So. Back to yesterday. I had bought myself a train/bus/ferry pass that was good for a week, and yesterday was the last day I could use it. I tried to make the most out of it! I caught the train early in the morning to head back into the city, and headed for the Australian Museum. I got downtown before the museum even opened, so I wandered through Hyde Park (named after its counterpart in London) and just enjoyed the fine weather.I quite enjoyed the museum once I got inside. It isn't a huge place as far as these things go (I think about the size of the AGO, but certainly not the ROM) but it had some excellent displays on a variety of topics. As you can see from today's pic, I really liked the skeleton gallery. They had cases with skeletons from all the groups of vertebrates, but I especially liked the displays with human bones. There was this one, entitled "domestic bliss" (there's also the skeleton of a cat catching the skeleton of a mouse in here, but they're hidden behind the chair), a human on a stationary bike (you could sit in a bike just outside the display and pedal, and watch what your bones do when they move) and also a man astride a rearing horse. Very cool. They had some excellent explanations about the differences in the skeletons of the different groups of vertebrates. For example, I didn't know that marsupials, as a rule, don't have knee caps! They also have extra bones down near the pelvis to support the pouch and its precious contents.
Upstairs the museum had galleries showing the birds and invertebrates of Australia, mostly done in the old-fashioned diorama style which I personally love but which can be boring for young kids. And there were lots of kids at the museum on field trips from their various schools. All the school kids here wear uniforms - regardless of whether they go to a public school or a private one - so it's really easy to spot them when they're out in public. There's also an excellent gallery on the rocks and minerals of Australia, including a cast of the largest gold nugget ever found. I don't remember how much it weighed but it was easily the size of a large school backpack. Holy cow! Apparently Australia is rather famous for its gold nuggets. Much like Canada, Australia is rich in mineral and metal deposits, but most of them are found in the remote outback and are difficult to extract.
I wandered around the museum until lunchtime, then went back to Hyde Park to enjoy my sandwiches in the shade of a huge old fig tree. Having made no other plans for the afternoon, I decided to head back out to Bondi Beach, which we had passed in the car the day before but weren't able to stop at. Bondi was an easy train/bus ride from downtown, and within 45 minutes I was on the beach. Sydney has a whole bunch of excellent ocean-side beaches that are within the city limits, of which Bondi is the most famous. You know you're entering surfing territory when the mall stores you pass on the bus sell surf boards! I decided I'd earned myself an ice cream, so after getting off the bus I zeroed in on the nearest ice cream stand, bought an excellent "chocolate ecstasy" ice cream, and headed for the beach.
I enjoyed a bit of a low-key afternoon. I watched the waves, watched the surfers, and watched the other people on the beach. The surf was pretty high and I decided that today was not the day to go wandering along the edge of the water - there was a good chance I'd get more than just my feet wet! I enjoyed the fact that the lifeguards patrolling the beach were using an SUV with surfboards attached to the sides.
On the way back to Ruth's on the train, we got stuck with signaling problems for probably half an hour or so, so I didn't have time to do more than change into my Guiding uniform before we headed out the door again for Guides. On the roster for the evening was playing games (courtesy of me), handing out various badges and awards, and practicing square lashing for the upcoming Borree Regatta, where the girls compete in a raft building competition. In the end, her Guides taught ME a new game, which will be going up on my website at some point in the future! Square lashing practice was a bit of a challenge but good fun, and I taught lots of girls how to do a clove hitch for the first time.
So in the end, after cleaning up from Guides and dropping Ruth's assistant Guider off at home, we didn't get back to our place until almost 9pm! We had a late (but YUMMY) dinner and then it was off to bed!
My knees have been really aching these last few days, I guess from all the walking on sidewalks and other hard surfaces over the last week or so. Add to that the fact that Ruth seems to have given me her head cold, and I'm pooped. So here I am today, enjoying a quiet day off at Ruth's house. I got to sleep in, I've done my laundry, I've read and responded to a ton of emails, and am generally getting caught up with the rest of the world. Please - if you haven't done so recently, drop me a line to let me know how you're doing. Every once in a while I remember how far away Australia is from everywhere else I know!
