Bonorong

When we first arrived at our resort, the rooms weren't ready. As we were waiting I was reading the local paper, and there was an article about how they were recruiting wildlife carers. They get a lot of orphans from roadkill, and as we traveled to Port Arthur and back I did notice a lot of roadkill, which was sad, but Bonorong ended up being very educational about the entire issue.

First of all, Bonorong is built around rehabilitating wildlife and re-releasing into the wild whenever possible. They may not always have all species represented, depending on what is happening, but we got to see a lot, and our guide just taught us so much about Tasmania and each of the animals and about conservation.

One thing that he did not spell out, but I realized while we were there, is that having the mammal population be marsupials is what gives you the high incidence of orphans requiring care. With regular mammals, if you hit the mother the babies are probably hidden somewhere in the woods, and you will never find them so they will either survive or not without human interference. In Australia, the babies are on-board.

First of all, you can do things to avoid hitting wildlife. Watch out for areas near water, where there are clearings in the woods, and I believe at dips in the road. These are likely animal crossings, so reducing speed and keeping your eyes open is a good idea. The other hazard is roadkill. There are scavenging animals that will come to clean up, and if dinner is in the middle of the road, that puts the diner in danger too. So, if you do hit something in the middle of the road, please drag it off to the side.

If you kill an animal, scoop the pouch and check for babies. The best thing you can do for them is keep them warm, and putting them in your shirt may be the best way to do that, as it will be the closest thing to Mum. At this point there are numbers you can call to figure out the next step, including calling Bonorong. If I lived there I am sure I would become a carer, but generally without that training you will probably not be able to feed them well, so call someone who knows and keep them warm until them.

Those numbers can be useful if you non-fatally injure an animal too. The grimmest part was that he was explaining that if you fatally injure but do not kill an animal (so it is going to die, but hasn't yet), the kindest thing you can do is a solid blow to the back of the head. This seems to have scarred Maria, because later on Kangaroo Island she saw an orphaned echidna puggle at a wildlife center and she kept worrying they were going to kill it. Since they were in the process of rehabilitating it, and letting people see it, I think her worries were groundless, but she really feared for its life.

Anyway, I'm not sure if we were different because we came in a group, but we went in, got our little bags of food, and the guide (pictured with the wombat, Pixie) went through the different pens telling us about each animal. He truly had an encyclopedic knowledge of them. He went over their unique characteristics, what their rehabilitation is like, similarities to the other animals, and habits in the wild. We really learned a lot. We found the wombat information especially interesting, maybe because we just hadn't known much about them before. Then we got some free time to wander around.

Possibly the best thing he told us is that you can pet the kangaroos on the head or back, and they won't mind, but they will think you are telling them to be off. What they really love is being scratched on the chest.

It may be breed specific, because the kangaroos at Maru (Phillip Island tour) did not seem to care for it, but this mob loved it. I would take some food from the bag and put it in my left palm, letting the kangaroo eat. Then, as it was finishing, with my right hand I would start scratching the chest, and the kangaroo would just bliss out and lean into my hand, and it was amazing. Obviously, this took both hands so I have no pictures of it, but it is the best!

Obviously, more pictures are up on Shutterfly, but here we have a koala, wombat with keeper, a devil, Cape Barren Geese, and an absolutely adorable little kangaroo joey. (I had always thought of joeys as baby kangaroos, but it looks like that term is for all infant marsupials, and puggles is for all infant monotremes and one poorly advised dog mix).

In case anyone knows that koala are not native to Tasmania, and wonders why they are at this rehabilitation place, a sanctuary on the mainland had a fire, and Bonorong took in a few to help. That's one thing right there-- it is an amazing place to visit on its own, but you can also really feel like you are supporting something worthwhile.


http://www.bonorong.com.au/joomla/index.php

A Tale of Two Cadbury's

We visited the Claremont Cadbury factory on an all day tour that also included a lunch cruise on the Derwent river, Bonorong Wildlife Park, and the historic town of Richmond. On the day we toured the Dunedin factory we went all over the Otago peninsula, including Sandfly Bay, Penguin Place, and Larnach Castle. I feel like it makes more sense to treat the two Cadbury locations together, and cover the other locations separately.

Claremont was highly recommended for Tasmania, so we had always planned on going. One thing I noticed in the guidebooks was that pretty much every city of note in Australia has at least one candy factory, zoo, botanical garden, and antarctic exploration-themed attraction (well, the last one may be more in the Southern part of the country). Going to all of them would be silly, so you need to look for the better, more highly-recommended ones. I wouldn't have minded checking out the other fudge factory around Hobart, or even Haigh's Chocolates in Adelaide, but only Claremont was must-see.

I love bringing food as souvenirs, because I have a natural antipathy towards more knick-knacks and dust collectors, especially for a trip that you didn't take, but was merely taken by someone you knew. With food souvenirs, you eat them, ideally you enjoy them, and then they are gone. (Flowers are also good. You enjoy them for a few days and then they die.)

We thought bringing back chocolates for people would be good, but then we had a concern. One of our tours had a limit of 15K luggage per person. We were just below that with our clothes and toiletries, so stocking up on chocolate in Tasmania could put us over, and carrying it all over the country for another two weeks did not sound like a great idea anyway.

By pure chance I noticed that there was another Cadbury factory in Dunedin, so while setting up our south island of New Zealand tour I asked our guide to arrange a stop by the store, no tour necessary. He said we should probably go for the tour, which was fine, so our plan was to stock up on chocolate there, and we would only have to port it around for two days. We did not realize the vast inequality between the two factories.

First of all, Claremont does not really have a tour. They used to, but stricter safety and health laws made it too onerous, I guess, so now they just give you a talk, and you have access to the gift shop, the chocolate shop, and a cafe. That being said, it was a great talk. I suppose it depends on who your guide is, but ours had so much personality and she knew everything about Cadbury and chocolate-making and consumption. Also, they had Freddo there. The picture of the cow (source of the cup and a half of milk that goes into every bar) and of the frog are from Claremont. (Our guide is in the picture with Freddo, though it is blurry.)

Also, the store is amazing. It is huge, they have all sorts of products we have never even heard of here, and they have specials on different days, where even though the prices are generally pretty good, some prices will be better. You can buy a five kilo box of chocolate for $40.00 that would be a $100.00 value. (They will mail it for you, but I was sure that would be expensive, and this was between me losing my wallet and getting money transferred.) On your way in they give you a chocolate, and on your way out you get a parting gift of a box of favorites that basically allows you to sample everything. It was really a wonderful experience.

There are ways in which the Dunedin factory is more set up for visitors. They have all sorts of displays and a film, and you can actually tour the work floor on week days. (We were there on a Saturday, so that was not an option for us.) However, it just wasn't as interesting. It was our guide's first time, so maybe we are not being fair, but you did not get as many interesting facts, they handed out some candy but not as impressive, and the store was much smaller and more limited. Also, they make a big deal of the chocolate waterfall, but it was kind of overrated. I thought it would be a constantly flowing fall, but what they do is take you into one of the big silos pictured and turn it on so a big rush of liquid chocolate flows down in front of you and then stops.

Regarding the stores and gifts, at least with the Dunedin factory there is a strong focus on distributing what is made locally. This makes sense, but what they make in Dunedin is apparently the Perky nana (imagine banana-flavored Laffy Taffy covered in chocolate), Chocolate Fish (strawberry marshmallow covered in chocolate), and Crunchie (it's a bit like Violet Crumble in texture). Their candy is gross. We didn't end up getting many people souvenirs, and checking every store to try and find more Cherry Ripes. They were everywhere in Australia, but quite rare in New Zealand.

Now, seeing the work floor might be interesting, so if I were ever to be in Dunedin on a week day, I would probably go for it, and certainly if I am ever in Birmingham, England I will give that tour a shot, because I am nothing if not open to new experiences, but for now, Claremont is the best, and you should buy a lot of chocolate given the chance.

http://www.cadbury.com.au/
http://www.cadburyworld.co.nz/cadburyworld/home.html
http://www.cadburyworld.co.uk/CadburyWorld/Pages/CadburyWorld.aspx

http://www.weblogoz.com/20030618080557375.htm
http://www.hiba.com.au/
http://haighschocolates.com.au/factory_tour/visitors_centre.html

The Eco Cruise

We checked out of the inn Wednesday morning and waited for our bus pickup. We had a different driver, but the one who had dropped us off had called her to make sure she knew exactly where to get us, and again we were just getting great service. While they were rounding up the rest of the passengers she sent us into a sort of restaurant/bar where we could get free tea and coffee and use the facilities. Well, this time when we went to buy water they comped us for that since we hadn't taken any tea or coffee. Yay!

They had two boats, and we ended up on the Silver Gull. Cold weather gear was available. Used to colder temperatures, we declined it, and it was nice that it was not mandatory like at the Bay of Islands. We did wear our coats and gloves, and there was a breeze, but it felt pretty good to us. If we had wanted it, there were jackets, pants, and I saw one person wearing an ankle-length coat.

One of the pictures above shows our sister boat, so you can see the set up. It has some surface similarities to the Excitor in the Bay of Islands, but we were much more sheltered. Maybe it was the covering or a difference of the prow-I don't know enough about boats to say. It was definitely a more comfortable ride. There were still bumps and spray, but they were fun.

I took a lot of pictures trying to capture the beauty of the place. I'm not sure how much justice I did, but there are a few here. At first I was mostly impressed with the striation. Clearly these were sedimentary rocks. Then I started noticing different outcroppings jutting out. I kept thinking of cathedrals with spires and buttresses and pipe organs, and realized I wouldn't have been a good explorer because I would have just kept naming everything Cathedral Rock over and over again.

Actually, not everything looked like a cathedral. Two of the more unique formations are shown above. You can probably guess which one is the Candlestick. That is a sensible name for this narrow shaft stretching up between thicker cliffs (though you could still call it the spire or the bell tower). What did not show up is that there is a rope stretched out from the cliff on the left to the Candlestick, because people climb that thing. When our captain told us that, I could only think that it was crazy. Isn't rock climbing exciting enough without it being over rough, cold water?

The other one shows the middle in a group of three rocks. Actually, they are all connected so it is really just one rock with three peaks. Anyway, it kind of looks like a basset hound face. Actually, the rock on the right is a little bit similar, but not as well defined. The rock on the left looks nothing like a basset hound, but maybe it could be the middle rock's rump.

We also found several caves and went in to a few. If you check out the full collection of Tasmania pictures, you will notice that there are bits of the boat and people's heads in almost every picture, but you get the idea.

We got to see many seals and gannets, but the definite highlight was when we saw the whale. At that time of year, there were no guarantees, but suddenly the boat stopped, and people were pointing, and there was the tail of a whale waving back and forth.

I imagine that often with whale watching someone will glimpse a fluke or a side, and if you are looking at that moment you see it, otherwise too bad. In this case, he just kept bringing the tail up, waving it, then taking it back in the water, I don't know how many times. That should have made it possible to take a picture, but my timing was off, I guess, so I gave up and just watched. The important thing is that everyone got to see, and we were just spellbound by it.

I guess you could call it magical. I remember at the time thinking that it was something, and settling on the word sacred. Right as I thought that, I heard the captain talking to another passenger and say it was really special. I'm still not sure what the best word is, but we were there, and so close, and there is a feeling of connection that is outside of the every day. Eventually, I saw the back of the whale (it appears to have been a humpback) kind of come up and then go back under, and it was gone.

The captain joked that now he needed to charge us extra, but then later he was saying he really wanted the trifecta. We had seen seals, we had seen a whale, and he needed to find us dolphins. He was not able to find us dolphins, but I still have to think he did okay.

We came back into Port Arthur, and the rest of the passengers were going to tour the historical site, but we had done that already. I suppose they could have easily left us on our own for a couple of hours, but our driver took us to Eucalypt for lunch, and then she drove us over to Maingon Bay so we could look around a bit there.

Maingon Bay is home to Remarkable Cave. What makes it remarkable is that it is somewhat in the shape of Tasmania. I swear I saw it, but I could never get the angle quite right to photograph it, so my pictures don't complete the outline. Nonetheless, kind of cool.

When it was time, we headed back into Hobart, but since we were going through Seven Mile Beach our driver dropped us off there, saving us a good hour of public transit (and at least $9.00 AUD).

We traveled by some wonderful scenery on the way. We had been surprised by the calla lilies on the prison site, but they were growing all over the countryside. We also got our first glimpses of frisky lambs running around in meadows (we would be seeing a lot more of those). The most surprising thing for me was probably seeing cockatoos in the wild. Here they are exotic anyway, but if you imagined somewhere they could be native, you would think more tropical. In Tasmania, they were kind of like crows or ducks.

That day was also the first day we had run into any other Americans. On the bus back there was a couple from California. They were nice, though he was a bit of a know-it-all (he worked at IBM, but I'm sure that's unrelated). We would encounter more Americans the following day, but it was also interesting how many of the tourists were Australians there. Generally we were running into people from Europe and Asia everywhere else. We did see a group from the Middle East at Eucalypt whom we had earlier seen at the Rainforest Habitat. That was our biggest travel coincidence until we found John and Maria from Cairns in Queenstown. (Otherwise, seeing people from a bus one day at the airport the next day was happening all the time, and there was one group of three men who followed us all over Kangaroo Island.)

Regardless of travel coincidences and demographics, I have to say that it was just a really good day. I don't know that I had ever thought of granite as particularly beautiful, but it was. Great scenery, great wildlife, and absolutely excellent customer service.

One thing we did not get to see may be worth checking out. I saw signs for a place called the Tessellated Pavement. We did not go there, but I asked our first driver about it, and he explained it is a part of the coastline with geometric designs. I am posting a link for a picture that may not be a particularly good representation, but it's something.

http://www.tasmancruises.com.au/tours_cruise.php
http://harristravel.shutterfly.com/259
http://www.flickr.com/photos/deadlyphoto/2328810335/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:TessellatedPavement.jpg

Port Arthur

I have to say, we had wonderful weather for our trip to Port Arthur. It had been so rainy and gray the day before that we weren't sure what we were in for. It was definitely cool when we left (and we left early), but the sky was blue, and rain wasn't even an option.

We took to public bus to downtown Hobart, and then a tour bus from Hobart to Port Arthur. Fortunately both drivers were really nice. We were worried we would need to transfer to get to the right spot, but the first driver told us exactly what we needed, and even recognized us the next time he saw us, which was basically three days later.

People were nice, and they were also very trusting. I had communicated with the company by e-mail, and asked about payment, and they just said to do it when we got there. That morning we were leaving before the office was actually open, but the driver said we could pay in Port Arthur. We did go to the office there to drop off the other people on the bus, but he said they were busy, so we could just pay the next day, and he would take us to our hotel. (We did finally convince someone to take our money the next day.)

He dropped us off at the Port Arthur Comfort Inn, and we checked in. We had just brought overnight bags, travelling as light as we could. The Inn has a gate that lets you right on to the Port Arthur property. This is where the second issue of people being really trusting came up.

Our package was for the Ghost Tour, plus dinner, the night's lodging, and breakfast the next day. This was booked separately of the Eco-Tour, which was the ground transport to and from Port Arthur plus the boat ride we were taking the next day. We hadn't booked day access to the site with anyone. So there we were on the grounds, not having paid. We intended to pay, so we started heading off to where we thought would be the spot, only we ended up going in the wrong direction. I talked to one of the volunteers there, and he pointed us in the right direction. He also said we should look around first. We felt like that was kind of him, but we were not really comfortable. Perhaps we should have said that out loud, and he might have explained the issue.

The issue is that the site is enormous. There are more than thirty buildings on over forty hectares (just under a hundred acres). after walking to one corner of the property, then reversing and pretty much going to the exact opposite corner, we were pretty done for. So, we paid our admissions, but did not take the included walking tour which would have been good for the information. If we had gradually wandered about the property, making our way there while checking out the various buildings, we would have gotten more out of it, and I am pretty sure no one would have stopped us.

We did go on the included boat ride around the harbor. For extra you can get off on either of the two islands, which we did not do, and we also skipped the interpretive center. We still saw a lot, just not as much as we could have if we had been wiser.

The other thing the one volunteer had mentioned was that we needed to see the separate prison no matter what, as it was the basis of the modern penal system. From the map we saw that it was near the other cafe.

There are two places that sell food on the property. One is where we paid our admissions, and we had gotten a snack and a drink there. Since the other was near the separate prison, and closer to our hotel, we decided we would eat lunch there, and at this point we would have been all over the property even if we did not go in all of the buildings. The only problem was, we simply could not find it. We found things that seemed like they should be near, but we couldn't find the separate prison or the cafe. We decided to go back to the hotel and eat, but then we found out that the restaurant is only open for limited hours, and there is no store, and we were finally in an area with no Domino's. Wouldn't you know, my blood sugar was low. (If we had made it to the store the night before, we would have gotten some power bars or something, but we hadn't. We aren't usually that irresponsible.)

I ended up eating the complimentary chocolates that came with our package, and just resting. It seemed more productive than hiking back and trying to find food, then have the other hike. Really though, it was a beautiful day, and a beautiful site, and the chocolates were good, just not ideal nutrition.

We made it to dinnertime, and it was pretty good. Basically, it is a three course meal, but you choose three items off the menu and they are not too fussy about sharing or which specific areas of the menu you order from. The dining room would have a great view, but it was already quite dark by 6:00.

Our tour started at 8:15, so we headed over and waited for things to get started. The tours are pretty flexible for the guides. There are several buildings they can choose from, and a time frame, but not a set route. We started at the church, then went on the the vicar's house, the doctor's house, underneath the surgeon's house, and then ended up in the separate prison, so we got to see it after all. And no, I did not suddenly understand how we missed it.

It is a ghost tour in that they do tell you about things people have seen and heard, but they aren't really established stories, like this is the legend of old so-and-so. They will tell you the history of the specific building, and what type of haunted activity is normally reported, and then usually give examples of things people in their own tour groups have told them. Sometimes they will tell stories from other guides, but for our guide at least, there was really one story from someone else that she shared.

What was interesting is that it is usually not everyone seeing it or hearing it, but someone coming up later and sharing something. For example, one night a man came to her and said he did not believe in ghosts, but while she was talking in the church he saw a shadow of a man bend down behind her. Another woman heard him say this and said "Yes! Did you see him pick up the tool?", which he had not, but the interesting thing about that was that there were two deaths during the construction of the church. One was a fall from the roof, and the other was one convict striking another with a tool. She had not told them that story.

I personally have no sensitivity to ghosts. I certainly don't deny the possibility of anyone seeing or hearing anything at any time, but I am not going to see or hear it. So, finding out that even if three people in a group heard footsteps, and some did not, was interesting. It may relate to the size of their front temporal lobes and electromagnetic fields in the area. I don't know.

The thing that was very important for them, and they kept stressing, is that any other ghost tour in Tasmania they will have costumed characters and special effects, and they don't do that. She kept repeating, these are real people and real stories and we don't want to mock that. Since in most cases they are stories that were told to the guide by someone they had guided, and often someone who had been very frightened by it, I can see that and the respect is good. So, I shall not tell the other stories I remember (but I know them!).

I can't say that the tour was ever scary, though some of the stories certainly would be scary if they were happening to you, but it was interesting and that is usually what I'm going for.

That was pretty much it. We hiked back up the long trail, went to bed, and were up early to have our breakfast and check out, ready for our Eco-tour. However, I think there are some important lessons for whoever goes next:

1. Have some food on hand.
2. If you are going from the Inn to the site, don't go straight! Hang a left to get to the main building and buy your tickets, then head through the interpretive center, join your tour, and take your boat ride. Stop at buildings along the way and pace yourself. There is just a lot to see.
3. For the Ghost Tour, it is not a bad idea to have a flashlight. They have lanterns during the tour, but on your way to and from the tour it is not well lit. Honestly, I think they just don't think too much about people coming from the hotel, so they don't really plan for that.
4. I made a point of reading "For the Term of His Natural Life" before we got there. The site does not seem to have a high opinion of the book, but it's still a pretty good yarn and I suspect there is quite a bit of truth to it.

http://www.tasmancruises.com.au/tours.php
http://www.portarthur-inn.com.au/
http://www.portarthur.org.au/

Under Down Under

Every time I thought the name Tasmania, I would mentally break into the theme for the cartoon. The cartoon was okay (not as good as Animaniacs, or even Tiny Toons, but still okay), but the Tasmania it showed is nothing like the one we found.

I have to say, it was one of our favorite places, and one of the first spots where we truly started to feel homesick. The trees and sky and weather was so similar to Oregon that we started to feel a few pangs.

One thing that was kind of funny for us was that whichever region we were in, people would make fun of the other region. When you get out of North Queensland you find out that they are all drug users, and the Southerners are too busy and unfriendly, and out West they are just weird, and not really Australian. (Once you get to New Zealand, the Kiwis just make fun of the Australians as drunkards, and not too bright. Maybe only people from North Queensland go to New Zealand.)

Anyway, as we were waiting for our shuttle to the airport to go to Tasmania, the desk clerk was telling us that Tasmania was really rough, and people take the law into their own hands, and everyone has big fences to keep out the Tasmanian devils, which are the size of pit bulls. However, the guy at the airport was telling us it was all great seafood and wine, which excited us terribly. No, no, yes but not because of that, and not even close to that big. (Now, our shuttle driver to the airport was pretty rude and inefficient, so that fit in with our pattern of finding transportation in Sydney to be frustrating.)

Regional pride was strong in Tasmania too though, as the north and south fight. One notable fact is that it is the only state to have two expos because they aren't willing to share. We stayed pretty much south, but we felt bad about that when we found out that near Launceston (up north) there was a Platypus House and Seahorse World. On the return trip to the airport we were telling our cabbie we felt bad to have missed the north of the island, and he told us we were not missing much (being a southerner). However, when we told him why, he admitted that he had been wanting to go there too. So regional rivalry is strong, but must still make way for seahorses.

Tasmania is actually quite different from everywhere else though. I think I would say it is more English than Australian. I don't know if I can say that, because I have never been to England, but it just seems less Oz.

We were staying a stone's throw away from Seven Mile Beach, a beautiful place where you might see whales and dolphins and platypus, although we did not. We did hear something rustling in the bushes one night, which might have been a wombat, but I don't know.

There were a lot of vacation homes in our area, as you have the beach with biking, fishing, and horseback riding, but there are regular residents too. Students do tend to wear uniforms, and they ride the public buses to school. Teenage girls still seem to get in pairs and shun one, and boys roughhouse, so I guess sharing the bus with commuters and tourists doesn't spoil their fun.

Once again it was a Worldmark resort, so we were fairly removed from things. Our first day we tried walking to the store, but it turned out to be more like two miles away than two blocks (or a block is a mile) and it started to pour before we had gotten very far. The houses actually had nice big golfing umbrellas in the closets, but we had not noticed. I guess it was funny. So many times the previous week I had been tempted to just dump my coat, and now I found myself wearing it and the gloves. We did make it to the store, but in the end we were there for four nights and we had Domino's deliver to us for three of them. The other night we actually stayed in Port Arthur, and dinner was part of the package.

I will be going over the different areas in other posts, but here is the itinerary. We arrived on a Monday, got wet trying to get to the store, so ended up watching television and ordering Domino's.

The next day we had one tour take us over to Port Arthur. They are normally a day tour, but we wanted to do the Ghost Tour at Port Arthur, so we booked a package with that and overnight accommodations (that included dinner, so no Domino's), and hooked back up with our other group on Wednesday.

That tour involved a boat tour around Eaglehawk Neck, and then we got to go to Maingon Bay, eventually landing back in Seven Mile Beach. Our tour driver courteously let us off at our resort instead of taking us into Hobart. We had taken the bus there the previous day.

Thursday we bussed back into Hobart for a tour that started with the Derwent Cadbury World, took us for a lunchtime harbor cruise, then headed over to Bonorong Wildlife Park, finishing up in the historic town of Richmond.

Friday we left the resort at 4:00 AM because our flight was at 6, but the airport was small we really could have put it off. In fact, security was not even open when we got there. From there we took off to Adelaide.

It is a beautiful island, with nice, friendly people who don't seem at all lawless. There are fences, but this seems to be to keep domestic animals in, and the devils are about cat size. They have enormously strong jaws like a pit bull, but that's about it. We really need to make it to Launceston though.

http://www.platypushouse.com.au/
http://www.seahorseworld.com.au/

A Night at the Opera House

I believe I made it fairly clear that when we grabbed the cab to the Opera House, we were pretty tired, hot, and just not feeling great, or even particularly fond of Sydney (and this is before my wallet was stolen). However, things quickly took a turn for the better.

The Opera House is right on the water, and there is a bench that runs all along the sea wall. We had about two hours to kill, so this gave us time to cool down, write out some postcards, and just relax. In front of us was the Opera House itself, to the left was the Sydney Harbor Bridge with Luna Park right below, and to our right was the Sydney skyline. We watched the sun go down and the people come and go.

One reason we had made sure to eat before heading over was that we had been told that there was a restaurant right there, but got the impression that it was rather expensive. Actually, the area appears to be full of restaurants and clubs. Based on the dress, most of them are rather upscale, but there were lights and laughter and pretty clothes, so it was a great place to people watch.

Actually, we were getting pretty nervous about the pretty clothes. I thought we should dress up, but Julie read on the web site that casual dress was acceptable, and this meant we did not have to go back to the hotel. Well, we did not see much in the way of casual clothes. We quickly realized that the group that was making us feel the worst was really a wedding party, but still most people were a little dressy.

Now, there are really eight performance halls, so on any given night you will see people who are not going to the same event as you, and to be fair, we did find other people who were dressed casually--some worse than us. Nonetheless, we were in the minority. We got a few looks, and one woman even called upon deity as she stared at us. So, it is true that casual dress is allowed, in that it does not get you kicked out, but I don't really recommend it. I have to say, once the music started I didn't really think about it.

Before I get to the show I should talk a little about the building. We did not bother taking the tour because we were attending a show, but that probably would have been worthwhile just to see the entire thing and learn some history. Looking up the link I see that the architect, Jørn Utzon, just died last month.

I believe it is common knowledge that the design of the building is meant to evoke the sails of the ships in the harbor (mostly not sailing ships now, but you get the point). The actual design came from sections of orange laid out. The nautical theme continues inside. The restroom stalls (at least in the ladies room) curve in and out like waves (weird sinks though), and the roof of the concert hall was hung with clear rings reminiscent of life preservers. Apparently you are not supposed to take pictures inside, but I thought they just meant not to take pictures during the performance, so I did snag a few interior shots. My interpretation makes more sense.

I remember calling the Opera House ugly once, greatly offending Brian who thought it was beautiful. I think it is somewhere in between. There are certainly places that I find more beautiful, but it is striking, and it does fit in with the harbor. Also, the acoustics are good, which really is important.

The show was wonderful. I have told many people how complicated planning the trip was. Partly that was due to trying to get the best fares and spend the least time in the air, but some of it was also trying to work it so that we were being efficient but still ending up in Sydney on the 20th. We knew we wanted to attend a performance, and there were a lot to choose from, but this one was the most appealing of all.

Gianluigi Gelmetti (linked to our own James DePreist via the Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra) had been with the Sydney Symphony for fourteen years, but was stepping down. This was his farewell performance, filled with his favorite pieces. The clincher for me was that he was going to conclude with Bolero. I know it has its detractors, but it stirs something in me, and I was thrilled to get to hear it.

I don't actually make it to the symphony that often here. I do a lot of opera and ballet, so I am hearing the pieces live, but as the background to singers or dancers, where they are hidden in the pit. It is something to be viewing the performers, and focusing on them, especially in a piece like this that starts off with just a few musicians, more gradually joining, until it is a symphony of bows gliding and fingers plucking and mallets descending. And there was no smoke or flashing lights or any cheesy stagework dressing it up--it was just the music in its purity. (I'm dissing Andrew Rieu there.)

Now, going in, along with the "Arrivaderci, Maestro" sign, I did notice the net full of red, green, and white balloons suspended overhead, so I was expecting those to fall at the end. I did not see the confetti cannons. So, there is that powerful buildup, crescendo, and BOOM! Suddenly the air was full of confetti and streamers everywhere. I had garlands of it around my neck. I mean, we were in the fourth row, but it seemed to go everywhere. Still primarily the red, white, and green color scheme, but there were also silver streamers and some purple and gold confetti mixed in. People were swatting the balloons around, and everyone was just kind of into it and having a good time. And then Gelmetti came back and did an encore with the William Tell Overture. That's a fun piece.

So that was pretty much it. We had to wander out quite a ways to get a taxi back to the hotel. This is not because they don't come down there, they do, but there are so many other people also hailing cabs that you need to get ahead of the crowd. We made it okay.

The rest of Sydney was already covered, so when I write next we will head to Tasmania.

http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gianluigi_Gelmetti