.
The Rainbow Parrot what a colorful chap.
copyright Kjelsty Hanson 
The wild parrots in Woy Woy.
copyright Kjelsty HansonWe made it to Sydney at noon on Tuesday. We found a backpackers in Newtown to stay and the best part was we got one night free! It was not the best place to stay if you really like to sleep but we did all right. Newtown was a great area there were heaps of restaurants and shops on the main street (King St.). There was great diversity in Newtown with everyone from cross dressers to Goths to a bird whistling genius whom also happened to be a street person. We saw this character on numerous occasions and though we tried to compete with him he easily put us to shame with numerous sound effects including imitations of dogs, cats, horses and every bird in Australia. Newtown is southwest of Sydney city central; we were able to take the train in to town. We even walked down to Chinatown Tuesday.
First view from trainstation downtown Sydney--street performer.
copyright Kjelsty HansonWe definitely got our walking in on this trip. Our first day in Sydney we went to Darling Harbour but we were there late and most places were closing up. So we continued to Chinatown where we found a great market eatery place. We had a delicious meal for $10 that included drink. Chinatown was hoping lots of people on the street and loads of restaurants. We took the train back to Newtown because we wanted to make an Irish music Session that night at a bar called Kelly’s.
This session turned out to be quite good. All the musicians were pretty much Irish there was a German squeezebox player and an Aussie bodhran player but they all were quite good musicians. Glenn thought the tunes were played a bit fast but I guess Dan Maher would say Glenn just likes slow tunes. The thing that we liked about Sydney was the strong cultural diversities.
Taking a breather.
copyright Kjelsty HansonThe next day we headed out to downtown Sydney to see the Opera House and Botanical Garden. It was a nice sunny day. The Opera House was quite stunning. We enjoyed meandering through the Royal Botanical Gardens where we were amazed at the huge number of Grey-headed Flying-fox bats hanging from the trees. This species of bats is endangered but the Gardens have to be careful because the large population can destroy the trees because they feed on pollen and fruit. This bat is quite large in size 230 -280mm head to tail and wingspan of around 40 cm that is about 9 in length with close to 16 in wingspan.
Grey-headed Flying-Fox
copyright Kjelsty Hanson After our meander through the park we went through the Sydney Gallery. What a great gallery. There was a very diverse display of artwork from Renaissance paintings and sculptures, Japanese brush paintings and ceramics to Australian Aboriginal Art we spent hours soaking in all there was to see.
A painting I really liked.
copyright Kjelsty HansonWe had a city train pass so we decided we should check out Kings Cross area, when we got there nothing really caught our fancy so we took the next train to the Rock. Most of the shops were closed down when we got there but we manage to find a few postcards and I got this nice shot of the Opera House at dusk.
Parting shot
copyright Kjelsty HansonThe next day we needed a bit of a rest so we just hung around King St. and checked out the shops. We probably should have gone on a ferry ride that day but the shopping was fun and we got to cool ourselves down with some to die for Gelato. That night we went to see a great reggae band called Bomba http://www.bomba.com.au/, the lead singer was quite the entertainer and we had fun dancing the night away. The place they performed in was a classy restaurant/pub the best part it was NO SMOKING.
Sydney street life.
copyright Kjelsty HansonWe slept in a bit on Friday. Then spent the day down in Paddington area. I was told there were some great galleries to see there particularly for ceramic sculptures/pottery. We found one really cool ceramic and Japanese art gallery. After a serious browse, Glenn and I fell in love with a kimono (for Kjelsty) and an original fire jacket from Japan. We thought it absurd that we would be buying something Japanese in Australia, but they were both irresistible. Glenn felt that the jacket was magical and felt a rushing stream running down his back. The kimono was just beautiful and colorful, just the way I like it. After doing the gallery scene we made our way to Darling Harbour. We had seen an advertisement about a live didgeridoo performance at one of the shops. Even though we were getting tired we decided we had to see the show. The show was quite impressive and well work the effort. At the end of the show, Glenn got talking to the didgeridoo player and found out he also played the Native American flute. The man was happy to take out the flute that he had to show and play for Glenn--who was quite impressed with his playing and the flute.
Didgaredoo performance
copyright Kjelsty HansonBefore we headed home we walked a little further along the harbour. It was a beautiful evening and there was a stage being set up for a Salsa Band that was performing that night. I could not twist Glenn’s arm hard enough to stay for the showL but he was overjoyed when he found a shop that sold cannoli. We had a rest on by the waters edge and savored the delicious cannoli, an Italian Pastry that Glenn has been talking about since I met him but that we had yet to find. It actually brought tears to Glenn’s eyes, much to our enjoyment. After that Glenn was ready to head back to Newtown so we caught the train. That night we went out for Thai food with one of the girls we dormed with. The restaurant was huge and bustling and the food was delicious and to drink I had juice from a young coconut. They actually brought out a whole coconut with a straw coming out of it, very dramatic.
In the middlecopyright Kjelsty HansonOur last day was Saturday after checking out we had the day to explore since our flight did not leave till 6 pm. We decided we should try and find the fish market that people had told us about. It was not too far from Newtown so we decide to walk. We did make it to the fish market. What a busy place it had a similar fill to the Pike Place Market in Seattle. Fish and chips are a popular meal so the smell of hot oil was emanate. We decided on sushi I still have not been converted to battered and fried fish trend. After getting a good dose of wasabi we made our way back to the backpackers to pick up our bags and catch a taxi to the airport.
The Sydney Bridge from the train station.
copyright Kjelsty Hanson
