Tourist in Australia - Day 14

Exploring Sydney - Day 1

Wednesday, 2 November 2016

We woke up around 7AM and went downstairs for our Continental breakfast. Too expensive for me! We later talked to the concierge for a map of the city. We had planned to walk to the Sydney Opera House first to purchase tickets for a program during our stay in town. We planned our walking path which took around 30 minutes. We started down Pitt Street and passed the Sydney Tower Eye. “Let’s go there tomorrow!” I said. 

We turned on Bridge Street to cross over Macquarie Street to the Royal Botanical Gardens, which we walked through passing the Government House on to the Opera House. 

We wanted by buy tickets for My Fair Lady. SOLD OUT. We were not interested in other programs available as some only had seats in the back rows of the theatre. 

We decided to buy tickets for the tour of the opera house. Fascinating! We also found out that the King and Queen of the Netherlands were in town. In one theatre, they were preparing for their visit that evening. 

After the tour, I found a photo book on the history of the building of the opera house. I did not want to forget its story. 

There were several restaurants at the exterior. We found a nice one which I had a delicious salad with prawns and avocado. Yum. 

Loved the patterns I started seeing around me, including the exterior of the buildings. 

We walked around the nearby Sydney Cove Circular Quay up to the Rocks. What a beautiful city! I also felt I was going back in time learning about the history of Sydney.

We walked through First Fleet Park where I found a historic map of the city. See first photo.

We walked on to The Rocks, the first historical area of Sydney. We passed Cadmans Cottage, the first building built in 1816 for use of the ships’ coxswains and their crews.

We walked up to The Rocks Square on Playfair Street, where I was impressed by this “First Impressions” sculpture by Bud Dumas. The three sided piece shared the first three groups of people who came to Australia from England: the convicts, the soldiers and the settlers who landed in Sydney in 1793.

 

 

 

We checked out the Nurses Walk where the first hospital was built by the convicts from the First Ship in 1788. It later became the town’s slum as it grew. Its history is preserved as exterior buildings were saved for modern shops, hotels and eateries. 

We headed back to our hotel on George St. This window caught my eye as a Beatles fan. Images from Abbey Road and Aerosmith’s song title Walk This Way. These two cooks are busy preparing items for dinner.

Later in the evening while writing in my travel journal, I found the name of this restaurant called INDU Dining with entrance around the corner on Angel Place.

Across the street a few blocks down, this caught my eye with Cuban heritage. Unfortunately, the place was closed.  

We arrived back to the hotel but decided to walk further down George St. and check out the shopping center across the street that was the new interior of the original Queen Victoria Building known locally as the QVB built in 1898 to house local tradespeople of the time. The building was refurbished and reopened in the 1980s. I loved the tiled floors.

We walked passed the Sydney Town Hall to St. Andrews Cathedral. I was so into taking photos of the external church planning to go inside, when Eileen was trying to get my attention. 

Mary, get over here!

Amazed by its beauty!

You could hear the beautiful music of the organ and a trumpet practicing for the Sunday service. Inside we went. The players finished their piece. I asked for permission for them to continue to play as I recorded. Here is what I saw and heard inside this beautiful sanctuary.

 Outside of the church, I noticed an underground entrance to more shopping and restaurants to the subways. We had dinner at the New York Metro which we enjoyed so much we were back for dinner the next night!

Tourist in Australia - Day 13

Flight to Sydney

Tuesday, 1 November 2016

See the door in the back below the roo.

Eileen and I slept in with no early appointment. After breakfast, we packed and checked out around 11 AM and left our luggage with the lobby. We walked around a few blocks in Cairns by the water. At all of the eateries, we noticed that most of the women were dressed up wearing fancy hats. They were all out celebrating Melbourne Cup Day (celebrated by the whole country), as my cousin Barb was doing in Melbourne that day. Barb’s photo here was taken Nov. 3. Love her fancy red hat! I find out later that Nov. 3 is really the Crown Oaks Day for the best hats worn at the horse races at the Flemington Race Course.  

Barb and Ross enjoy the horse races in Melbourne.

We were later picked up in the afternoon and taken to the airport. It was empty, no long lines, because of the races. In fact, we were the last people for our flight clerk to check us in as she was going home to watch the races on the telly. Even our cab driver had the races on the radio.

Eileen and I boarded on from the rear of the plane, as we were sitting in the back. Much quicker and easier. Flight to Sydney was three hours. I had a nice dinner of lamb with veggies and potatoes. I had nice chats with the ladies sitting around us. I found out that  Queensland does not follow daylight savings time as the rest of the country, so we lost an hour landing in New South Wales. We found a reasonable shuttle to our hotel and checked in our room later in the evening. In the bathroom, Eileen, found a TV remote on the sink. What is this for? She pressed the ON button and noise came from the shower. She called for me and showed me this!

Telly in the shower!

Spaghetti and Yarn

Christmas Season is Here

I am a quilter. There I said it. I hoard fabric. But, I have not been sewing much in the past year as this blog and writing posts has taken over my days and nights.

I have belonged to two local quilting guilds which I had to give up with taking care of my 94 year old mother. I work part time in a local fabric store which has become my therapy. During work time, I also have someone stay with  mom. It works great for both of us.

I also belong to a local genealogical society which is also fantastic. Sometimes I cannot make it to all of the meetings, but when I can I am there.

I started a small group of quilters named the UFO Society. To any crafter this means UnFinished Objects. We also have members that knit, crochet, paint, do jewelry, and had some scrapbookers. But mostly quilters. We meet the first Saturday monthly. We started with three, including me, back in 2009. We now have over sixty members, with the average of 35 attending each month.

Waiting eagerly for our Bachelor Spaghetti in Japan.

For our December meeting, we have a pot-luck. I started bringing my mother's traditional Bachelors' Spaghetti that I grew up with and enjoyed this dish every time she served it as seen in photo below.

The story goes after my parents married, my father would invite a small group of bachelor officers from the Navy ship or base he was serving on several times a year.

Every year since I have been baking it; I bring home an empty pot! I now call it Spinster Spaghetti in my honor as a "Spinster Genealogist." Try it out. It is a scrumptious spinster spaghetti dish.




Where does yarn fit into this? My mother loved to knit and crochet. She tried to teach me with great frustration as I am a leftie. I tried several times growing up. I found a box labeled YARNS out in the garage and opened the box. Memories came flooding over me.

When my father was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, in the mid sixties; mom started serving with her craftiness of crocheting for the Navy Relief Society. She would crank out baby caps,  jackets and booties of matching colors of blue, pink, yellow and green.

She was rewarded with pins and certificates. In fact, serving in this manner was great for her health. She quit smoking! Hooray!

Look what I also found inside the box. A UFO baby cap! Mom tells me that there are some crochet hooks around somewhere. I have yet to find them. Someday, I just might.

Where does this lead me? I am now ready to start how to learn to crochet as a leftie again. I am determined this time. I love peacocks. I found a beautiful crochet pattern I want to make. It is called Peacock Pretty as seen here. I now have the book and am ready to start. I find out this is an intermediate pattern for righties. HELP! I find a book for Lefties and go to You Tube. This is how I have been spending my time this past week!

I also took a workshop. Here is what I learned in two hours.
I know it is not much; but, it is a lot for me. Keep practicing. I will get to those feathers.