The Purple Penguin

Didn’t get to update last night because Joe went out drinking. Until gone midnight. He claims it was work, but it was drinking. The last day of his conference was yesterday; today he was in the office.

So yesterday we had breakfast and then I headed down to Circular Quay to figure out the ferries. Got on the ferry to Parramatta and had a lovely trip up the Parramatta River. Saw loads of water birds. As you go up the river narrows until it ends in Parramatta in a weir. The river isn’t navigatable from that point. The places I wanted to see were opposite ways along the river and as I’d left a bit late I could only do one direction. I went to Elizabeth Farm and Experimental Farm.

It’s a lovely walk along the river. Not sure about the town as I didn’t really go in, just along the river to the historical homes. It was a bit hotter up there and had to climb up to the houses. Both are really lovely. I spent time at Elizabeth Farm wandering about on my own. It’s a living museum with all replicas, so you can sit in the chairs, read the books, touch and look at everything. It’s quite a nice place. As an added bonus there was a bushy tail possum hanging out in the oak tree in the courtyard, nomming on oak leaves. 

I then walked over to Experimental Farm and they do tours there. I wasn’t really given the option not to have the tour and I got the impression I may have been the only visitor that day! The volunteers are very nice and chatty and the home is interesting. It was called Experimental Farm because it was a social experiment to see if the convicts could sustain themselves, not because they were experimenting to see if crops would grow. 

From the farmhouse you could see the smoke plume from the bush fires. The city has been smoky all week and tonight it’s all yellowy orange light and dim. Very overcast heavy humid sort of day. Yesterday was bright sunshine! So the ferry trip was lovely in the sunshine.

Up a little later this morning, but still early. Took our time getting ready, then had breakfast, then Joe headed off to the office. I went off to figure out a bus route to Elizabeth Bay House. That’s the 311 which does a bit of a loop around Sydney – I got off and got back on the bus at the exact same stop and the return trip was quite different from the trip out! 

Elizabeth Bay is lovely and the house is beautiful. The oval saloon with the sweeping staircase is wonderful and I really enjoyed looking around. There weren’t loads of people there either, but they did start coming in as I was leaving. Looked like they may have been doing a lunch in the dining room.

Decided to have a shorter quieter day today and sort out stuff. So back at the room updating the blog and sorting! Will try to get photos up later!

J: Got up, had breakfast, went to work. Left work, met up with Kathleen then headed out to have an Egyptian meal with friends in Newtown. 

K: Got up and had breakfast with Joe, then we headed opposite directions along Liverpool Street. He went to work and I went to the Australian Museum. On the way, stopped to watch some rainbow lorikeets and take some photos in Hyde Park. Met up with my friend at the museum and got a tour of the galleries that are available. The lights aren’t on and some of the exhibit space is being used as office or storage space due to the building work, but it was all interesting. It was also just good to see the work that a museum does, rather than just the exhibits.

I then headed down to the Botanical Gardens. I had planned to spend most of the day sitting and resting my sore feet, but I walked all over the gardens, as well as out to Mrs Macquarie’s Point and chair. Got some photos, but most of are birds that I wanted to ID. 

Then out to Newton for dinner. We also saw bats flitting about and while driving back to the hotel stopped to listen to them in the trees. Now to decide what to do tomorrow . . . 

Joe was at work. Well a meeting. All day. With dinner.

I wasn’t. I had breakfast with Joe then headed over to see where his meeting was. It’s a nifty building, in Darling Square. Once I dropped him off I headed off into town. Got a call from a friend asking if I could get to the Australian Museum. She works there and they were doing a tour for a new starter and agreed that I could tag along. So I got a backstage tour of the museum where all the work is done! Really interesting getting to see parts of the collection and how they are stored. Also got tips on where to drive to see the most wildlife! 

I then headed out and walked up to Kings Cross. I had thought I might go to the Elizabeth Bay house, but when I stopped for lunch I realised it wasn’t open – just open on weekends. So looped around on Darlinghurst and Macleay Streets along the water and back up to the Art Gallery of NSW. Enjoyed walking around seeing the art, but could have done with more Australian, including Aboriginal, art and fewer old Europeans. Especially Victorians! There were so many Victorian paintings. I left just a bit before the museum closed and headed for the hotel. Joe brought me dinner on his way back from the meeting.

Tomorrow I may get to tag along with the new starter tour of the Australian Museum Galleries (yay). My main plan is to go to the Botanical gardens and just find a place to sit and watch the birds and the people as I’ve done a lot of walking over the past three days! Joe has charged the camera and told me I need to take some photos please. So I’ll try to do that as well.

Yesterday we arrived 6am at Sydney Airport. Let’s be more specific, Sunday 1 December, cause we’re now in the future! We left the UK on Friday night and skipped Saturday (though we were in Doha for Saturday morning). Most of Sunday was spent staying awake. This involved walking out to the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, and meeting a work colleague who was out for his morning run. It’s a small world sometimes. Then meeting up with a friend for brunch and, later, dinner. Then finally falling into bed and sleeping.

One other thing we did was to buy some local sim cards so we could stay in contact. You can get pay as go for a one-off cost that last about a month with unlimited calls and texts in Australia and some international countries and 35gb of mobile data. So that was a deal. If you want to do this, be warned that you have to register the sim and it won’t take a foreign address; but it did take the hotel address! It will also require your passport number and full name as on the passport.

Today, Monday, I went to work in the Sydney office. Kathleen did holiday stuff, because she’s not working.

K: That’s cause Joe’s here to do a meeting thing for the first week, then work with the Sydney office for the second week. I’m not. But it’s ok, because of the meeting we get to be in Australia for a few weeks. 

Joe left out that yesterday we walked around The Rocks and the market there (it’s there at weekends). Don’t really remember what we saw as we were very tired, but do remember some porcelain pins and jewelry that were very nice. Then we went to the MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) to meet our friend. We ate in the cafe there – it’s on the top floor with an excellent view over the harbour. Except there was a huge cruise ship in port, so the view was blocked by that. Still a nice view. Then we walked back toward the hotel – we had checked in when we arrived but couldn’t get keys until 2pm. So we rested and unpacked and showered before dinner, then out to China Town for dinner and the best sweet dumplings. The dumpling place was a tiny hole in the wall, with a really nifty dumpling machine. Go up to the window, say how many you want, hand over very little money for wonderful dumplings. 

Today I went to the office with Joe, mainly because we were up early so we headed out to get breakfast. Once he was safely at the office I went out to Hyde Park and the ANZAC memorial – a large Art Deco monument. Walked down to the fountain, but skipped the Australian Museum because it’s closed. Instead I headed for the bookshop – Dymocks, which is associated with a Children’s literacy charity. So I’m looking for the section I need (the shop is very large) when I hear someone say my name. Turn around and there’s another friend – we’d been meaning to try to meet up but hadn’t managed to arrange anything. But that’s ok because we just randomly ran into each other. Hooray! So planning for dinner next week and a catch-up.

I then headed back to the Rocks and had a look around some of the small alleyways and older buildings. Went to the Tourist info and then into the tourist shopping area, before heading to The Rocks Discovery Centre which is a lovely tiny little museum. As it was getting to be later afternoon, headed back to the hotel to meet up with Joe when he finished work. Now trying to decide where to go for dinner – I know where to get great dumplings!