This would be my second farewell to Sydney since my days as a supernumerary steward on the Manutea in 1973. At that time, the Manutea crew spent a month in Sydney as the ship was fitted out for a charter to supply the Freeport mine in Iryan Jaya (now West Papua). During the day, I sometimes wandered in the City. (Some older guy stalked me in a square and offered me a job…I cut him off saying I was already employed.) On other days I ordered and stored our food supplies for our three week course to Iryan Jaya. I often took the night shift when we were docked. And frequently the Captain, a wayfarer of old who was drinking himself into oblivion, would ask me to keep him company in his cabin and talk about world affairs. He was lonely, craved good conversation and missed the island life. And after he nearly ran us aground rounding the tip of Queensland, he was sent home. [I will post a page at a later date about this trip out of a Joseph Conrad novel.]
As one can see from the photo of the gentrified pier, much has changed in Sydney harbor. Now all the docks have been converted condos and restaurants, and marinas afford space for luxury yachts. A waterfront building has transformed into an new arts center. No able bodied seafarers in sight.
For our last night in Sydney, Michele and I went to see HAIR at the Sydney Opera House. West Side Story was also playing. It is fascinating how many restaurants and institutions were playing American music, mostly from the 70’s and 80’s. Australian cultural ties to America seem to be stronger than the ties to England, even if they still drive on the left side of the road.
Though the production of HAIR was given a dismal review by the local paper, we enjoyed letting the sun shine in with peace and love.
It has been a whirlwind trip, sampling various places and trying to catch a glimpse of various facets of Australia. Next time perhaps we can stay a while in Darwin and get to know the outback again.
We did find some fine local chocolates with a platypus image molded on to the surface. That would have to do for now.
Across from the station, we entered the Ian Potter NGV to view two shows of photography by women- Petrina Hicks: Bleached Gothic show and Olympia: Photographs by Polixeni Papatetrou.
Breakfast was at the Social Society Cafe where they served everything vegetarian…and sold vegan dog food. You can hear the dingos laughing like hyenas over that. Actually there are warning signs about dingos up here though we did not heard any yipes in the night.
Back in 1973 I was a crew boss for Petty Ray Geophysical Company, working in the Great Sandy Desert. Normally on our breaks, the company sent us to Perth, but we had passed an escarpment with caves during our cross county trek looking for oil and I asked to be dropped off at the site. My crew thought I was crazy. As you can see from the old photo, they left me with a large container of water and “Good Luck, Mate!”
As we learned from the Cultural Museum, several highly significant events occurred on and around Uluru in local Ananga legend. The marks of ancestral spirit pythons versus poisonous snakes are on the walls, the vanquished snake is now a huge boulder. The holes potmarked the surface, some created by the ancestral Minyma Itjaritjari mole.
In the cool of one evening, we joined others to view an art installation, the Field Of Lights by Bruce Munro. As we enjoyed beers before the show and as the sun tinted Uluru, another couple regaled us with their last four days and nights in the bush, sleeping in swags under the stars. Knowing they would be going to a canyon where Prescilla in the Desert was filmed, the mate had purchased an outrageous outfit on eBay complete with size 14 red, high heeled shoes. Once at the site, he decked himself out in full regalia and showed us photo documentation on his phone. The Show must go on so we downed our beers and headed out into the dry warm night wandering through the vast field of stars fallen to earth.
