Tuesday we had planned on driving out to the wine country using another GoGet, but after thinking it over, we decided to stay in the city. The closest wine region to Sydney is still about 3 hours drive, and it’s not exactly the best, so instead of dedicating the day to wining and driving, we cultured ourselves by checking out not one, not two, but THREE museums! We also had a nice lunch, checked out Bondi Beach, and did yoga by the sea. Busy busy (walla)bees.
We of course first started the day though with a traditional trip to a coffee shop.
And then we passed by this neat atrium-esque mall so popped in there for a bit.
The first museum we visited was the Museum of Contemporary Art. This was my favorite of the 3. They were having a special exhibit by the American artist Chuck Close, but since we are not art aficionados, we just opted for the free pass access to check out the regular collection. I don’t know much about contemporary art (and I don’t know ANYTHING about Australian artists), but I picked up on a common theme of “displacement” and cynicism towards the Australian government and society. To see some of the work we saw, you can click here.
There was another interesting “piece,” titled “The One Hour Laugh,” where as the name suggests, 4 people stand around and “laugh” for an hour. Think what you want! An excerpt (only 5 minutes, not an hour unfortunately) is found here.
After this museum, we went over to the Sydney Museum, which was kind of disappointing.
It jumped from British colonization to modern day very quickly and there were very few actual artifacts- mostly just pictures/photos. I did like learning about the “First Fleet” of 11 ships. Here’s a quick excerpt about that, via the State Library of New South Wales:
“Over 252 days, the First Fleet brought over 1500 men, women and children half way around the world from England to New South Wales.
On 13 of May 1787, the fleet of 11 ships set sail from Portsmouth, England. Led by Captain Arthur Phillip, this historic convoy, which later became known as the First Fleet, carried officers, crew, marines and their families, and convicts from Britain to a distant and little known land on the far side of the world.
The Fleet consisted of two Royal Navy escort ships, HMS Sirius and HMS Supply. They accompanied six convict transports, the Alexander, Charlotte, Friendship, Lady Penrhyn, Prince of Wales and the Scarborough, and three store ships, the Borrowdale, Fishburn and Golden Grove.”
By this point we were hungry, so we stopped and had lunch at a really tasty Italian restaurant called “Fratelli Fresh.” The pasta was awesome and the atmosphere was very Italian.
Then it was onto Museum #3, which was a bit of a blunder because we thought it was the Museum of Science and Technology, but it turned out to be only the observatory (which was mneh, ok- better to book for an evening visit so you can use the telescope.)
From there we went back and changed into yoga clothes before heading out to Bondi Beach. We took the bus and it was about a 30 minute ride from the hotel- not bad!
I actually liked the vibe at Bondi Beach better than Manly. It just seemed a little more laid back and “kewler.” The whole time we were in Australia though we didn’t really dedicate much time to the beaches- with our milky skin and propensity of skin cancer, I’m over lying out and cooking in the sun.
So we opted for a different type of beach experience- yoga by the sea! Only downside was that being out in the open led to lots of spectators.
The class was great and we both felt refreshed afterwards. So refreshed that we had to have a beer and a burger to revive ourselves.
The night was still young at this point, and since we weren’t going out to the wine country at all, we settled for a visit to a wine bar. The spot we found was pretty neat- you get a scan card and then make your own “tasting” using bottles of wine that are hooked up to automatically dispense. Overall I think Australian wine still has some room to grow, but we had some decent Shiraz and Semillon.
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- We did not try this wine…
So thats Day 5- 2 more days in Aussieland to chronicle, then back to the Land of Sand.
Hollers in the 'ha 