So maybe I'm having a hard time of it, doing all this writing. I'm enjoying the irony that as a teacher I expect my students to be able to do a recount at the drop of a hat, but here I am with all this information to share and I don't even know where to start! Every day of this trip is full of new sights, new sounds, new smells - everything. There's so much to take in it really does feel like sensory overload sometimes.
So. Let's begin at the beginning.
My friend Cat will probably laugh at this, but I know that she at least will understand me when I say: you know you've traveled a LOOOONG way from home when even the seagulls are different! And they are. Today I explored around Circular Quay and The Rocks in downtown Sydney, and for the first time on this trip I encountered gulls in large numbers. They don't appear to be in the suburbs the way I'm used to at home - the cockatoos appear to have taken over that particular niche. Anyway, the gulls in Sydney Harbor look very much like the gulls at home except that their beaks and feet are BRIGHT orange. For those of you reading this who are long-time Woolsey-ites, think orange mac-tac and that's about the right colour. Their calls are completely different too. So I looked them up in Carroll's bird book and learned that these are Silver Gulls. Who knew?
I only had a few hours in downtown Sydney in which to explore ('cause I spent the morning getting myself a cell phone, a bank account, and other useful things) so I decided I'd see if I could get a close up view of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. There's a lookout platform and museum housed in the southeast pylon, so that's where I headed. The trip up to the viewing platform cost me $9.50 but was definitely worth it - the view was spectacular! The museum did a nice job of explaining the bridge's history and how it was built. This bridge is considered to be the greatest single-arch bridge in the world. It is known locally as "the old coat-hanger". No idea why - that wasn't explained! My favourite fact about the bridge is that, back at the turn of the last century, there was a cattery on top of one of the pylons, and a whole slew of white cats just hung out at the top of the bridge. All year round!If I had so desired, I could have paid something like $250 to climb to the very top of the arch on the bridge. They send you up in climbing gear, attached to a safety cable, and with a pair of instructors. NO THANK YOU. I think there are probably about a zillion better ways for me to spend my money!
After finishing at the bridge, I decided to explore The Rocks. This is the district directly below the bridge on the southern shore of the harbour. When Sydney was first established, The Rocks was a rough neighbourhood filled with all sorts of unsavoury characters. Now it's full of classy shops and very expensive cafes - I couldn't afford to eat lunch there at all! So I wandered back towards Circular Quay and out the other side to the Sydney Opera House, so I could say that I had officially been to both of Sydney's classic landmarks.
The Opera House is, well, HUGE. And a lot more solid-looking up close than I thought it was going to be. I had always pictured the roofs of the Opera House to be made of fabric of some sort, or at least to be airy and thin. In reality the roof is made up of what looks like tiles and concrete, and is much thicker than I was expecting. There must be eight kajillion broad steps that lead up to the Opera House, and while I was climbing them all I could think of was that I was really glad it never snows here and that nobody would ever have to shovel off the steps! (I must be Canadian.) There are guided tours of the Opera House, of course, but by the time I got around to thinking about joining one it was time for me to head home - so back I went again to Circular Quay and jumped on the train and headed back to Bill and Ruth's house in Caringbah.(Before I go any further with today's adventures, let us enjoy the irony that the Opera House picture was taken from the top of the Harbor Bridge, and the Bridge picture was taken from the deck of the Opera House.) :-)
This evening I joined my friends/hosts, Ruth and Carroll, at their Brownie Guide meeting. For all the Canadian Girl Guides who may read this, listen closely. We have a lot to learn from our Australian counterparts. First off, they own the halls they meet in! That's right, throughout Sydney there are Guide Halls, owned (I believe) by the equivalent of the local Districts. Typically each hall would have one unit of each level - Gumnuts, Brownies, Guides, Ranger Guides - that operates out of it. They decide which nights each unit will use the hall for meetings. In the hall I visited, there was a nice sized room for running the actual meeting (big enough to play running games in, too!), a storage locker for camping equipment, a full service kitchen, bathroom, a separate meeting room suitable for Ranger Guides to meet in (or, in this case, the Parent Support Group - more on that in a minute) and storage cupboards for each unit's stuff. So NO UNIT STUFF is stored at Guiders' houses! WHAT A CONCEPT!
As I already mentioned, it is also common for each unit to also have a Parent Support Group, made up of parents of girls from that unit. This group of helpers does fundraising to maintain the hall, helps to organize unit events, and does tons of other useful things too. Again - WHY don't we have this in Canada?
The girls were a pleasure to be with. All the Brownies came to the meeting in their full uniform and they looked really sharp. I played a slide show from Woolsey for them, to show them a little bit about Guide camping in Canada. They were extremely polite and attentive the whole time - not once did one of their leaders have to call on a girl for poor behaviour. I played a couple of games with them and sang a couple of songs and they had a blast - and listened attentively and talked politely the whole time. I couldn't help but wish that I could bring these girls home for my own students to see!
Then all too quickly the evening was over, it was time to pack up and head home. I will be going back next week to help them build rafts - they're going to a regatta in a couple of weeks where they'll be building and floating rafts of their own design. We're talking rafts big enough to hold people, not model rafts. How cool is that? Remember - these are Brownies! They've got skills that I wish our Guides and Pathfinders had! I think I'll be learning a lot from them next Monday.
And that's all for now. If all goes well, I'll be at the aquarium tomorrow - at long last!
