October
12, Friday
I turned a corner and almost jumped out of my skin. This dingo looks so real, but he's stuffed. So are all the other animals, but they are posed so naturally.
Fairy Penguins, the smallest of the species (the Blue Penguins are next in size, and then the Adelie Penguins)
Now this Tasmanian Devil looks scary
and I'm very glad I didn't meet any of the huge red kangaroos on the Australian roads.
This is the Educational Centre I was so impressed with.
A wombat and another dingo
A platipus
Did I tell you already that boomerangs aren’t all designed to come back? They were designed as a hunting tool.
Toss it and knock your prey out with one hit.
The bird section was also quite educational. Check out this display on the aerodynamics of a birds wing.
Australia's lyrebird. This is the only one I saw through my travels. No live ones anywhere.
A beautiful mineral collection that was privately collected and donated to the museum.
This next section on skeletons was really interesting (Perla, I remembered seeing your photos)
Man in his natural habitat, with a pet dog as well as a bird in the cage. At the back of the chair was a skeleton of a cat chasing the skeleton of a mouse. TOO FUNNY
Hi Oh Silver..... Away !
Juxtaposition of a giraffe skeleton and an ostrich skeleton. Eerie, isn't it !
It was so windy that the water from the fountain was all blowing out of it.
Museum of Sydney
Government House as it was when it was demolished. It had started as a simple house and was added on to at least 4 times before being abandoned.
Artists who played a role in the entertainment business in Sydney
It was still pouring rain when I left the museum
Thankfully I was only a few blocks away from Circular Quay where I could catch a bus back to the hotel.
It's been another long day.
Need to return the
car to the airport today, so I got up early enough to be on the road just
before 9 am. Luckily the heavy traffic
was going in the opposite direction. Not
bad driving, retracing the last part of my drive into the city one week ago and
easier than doing it in the dark. It
was an easy drive and I arrived at the domestic terminal within ½ an hour. Located the Hertz Rental area and dropped off
the car; as easy as that. I was
planning on taking the train back into the city, but the lady at the airport
information counter explained that it
would cost me about $15; if I took the bus, just outside the doors where I was
standing, and rode to the next stop “Mascot Station” using my multi-pass, I
could get on the train from there again using my multi-pass. Before I took the bus however I needed to
locate the Virgin Australia Airline counter to get some information about
“extra luggage”. I needed to switch
terminal buildings, but it was quite close by.
I went over, got the information I needed and returned to the bus
stop. I rode to the next stop and walked
over to the train station. It was a quick ride downtown to the Museum Station
where I got off. It sounds simple, but
I had no luggage. For those of you
planning to travel here, with a backpack it might have been OK, but not with
regular luggage, since there were lots of stairs. I had not eaten breakfast yet so as I exited
the Museum Station, I spotted a bakery (OF COURSE !) where I could go in out of
the cold and rain for a good cup of coffee, a ham & cheese croissant and a
muffin.
Ordering coffee in Australia: I take my coffee with milk(well actually
cream, but they don’t do cream here), so I’ve been ordering a “flat white”
which I learned while I was in Darwin.
This morning I simply said “regular coffee with milk”. The gentleman serving me at the counter
informed me that I should be asking for a “long black”. He was a gorgeous, tall black man….. I had to bite my tongue so I would not say “a
nice tall black” instead of a nice “long black”.
After breakfast I simply had to cross Hyde Park to get to
the Australian Museum. They had a special display on the Oceans as well as a superb display of Aboriginal Art,
which I enjoyed; a huge section on animals, birds, insects and dinosaurs; a section on minerals and an entire
educational wing which absolutely blew me away.
Hey, those are the little balls I saw on the beach in Bali! They are crab sand balls.
And here are the teeny tiny crabs that create them. They could have their own Smurff show.I turned a corner and almost jumped out of my skin. This dingo looks so real, but he's stuffed. So are all the other animals, but they are posed so naturally.
Fairy Penguins, the smallest of the species (the Blue Penguins are next in size, and then the Adelie Penguins)
Now this Tasmanian Devil looks scary
and I'm very glad I didn't meet any of the huge red kangaroos on the Australian roads.
This is the Educational Centre I was so impressed with.
A wombat and another dingo
A platipus
Did I tell you already that boomerangs aren’t all designed to come back? They were designed as a hunting tool.
Toss it and knock your prey out with one hit.
The bird section was also quite educational. Check out this display on the aerodynamics of a birds wing.
Australia's lyrebird. This is the only one I saw through my travels. No live ones anywhere.
I took the time to
stop and chat with the gentleman at the desk in the Educational Centre to let
him know that of all the museums I had visited around the world, theirs was the
most impressive educational section I had seen. He was quite pleased that I had taken the time
to mention it.
Opals in the mineral sectionA beautiful mineral collection that was privately collected and donated to the museum.
This next section on skeletons was really interesting (Perla, I remembered seeing your photos)
Man in his natural habitat, with a pet dog as well as a bird in the cage. At the back of the chair was a skeleton of a cat chasing the skeleton of a mouse. TOO FUNNY
Hi Oh Silver..... Away !
Juxtaposition of a giraffe skeleton and an ostrich skeleton. Eerie, isn't it !
It was windy and pouring rain when I came out, but I
decided to walk to the Museum of Sydney,
about a 10 minute walk away. I almost
got blown away. This did not help my
asthma and I coughed the entire way there.
Hyde park in the pouring rainIt was so windy that the water from the fountain was all blowing out of it.
The Museum of Sydney is in a modern building located on
the site of the first Government House built in 1788 by Governor Arthur Phillip. Some of the footings have been preserved and
can be seen under the glass floor of the museum lobby. “It was home, office
and seat of authority for the first 9
governors until 1845.”
This museum provided a history of Sydney and was quite
informative. Once section had films of
“characters” who had lived in Sydney and provided “story lines” of what it was
like to live here during various periods of time. It included the Aboriginal people’s point of
view as well. Again, in many areas I was
not allowed to take photos, but in others I was. Sydney’s Arts and Sports history was beautifully
displayed and showed how it evolved in the 20th century. Museum of Sydney
Government House as it was when it was demolished. It had started as a simple house and was added on to at least 4 times before being abandoned.
Artists who played a role in the entertainment business in Sydney
It was still pouring rain when I left the museum
Thankfully I was only a few blocks away from Circular Quay where I could catch a bus back to the hotel.
It's been another long day.
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