back to sydney

Last sunday I went back to Sydney after Uluru. Spent some more time in the city- also had my last meeting and finished up with my 2nd year medical student group.

This time the weather was great. The sky was blue, and it was warm- 75 F. When I was there I went to the Museum of Sydney- which was ok. But a great museum was the Hyde Park Barracks. This was built my Macquarie- he was the 8th gov (i think) in 1810. He decided Sydney should be a regular colony and not just penal colony. He built a large number of building during his years and is considered the father of the sydney/country. Just so you know, Sydney is named after an English lord in 1787 that arranged for the first fleet, commanded by Adm Phillips in 1787-88.

This museum tells the story of the penal colony- how the prisoners were treated, worked, lived. I also saw Cadman's cottage- one of the fist building in Sydney- right on Circular Quay (pronounced key). It was where the harbor master lived and is named for one of them John Cadman.

Interestingly, Circular Quay used to be known as Sydney Cove, and the shoreline has changed over the years- they have markers for that. The cottage above used to be right next to shore- not its about 200 meters back. Lastly, went to royal bontanic gardern- a ton of sulphur crested cockatoos were about, toured other museums, parts of Sydney, went on a ferry ride to the zoo (red male kangaroos are huge!) and ended up watching my last Sunrise in Australia on the 15th before heading to the airport.

One last point: sit on the left side of the airplane so you have a chance to see Aussie from the air as you depart.

I just want to say- one the elective was great- wrote some interesting tox stuff, will get to publish, and worked in med ed. Two Australia rocks and I need to go back!

I hope anyone who reads this had a good time following me around. I took several hundreds to thousand pictures- if you want to see more email me and I will give you a link to where I store them.

uluru and Kata Tjuta

uluru at sunset. the woman is an aborignal who gave a tour.





The above are pics from Kata Tjuta and some are from sunset.

Both rocks were made from run off from mountian ranges that have since disappeared. Kaja Tjuta (aka the Olgas) were closer and made of sediment and rocks, where as Uluru was made of mainly sediment (and later turned on its side). You can see rock/sediment layers in these rock.

So spent 2 days at uluru in the center of the country. The background is like this: originally Caucasian Australians thought no one could live in this area so they made it an aborignal area. But they a road was built and tourism took over- people wanted to climb what was known as Ayers Rock and a national park was made. The aborigines hated that- it is a sacred site and several areas around it you are asked not to take photos. Eventually after aborigines had their rights restored the national park reverted to their control. When the climb rate drops below 20% it will close permanently- it is about 25-30% right now (80% used to climb).

So Kaja Tjuta (or many heads) has many climbs/walks including the Valley of the Winds (which is what I went on). After that, I viewed the sunset- both were amazing. The soil is so red! And when the lights hits the rocks it turns different shades of orange to red.

The next day I strolled around Voyages resort: they have several outlooks, resorts, even a gallery with an artist or two and aboriginal artwork. In the afternoon I took a Uluru tour by the Anagnu tours (aborigine group)- the Kuniya walk. My tourguide was Judy and Mimi was the translator- both were local peoples. They both speak several different dialect/languages. We were told the 2nd half of the Lira- poison snake man and Kuniya- python woman story. We were also pointed out drawing/features of the rock/plants/tracks. The features of the rock correspond with this story. Afterwards I viewed a gorgeous sunset. My last day I viewed a sunrise, did the Lira walk and heard the first part of the same story- different guide/interpreter. We also did some spear throwing, piti walking, glue making and during the walk we again saw many features. Both tours went through foods, plants etc. Really well done. During one tour I saw another group take a similar tour but it was not given by a native group, but by a regular touring group. While the story was the same, it felt very different hearing it from an aborigine.

I'm going to touch on 3 more subjects in this post. One dreaming- that is the culture/religious beliefs of all aborigines. They draw their dreams from the top down which is why most dots, lines, etc. It items they sell they will draw animals now, but those are not actually stories. in fact they generally do not sell their stories. They will draw a meeting at a gathering place with a waterhole, but not what happened at the meeting. (so only part of the dreaming is drawn).

Two: I happen to agree that its really inappropriate to climb uluru, the aboringines own it- and its a spiritual site with many stories. You are free to walk around, but please don't climb.

Three: Voyages owns all the resorts. As a result everything is overpriced and expensive. You can find cheaper food, but it still is pricey. You can buy your own food and BBQ it- but its still $$$. But this was an amazing experience. At first I was unsure if I was going to go, but in retrospect, totally worth it! One of the most gorgeous places on earth, and how the Anangu lived off this land was interesting.

The word palya means how are you, good, im doing good, etc. its used in many different phrases.

Melbourne in detail

So spent a long weekend (sat- tues am) in Melbourne. it is a very European city with small streets and lanes. It is known for its food- which was totally amazing as I splurged (I am a foodie). On Sunday I went out on the great ocean road. This road was built originally by WWI vets years ago. Over time it has had to been moved on the western portion. You can see why in photo of the Apostles. Years ago, there were 12. 2 years ago 9 and today 8. They are always forming due to the soft nature of the continent there. I believe they mentioned it was sandstone with a mix of a harder rock. The sandstone wears away, leaving the hard rock as an apostle, but it still can not stand up to the Southern Ocean.

Monday morning was a free morning. I toured around the CBD. took a ton of pictures of the cbd including flinders street station (their main train sta), st paul's church, the skyline, the garderns, anzac memorial and the mcg. The garden's were amazing- supposedly one of the best in the world and I have to agree. The MCG is the big sports arena- its called the melbourne cricket ground, but Aussie Rules Football plays there.

Monday afternoon I went to Phillip's Island to see the little penguin parade. These birds are no more than 1 foot and 1 Kg. Every night some return from the ocean and parade on the beach up to their burrows- they due this to avoid their predators during the day. You are not allowed to take photos as the flash can blind them. It is an amazing site, as hundreds of birds walk up the beach. There are pathways made by years of this march in the grass (past the beach). They are a very social bird at night-with a ton of calls.

This week: some work with med students....going to Newcastle and Uluru!

Melbourne

melbourne skyline at night

Arrived in Melbourne today- no cool welcome sign like for Sydney. Maybe its because that was an international arrival area with that cool sign I posted and I flew domestic here. Can't believe my Australia trip is almost over- 13 days left.

Melbourne is a very European like city. didn't get to do too much since I got to my hostel at 5pm. Monday I will tour the CBD/downtown and maybe the botanic gardens. Today I ate at am amazing Italian restaurant in north Melbourne. Tomorrow I get up early to go on the ocean road and see the 8 remaining apostles. (12 apostles).

A quick note about work- the med students first-third year really love working with a clinician for the their PBL and their "learn to take a history". Ah I remember those days of med school....so long ago. In a way I wish their was some nasty tox problem that I would get to respond to, but its better for the population that those things don't occur.

Things I might do in the next week or two: uluru (a quick fly in, stay one night, fly out), beach at sydney, harbour cruise, bushwalk south of sydney, zoo tour with keeper. Wish I had more time- if I did I would also check out the hunter valley wineries.

Below I posted a video of snazzle- hopping around the med school courtyard to show how fast roos hop. Supposedly an adult roo could hop over my shoulder from a standing position!