I wish Sydney weather would make up its mind about what season it is! Yesterday at 10am it was cloudy and drizzly, yet still 20C/68F. It cleared up in the afternoon for the pool party, though :-). Alan and Bill threw a great party, I enjoyed myself quite a bit just hanging out and chatting.
This morning, though, it was cloudy and grey. After a bit of dithering, we finally decided to get Mardi Gras tickets today, so we called the Mardi Gras folks, then hopped a train to their headquarters in Erskineville where a very woofy redbear named Ross helped us sign up... we'll get tickets on Thursday. They are still available, even now!
Then we got back on the train to Circular Quay and took the ferry to the zoo, and then the gondola ride to the top entrance! It felt a bit like 'ok, walk to train to ferry to gondola', all we needed was to add a funicular and maybe a helicopter to complete our modes of transportation.
The Taronga Zoo, sadly, has been underfunded--with the exception of a few sponsored exhibits at the top, quite a lot was run down and abandonded, with vine-covered old buildings and rotting concrete cages long unused. The best thing was the Night House; once our eyes adjusted we saw all sorts of things like bilbies and flying gliders (squirrels) and hopping little rodents. We also liked the reptile house...
Afterwards, we came back across the harbor, and went to Oxford St, where we bought two bottles of wine (a Cloudy Bay Te Koko sauvignon blanc and a Jansz reserve bubbly from Tasmania)... then we broke open the Cloudy Bay at dinner at Lure, a 'pick your slab of fish and we'll grill it' cafe. We really do like Sydney's BYO laws... it's always maybe two or three dollars to have your own uncorked! While the fish was very good, the Cloudy Bay tasted more like a riesling, with an odd citrusy aftertaste. Not my style.
We then headed back outside to watch the flying fox parade. Every night, about an hour before dusk, huge swarms of bats migrate from the Botanic Gardens near the Opera House down to Centennial Park, maybe two miles south. They buzz right to the east of Taylor Square on Oxford Street--big bats, the size of seagulls... just a stream of them. I counted 83 in a minute. They just kept coming and coming... after thirty minutes, they were still trickling by. Very curious!
Lastly, on the way home we stopped by a gallery that was showing bear 'quasi-erotic' art... the type of drawings of archetypal BearMen with flannels and jean cutoffs and boots squatting down in the woods, that sort of thing. The crowd was OK, but the room was stilflingly hot and smelled of fresh latex paint. Blech!
We ducked out, headed home, and now are enjoying that Jansz sparkling wine Yum!
weather? I'll give you weather. Here in Dallas, it was 69 (mmmm, good number) yesterday. Today, the high is suppose to make the low 50s and below freezing tonight and tomorrow.
Geez Louise. No wonder every one is sick.
Glad ya'll are having a good time.