Lots to do today, as we woke up to sunny skies. Got Sam out of bed early and we caught a ferry just across the bay so we could get out on the water here in Sydney. We had a tasty breakfast right on the pier over the water at Anvil's Coffee Co. For the foodies, I had something totally different again. Toasted sourdough, with ricotta cheese spread and slices of rhubarb on top sprinkled with brown sugar. Pretty darn tasty! Oh, and a blueberry and lavendar shake too :) Heading back to Sydney right after breakfast it was lovely to look onto the Opera House from the water and take in the views of the city. We enjoyed the cool morning breeze and sun, all very different than yesterday.
We went straight way to The Rocks, the area of town that was one of the first settlements in Sydney, a natural harbor. We met our Aboriginal guide Margret who essentially for the next 90 mins told us as much as she could about Aboriginal history and culture. She was an impassioned Aboriginal woman, understandably knowing their history. My takeaways were they believe they came from the galaxy. That "upright man" came to earth here after they had essentially created it with "colors" and wanted to remain. There are 72 colors of earth. Those creators that "shed" their colors on earth are what they call "custodians". There are 17 custodians. They represent all the colors and elements like wind, rain, blue, red,... Aboriginals fear loosing their culture, their identity and she said "feel invisible" and she said that not until the 1960s "they weren't even recognized as humans." They earned a right to vote and some basic rights, and from that point they have been fighting to regain their culture, and to have their over 60,000+ year history on this land recognized and have their history beliefs, rituals taught to their youth. They have drawings of men dating back to 60,000 years ago. The Aboriginal people are the oldest recorded people in the world and are their own race, and according to her not genetically linked to Asians or Africans, or Europeans.
We were taught about some of the Aboriginal traditions, such as when you are born you are given a totem, a plant that is yours which happens to be blooming during the time of your birth. That plant you become a protector of, you can't ever eat of that exact plant, it is part of you. Kind of becomes a form of conservancy. She spoke of their family units where what we would call Aunts, are their "mothers". She had seven mothers. When you enter a family and a man is trying to earn a wife, they really have to earn a wife and basically serve the extended family to earn the right to marry into that family. It was an interesting overview of some of the interesting highlights of the Aboriginal culture.
For lunch we hopped in a taxi and went to Surry Hills, kind of a hip part of town and met up with the girls Jenna and Sammi who were worked with in Tanzania teaching school. They had been telling us about this ice cream place, Messina's, and Sam has been dieing to eat "the best ice cream" in Australia. After lunch at Bills we walked next door and tried the ice cream which lived up to it's fame. Really more like gelato, so creamy and delicious.
We went straight way to The Rocks, the area of town that was one of the first settlements in Sydney, a natural harbor. We met our Aboriginal guide Margret who essentially for the next 90 mins told us as much as she could about Aboriginal history and culture. She was an impassioned Aboriginal woman, understandably knowing their history. My takeaways were they believe they came from the galaxy. That "upright man" came to earth here after they had essentially created it with "colors" and wanted to remain. There are 72 colors of earth. Those creators that "shed" their colors on earth are what they call "custodians". There are 17 custodians. They represent all the colors and elements like wind, rain, blue, red,... Aboriginals fear loosing their culture, their identity and she said "feel invisible" and she said that not until the 1960s "they weren't even recognized as humans." They earned a right to vote and some basic rights, and from that point they have been fighting to regain their culture, and to have their over 60,000+ year history on this land recognized and have their history beliefs, rituals taught to their youth. They have drawings of men dating back to 60,000 years ago. The Aboriginal people are the oldest recorded people in the world and are their own race, and according to her not genetically linked to Asians or Africans, or Europeans.
We were taught about some of the Aboriginal traditions, such as when you are born you are given a totem, a plant that is yours which happens to be blooming during the time of your birth. That plant you become a protector of, you can't ever eat of that exact plant, it is part of you. Kind of becomes a form of conservancy. She spoke of their family units where what we would call Aunts, are their "mothers". She had seven mothers. When you enter a family and a man is trying to earn a wife, they really have to earn a wife and basically serve the extended family to earn the right to marry into that family. It was an interesting overview of some of the interesting highlights of the Aboriginal culture.
For lunch we hopped in a taxi and went to Surry Hills, kind of a hip part of town and met up with the girls Jenna and Sammi who were worked with in Tanzania teaching school. They had been telling us about this ice cream place, Messina's, and Sam has been dieing to eat "the best ice cream" in Australia. After lunch at Bills we walked next door and tried the ice cream which lived up to it's fame. Really more like gelato, so creamy and delicious.
It was great to catch up with the girls and hear how the rest of their 6 weeks went in TZ and hear what they were up to, finishing up gap years and ready to start University. We then scooted over to do the Brdige Climb. It doesn't seem that many Aussie's have done the bridge climb which has been around for 15 years and so they joined us and it was a beautiful day to do it and we were all excited. There are only 3 bridge climbs in the world, 2 in Australia and 1 in Auckland. It took the founder of this climb 18 years to pass his business plan with the city before it was implemented. It is very successful and over three million people have done this climb in he past 15 years. (Can't believe we don't have a bridge climb in he USA) After getting into our jumpsuits and harnessed up, we made our way up to the top. A good brisk hike up the bridge with just spectacular views the whole way up and down. It was a great way to get a real perspective of the city and all it's bays and inlets and see down to Bondi and out towards the Blue Mountains. We enjoyed the hike together and a bit of a workout :)
Loved visiting with the girls and as we said our goodbyes we walked around to the Opera House and met up with Uncle Ben, Nathan's brother. He had just arrived by ship to Sydney that morning after setting sail from San Francisco. He had spent 3+weeks on the seas, stopping in islands such as Tonga, and New Caledonia. He said it was great and the seas were good until they got right near Sydney. I could never do that since I get so sea sick. It was great to connect with Ben. He looked like a dapper skipper in his blue blazer and tie and all suntanned from sailing around the Pacific:)! We were able to swop stories before he was called into his pre-opera dinner event with the ship. See you in Vietnam Ben!
It was a day of catching up with friends and family, because from there we made our way through the Botanical Gardens along the water's edge to meet up with April Pazienza, a good friend from high school who has lived here for 15 years. She was kind enough to invite us to the outdoor cinema on the hillside of the Gardens overlooking the Opera House and Bridge on a gigantic movie screen that came up from the water. The whole setting was just spectacular honestly and quite the wonder how they set up this huge screen out in the bay. We enjoyed a bite to eat while visiting with April, Luke- her American husband who I had never met, and their son Luke, handsome 13 year old, all so nice and interested in our travels. Nice for Sam to have a friend to hang out with too! We got caught up on families, and friends and was so interesting to hear about all the interesting marathons she has run around the world and how she had just "shadowed" a runner that was part of seven marathons in seven days on seven continents. Exhausting and unbelievable... Talk about running all over the world! April, I see that's in your future!! I also didn't realize what a significant and fascinating job she had working for the US State Department on Women's Issues, traveling around the world and trying to support and recognize women's issues and make a difference in countries like Afganistan where they tried to set up schools for girls. It was a nice evening and fun to sit outside with friends watching a film with the backdrop of this beautiful city.
Exhausted from a full day we made it upstairs and climbed right into bed. We tried to do as much as we could today since our first day was rainy. 2 days in Sydney was not enough, need at least 2 more thankfully I have seen a lot of Sydney before when I was hear for the 2000 Olympic Games and I was then able to venture to many of the beaches and all over the city. Sam will need to come back!
Loved visiting with the girls and as we said our goodbyes we walked around to the Opera House and met up with Uncle Ben, Nathan's brother. He had just arrived by ship to Sydney that morning after setting sail from San Francisco. He had spent 3+weeks on the seas, stopping in islands such as Tonga, and New Caledonia. He said it was great and the seas were good until they got right near Sydney. I could never do that since I get so sea sick. It was great to connect with Ben. He looked like a dapper skipper in his blue blazer and tie and all suntanned from sailing around the Pacific:)! We were able to swop stories before he was called into his pre-opera dinner event with the ship. See you in Vietnam Ben!
It was a day of catching up with friends and family, because from there we made our way through the Botanical Gardens along the water's edge to meet up with April Pazienza, a good friend from high school who has lived here for 15 years. She was kind enough to invite us to the outdoor cinema on the hillside of the Gardens overlooking the Opera House and Bridge on a gigantic movie screen that came up from the water. The whole setting was just spectacular honestly and quite the wonder how they set up this huge screen out in the bay. We enjoyed a bite to eat while visiting with April, Luke- her American husband who I had never met, and their son Luke, handsome 13 year old, all so nice and interested in our travels. Nice for Sam to have a friend to hang out with too! We got caught up on families, and friends and was so interesting to hear about all the interesting marathons she has run around the world and how she had just "shadowed" a runner that was part of seven marathons in seven days on seven continents. Exhausting and unbelievable... Talk about running all over the world! April, I see that's in your future!! I also didn't realize what a significant and fascinating job she had working for the US State Department on Women's Issues, traveling around the world and trying to support and recognize women's issues and make a difference in countries like Afganistan where they tried to set up schools for girls. It was a nice evening and fun to sit outside with friends watching a film with the backdrop of this beautiful city.
Exhausted from a full day we made it upstairs and climbed right into bed. We tried to do as much as we could today since our first day was rainy. 2 days in Sydney was not enough, need at least 2 more thankfully I have seen a lot of Sydney before when I was hear for the 2000 Olympic Games and I was then able to venture to many of the beaches and all over the city. Sam will need to come back!
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