DAY 4 – INTERNET CAFE
Feeling a desperate need to catch up on my blog entries, I decided to spend as many of my remaining days in Sydney as necessary sitting in Internet Cafes, doing what needed to be done. Accordingly, on the morning of Day 3, I set out alone from TSS with the intention of going to an Internet Café listed in the Lonely Planet guide. The only way I knew to get there was to take the train, so I walked to Circular Quay and caught one going to the Museum stop, which was very near the location of the Internet Café. When I got off the train, I took the wrong exit and that is how I ended up across the street from the church and was able to take pictures of it (see the blog entry for Day 1). After taking the photos, I walked back toward the station to get my bearings. I was across the street from it now so I took a picture of it because it is so old fashioned and great looking.
Museum Train Station 9296
Eventually I found my way to the café, which charged only $2/hour, the same as I had paid at the great Internet Café I’d used in Auckland. I spent most of the day there, taking time out only long enough to go get something to eat for lunch. However, at the end of the afternoon, the computer seemed to do something strange to my blog and I decided that the next day I would seek out another place to make sure the work I’d done was there and was okay and then to continue my updates. I took the train back to Circular Quay, where I took the photo below of the lovely landscaping.
Lovely landscaping at circular Quay 9298
I walked back to the ship for dinner and worked more on my blog preparation – getting photos into the right folders on my flash drive and modifying the html portion of my draft blogs in order to save time – and money – the next day when I would go back, this time to a different Internet Café.
DAY 5 – INTERNET CAFÉ, AGAIN
The next day, I again took the bus downtown. I went back to Global Gossip and used an expensive $3/hour computer to upload lots of photos to my blog but when I left to go to lunch, I decided to try to find another Internet Café after lunch, one that would be less expensive to do the same thing. After consuming lunch, I started walking around the streets in the central area, looking for an Internet Café. I saw a few and went inside to inquire the prices but they were as expensive as Global Gossip.
Then, after crossing a street, I saw on the street corner six – count ‘em, six – young adult male LDS missionaries! They were talking to people to see if anyone was interested in learning more about the church. I went up to one who wasn’t busy, said, “Hello, Elder,” and held out my hand to shake his. I talked to him for a few minutes and was introduced to two others, the remainder being in conversation with pedestrians. I asked if they could recommend a good internet café and they told me about one and gave me directions. They said, “In fact, we’re going there ourselves soon.” LDS missionaries are supposed to spend their time teaching the Gospel but once a week they are allowed to email their families. I thanked them and left so they could continue with their work.
I started walking toward an Internet Café that was closer, planning to try the one they suggested if it didn’t pan out. It didn’t, so I continued around a block, keeping my eyes open, and finally came to the one they had recommended so I went it. It was huge, very modern and very updated. There was no one to help, no reception desk, only machines to put money into and set up or add time to an account. I set up an account and added time, then went up an escalator (yes, the place was that big!) to a huge room with rows and rows and rows of computers and two rows of Internet ports for personal laptops. I sat down at one and tried to get started, but it would not recognize my flash drive. Since that’s where all of the photos were that I wanted to upload to my blog, it wasn’t much help. So I tried a few others and none would recognize that flash drive! I was feeling exceedingly frustrated and decided to try one more. As I moved around, I saw all the missionaries seated at computers adjacent to each other. We waved to and acknowledged each other and I went on my way.
The final computer didn’t work but I’d put quite a bit of money ($5 maybe) on my account and didn’t want to just waste it so I decided to do some email and some job searching. It was then that I came across the ad for a Librarian position at a new university in Saudi Arabia. It was amazing how closely the job description fit the kinds of things I’d done at UAEU. I sent the ad to my email account, since I couldn’t download it to my flash drive, and looked for others but nothing else appealed. I was determined to apply for that job. Eventually I’d used up most of my account time and left. After that discouraging experience, I went back to Global Gossip, bought more time at the expensive computers and proceeded to upload a lot of photos to my blog, but ran out of time before I’d finished all of them. I left and headed back to the George Street bus stop to catch the bus back to Miller’s Point in The Rocks. From there I walked back “home” to TSS. Actually, it’s amazing how much it feels like home.
DAY 6 - CELEBRATION OPENING THE CHRISTMAS SEASON
The next morning I went to a different Internet Café and spent all day, with only a short lunch break, working on the blog. I returned to the ship for dinner and in talking to other TSSers about the Christmas Tree Lighting event that was going to take place in town that night, I decided to go and Nancy wanted to go, too. The others couldn’t make up their minds, so we just headed out. We took a bus from Argyll Street to Martin Place, a kind of 2-block pedestrian mall that made a nice gathering place.
A massive Christmas Tree was located mid-way along the first block, all decorated and waiting to be lighted. On the other block was a large stage with a program in progress, obviously aimed at entertaining the children of Sydney because of the costumed characters performing. The back of the stage faced the tree; in front of the stage was an exceedingly large audience of parents and young children, thoroughly enjoying the performance. We saw two young women standing nearby and asked about the celebration and learned that it marked the beginning of the Christmas season
The tree, with clock tower on the left 9303
Different view, showing the nice, large, tree decorations 9305
The clocktower building was of sandstone and had lovely grillwork on the semi-circular windows (fanlights?) 9307
The building also had wonderful arches and an arched arcade 9310
A man dressed in a festive outfit was standing near the tree, allowing people to take photos of him, either alone or with others. I thought he might represent Father Christmas, their equivalent of Santa Claus, but the sign he held said, “King Frosty.” We asked someone nearby to take our photo with KF. Here it is.
Nancy, King Frosty and Buveh 9302
View onto the next block where the stage was set up. The white tent was where performers waited and the covered area is over the stage itself. The people seen are part of the crowd 9312
We walked over to the performance area and watched the program for a bit, until a policeman asked us not to lean against the barricade, causing us to move along. We circled the audience and walked back to the area where the tree was. Miraculously there was a bench with two spaces on it so we sat down, facing the back of the stage with the tree behind us.
View of the back of the stage area 9312
Crowd watching stage from its back 9308
We sat talking about various things, a man who was sitting on the other end of the bench started talking to us about the tree lighting. He was American but was living in Sydney “for a year.” After a while, a group of middle-school aged students wearing Santa hats went onstage and began singing. We heard Jingle Bells and then a couple of songs I didn’t recognize. Then, the lovely strains of Silent Night were being sung by the singers and the audience! I was blown away. Had that happened in the US at a public event, lawsuits would be unending. In Australia, however, it is apparently acceptable to be openly Christian.
Meanwhile, the man we’d been talking to had gotten up and walked around but then came back to us and said, “You’ll want to get up and move closer to the tree to see the lighting. There’s a tree in back of you.” We turned and saw that, indeed, a very leafy tree was between us and the Christmas tree. We got up and walked to a nice open space near the tree. The night had just become dark. Suddenly we heard from the crowd near the stage a multitude of voices chanting, “Five, four, three, two, ONE!” At exactly that moment the tree burst into lights and fireworks began shooting from the roof of a building on our left.
The tree bursts into lights, fireworks begin from roof of building on the right 9314
It was an incredible and magical moment. We ooed and awed along with everyone else, thoroughly enjoying the huge tree with its lights and the lovely fireworks bursting into sight above the city. I later learned that some TSSers had been in The Rocks area, sitting at café tables outside the Lord Nelson brewery/hotel when they suddenly saw fireworks shooting skyward from the direction of the town center.
Green fireworks; small blue and green lights on tree 9318
Red and green fireworks, large purple lights on tree 9319
A dazzling display of red fireworks 9320
Ice shot with clock tower on left 9323
Green lights, green fireworks!!! 9325
Lighting up the whole sky 9328
Crowd entranced by fireworks, set against the arched windows of building 9329
Best shot of tower, tree and fireworks 9331
When the fireworks ended, we joined our applause with that of the rest of the crowd, then began wending our way back toward the bus stop. I paused along the way to take photos of things that caught my fancy.
Arched windows on building to left of tree 9342
Tree from opposite side, with star decorations on lamp post 9344
Interesting door on building on right of tree 9345
Lovely grillwork above nice door on corner building 9347
The evening was lovely and the area was very nice – clean and well lit. People were strolling around and there was no frantic pushing or shoving or unruly gangs of teens about. We felt perfectly safe. We crossed George Street, the main bus street and turned right to find the bus stop. There was a bus shelter there with a bench where we sat, talking, and waited for a bus to come that would take us to Miller’s Point on Argyll Street in The Rocks. From there it was about a five minute walk back to the ship. It had been a lovely evening and I was beginning to feel a bit Christmassy.
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