We had a great day again in Sydney. This morning we headed into the city by ferry east on the Parromatta River from the Olympic Park and our destination was the Circular Quay (pronounced “key”) in downtown Sydney. On the east side of the Circular Quay and Sydney Cove is the Opera House.



We walked all around the Opera House, though it was not open. After that we had lunch at a fish place on the wharf at Circular Quay. One of my favorite pictures of the day was this one which I color enhanced and was an outdoor restaurant on the Circular Quay walk between the ferry docks and the Opera House.



After lunch we went over to the botanical gardens which was an amazing work....easily nature’s par with the best anything man could do. There were trees and specimens from Africa and all over Australia, but the most impressive part was the scale of it....maybe 12 city blocks. It’s bounded on one side by the high rises extending from the opera house all the way to Darling Harbor and then on the other side, Farm Cove.



While we were marveling at a tree in the botanical garden, I felt a woosh close to my head and a crackle like static electricity. I was sure a bird had made a pass at my head but I couldn’t see it anywhere. Anyway, we kept walking around and eventually looked up and noticed these critters in the tops of the trees which were big enough they could have been monkeys but we had heard there are no monkeys in Australia (not sure if it’s true, but that’s what they say.) Looking closer we discovered they were bats.

These things were huge and there were hundreds of them hanging in the tops of the trees in the botanical garden in broad daylight. It was like they where sunning themselves but they would wrap their bodies with their wings like they were cloaked. Every so often, one would stretch his wings and the wing span was probably at least 3 feet long. These guys were monstors. Fairly often, one would take flight and several would be getting in squabbles just like pigeons. Here’s a closeup of one which was probably hanging 20 feet over our heads (along with several 100 of his closest friends.)



So, I’m pretty sure I got dive bombed by a bat, but I was never able to see what flew by my head.

We then walked across the part (peninsula?) between the botanticals and Darling Habor where we were yesterday and caught a late day ferry back to Olympic Park. I sat buy a corporate lawyer who was on his way home for the day. He was really fun to talk to as he was a Sydney native.

One thing we’ve noticed since being here is that you very rarely hear any sirens. For being a major urban area, you would think they’d be going all the time. It’s a very quiet city compared to big US cities yet it has tons of people and lots of bustle. It’s one of those things you don’t notice at first, but then you just wake up and realize “hey, I haven’t heard any sirens since I’ve been here.”

My final favorite picture of the day is one that sort of defines my kinky eye on humanity. I’ll just call it “Modern Aborigine”. These guys would play aboriginal music on the Circular Quay wharf - it sounded like a mix of techno pop, world beat, and a primitive aborigine twangy mouth harp. After a long set, they would retire to their van. I took this picture after a set they played and it cracked me up because you see this aborigine standing by the van, smoking a cigarette, his gut hanging over his drawrs, talking to his aborigine buddies in the Toyota van with magazines and coffee on the dash.

Without further ado, I present Modern Aborigine:



You can find these and many more pictures in larger format and higher resolution on my Sidney - Day Trip 2 album.
It’s 9 pm Monday (5 am at home - good morning everyone :-) . So long from Sydney.