Once in a while I get a day-off for myself. Such was the case last Wednesday after I had flown into Sydney from Brisbane on Tuesday evening. I had dinner engagement with several research colleagues on the Wednesday evening, but before then time alone. So, I decided to explore on foot parts of the city I rarely visit these days, a journey that took well over 6 hours.
It took me through Glebe and Pyrmont to Chinatown and Darling Harbour, where I ambled through the national maritime museum. This facility has some real vessels including a pensioned-off warship, a submarine, the famous (to Australians) Krait which attacked the Japanese in Singapore harbour, and a replica of Cook's Endeavour. However, I kept to the exhibits inside dealing with migration, trade, fishing, beach culture, early settlement, convict transport and that kind of thing.
After a couple of hours I wandered off to the Museum of Modern Art at Circular Quay. The exhibits were much like the Tate Modern on London's Southbank - weird pictures and sculptures, artists' ego trips, and quite a bit of film. I spent quite a while pondering a display of household goods towed along a road by a car and disintegrating in the process. Then there was a collage of Hollywood film clips over the last 70 years dealing with marital relationships / breakdowns which was actually quite funny. Still, it's not something to visit daily.
After walking through The Rocks my speed nosedived and I took a train much of the way back from Circular Quay to my hotel in Glebe. I guess I did too much as usual - the only time off my feet for the whole day up to then was eating Japanese take-away for 10 minutes at lunch-time.
Still, it was a refreshing experience from my fast-paced daily routine.
AS
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