Greetings from the land down under!

Every good thing they say about Sydney is true. The weather nice…very nice actually! Fall season has always been my favorite kind of weather and I came to Sydney just when they are headed into winter. Perfect timing! The city is clean and green. With its harbors, suspension bridge, underwater tunnel, hills and city parks, Sydney reminds me of my most favorite city in the world—San Francisco, minus the bums. Wonderful!

I am relieved that I am in Sydney now. More than ever I acknowledge that I am a city rat. I enjoy cities and its systems. Subways, trams, monorail, trains, buses, ferries, public phones that accept both cards and coins, English-speaking natives…I love it all. They are all ordinary to me and I cherish their predictability. My guard is up at a comfortable and familiar level.

So what have I done since landing in Sydney? Absolutely nothing! AH!!!!! (sigh of satisfaction) Life is great! I can leave the hostel whenever I wish… Oh! Oh! Oh! The Sydney Central Youth Hostel is by far the best hostel I have ever stayed in. It has a 24 hour reception desk, travel desk, bedrooms (dorm-style) and toilets are clean, pool and sauna, laundry facilities and kitchen, TV rooms and game rooms…it’s a wonderful place and all I pay for it is $28 ( Australian…roughly, $20 US a night!).

Well, I am in Sydney, a city. Like any other city, only better because it is in Australia, a continent I have never ever visited before. And because this is my first time here, I thought I should enjoy the things that Sydney or Australia can only provide. So, I went walking around the famous Sydney harbor looking over the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge and taking pictures of them from Mrs. Macquarie’s chair. I did the Darling Harbor than too…

Australia is a strange land with strange creatures. I went to the Sydney Aquarium today and for the first time in my life I got up close and personal to a Platypus. Now, this creature perplexes me to no end…it is a combination fish, mammal and bird. According to the Wiradjuri Aborigine tribe of New South Wales, early during the “Dreamtime”, the ancestor spirits were deciding on totems and so the animals were vying for the top spot. The Platypus went about its Platypus ways until the birds came to it and asked that it join their group. The birds thought that the Platypus would be a great addition to their group because it lays eggs and has this duckbill. The Platypus said nothing and went about doing whatever Platypuses do. The second group of animals that came up to the Platypus were the Kangaroos. They thought that the Platypus would be a great addition to their group because it can run on land and have fur. The Platypus again said nothing and continued on with its business until the third group came and asked that it join them. The fishes thought that the Platypus would be a great addition to their group because like them, the Platypus can swim, so what if it has webbed feet!

The Platypus, no longer able to ignore the offers, asked that all three groups meet in peace near its home. The Platypus said that it understood the birds because like them, the Platypus warms its eggs. The Platypus also can relate to the fishes because like them, it can dive and explore the underwater world. The Platypus then said it could identify with the Kangaroos because it too can run on land and grow fur. But, the Platypus would like to not be a part of any group, but be a group onto itself. The Platypus argued that the great Byamee (Aborigine God) created all creatures, great and small, with particular and specific wonderful traits. The Platypus argued that instead of vying and fighting for the top spot at the Totem, all creatures must just be happy to have a spot in the totem. The other animals saw the wise argument the Platypus made and agreed with it. From that moment on, whenever the Aborigines see a Platypus, they consider it a good omen, because the Platypus made possible for their totem to be based on equality.

Nice story, don’t you think? Some people believe that the Platypus might be the only perfect creature in all of God’s creation. And why do they say that? Well, consider if you please the following characteristics of a Platypus. It has webbed and clawed feet, good for swimming and borrowing. It has two lines of fur coat, which makes it the most waterproof mammal on earth. It lays eggs but suckles it young after hatching. But, a rather hilarious thing about a Platypus…it eats or catches it food underwater and constantly bumps into things. The Platypus is a klutz! When swimming and catching food, the Platypus closes its eyes, nose and ears…no wonder it constantly runs into things. But, the Platypus bill can detect electrical fields given off by their prey, so despite it being blind and deaf, it still can catch food. And another thing, it doesn’t eat food underwater. What it does is it stores the food in cheek pouches and then eats on land. And if you disturb it, the Platypus can fight back with venomous hooks around their hind legs.

I’d argue with those who think that the Platypus is God’s most perfect creation. I think that God (Judeo-Christian God) did not finish the Platypus. I mean, the Almighty had the right intention about a perfect creature, but just as the Supreme Being was about to finish the Platypus, the Divine creator ran out of ideas. So the Creator stopped and left the Platypus the way it is. But that is me…okay, I’ll concede the Platypus might be the most perfect creature (bird-fish-mammal combo), but you must be kind to me when I assert that the Platypus is God-awful ugly.

Another strange creature I saw at the Aquarium…the pig-nosed turtle. Yeah you read me right. Picture a big beautiful sea turtle, then, stick a pig’s nose on it. I say, God (Judeo-Christian God) has a wicked sense of humor.

Yesterday, I joined a Day Tour to the Blue Mountains. I just climbed down and then up the New South Wales’s version of the Grand Canyon. I can't decide whether its my quads or my bum that is more sore…my quads hurt because of the climb down and my arse aches because for the hike up. Anyway, tired or not, I enjoyed that bit of adventure. A certified Eco-tour guide guided us through the bush. He had trivial tidbits about New South Wales’s vegetation and wild life. He showed us Black Wattles which the Bushmen use to wipe their bum holes…use the new leaves or growth only please, if not…ouch! He also showed us how to retrieve the sweet liquid from the Devil’s Head flower. Yes, the seeds of this plant resemble a devil’s head with two horns, eyes and a nose, only it is green in color. Go figure. He pointed to us Magpies, Cockatoos and LyreBirds, which really looks more and is about the same size as a chicken with a peacock-like tail. Actually, a Lyrebird is name thus because when it gets excited its tail stands up in the shape of a Lyre, the musical instrument. This Lyrebird is quite funny because its whole business in the forest is digging the ground up... so it is a chicken with extra long tail feathers scratching and excavating the forest floor.

The one enlightening fact he told us was the Eucalyptus trees are responsible for the Blue Mountains really looking blue. Did you know that Eucalyptus is the botanical name of the tree and its common name is Gum tree? And reason why it is called gum tree is not because it produces bubble gums…funny. Eucalyptus trees when they are damaged produce a gum-like fluid to repair itself. So it has gum in its bark (which sheds!) and it has oil in its leaves which when it evaporates, the sun reflects the color blue. And really the mountains in NSW are blue! Now I wonder, does the blue grass of Kentucky have oil too? And is it really blue? Just a thought.

While in the Katoomba area of the park, we were shown the famous Three Sisters, three strange rock formations out at a rim. Now, according to Aborigine legends, there was once an elder (Aborigines do not have witch doctors like the Latin Americans, they have elders who have magical powers) who was walking down the canyon with his three daughters. A Bunyip was also there and being mythically hungry all of the time, it decided to have the elder’s young daughters for lunch. Well, the elder, not wanting his daughters to be fodder for the Bunyip changed his daughters to stone with his magic bone. The Bunyip being so hungry and angry decided to go after the elder. He was not as fast as his daughters so, the elder changed himself into a Lyre bird and got away from the Bunyip by diving into the thick, dense forest cover of the Blue Mountains. Well as soon as the Lyre Bird got away and the Bunyip, yapping of hunger pains, the elder decide to change himself back to Aborigine form only…it lost its magic bone! So lo and behold, up till now the LyreBird (really the elder) still looks for it s magic bone by scratching and digging the forest floor. Ha ha ha ha…told you this guide was good.

While resting on one of the crevasses in the canyon, our group had a rather fascinating discussion about…what else (?) the Sydney Olympics! As it turns out a lot of Aussies are not happy with the Olympic committee. Why? Oh let the Aussies count the ways:

(1) only 6000 tickets a day are available to Aussies who number to upwards of four million in Sydney alone, what is to happen to those coming from Perth? (not bad really—this coming from the millions of Olympic goers internationally);

(2) the tickets printed by an American company do not fit the turnstiles (major goof, don’t yah think?);

(3) entertainment for the opening ceremonies will be performed by an American and Japanese band (Aussies unite and crash the session…ha hahaha...actually they now have revamped the opening ceremonies by adding Aussie musicians);

(4) the beach volleyball will be held at famous Bondi (pronounced Bond-eye) Beach which every local know is a veritable parking lot during rush hour (pitching tents and beach clam bakes are what the residents of Bondi are fearful of so, when the first work crews came in with their bulldozers, the residents held a beach sit in, arrests were made)…the list goes on…

But your eyes must be tired from reading…so rest up…more stuff coming!

I am Mary Grace, saying G’day mates!

PS…Oh! Oh! Oh! I now know how to properly throw a boomerang. I threw one out and it came back only to hit a tour mate on the leg. HA! I am a lethal bush(y) woman now! Ha ha ha

A real G'day mates! Today, today is special day.

I went out into the day with a most wonderful sense of wellbeing. The sun as out, there was a slight cool breeze blowing, my heart was light, my step was quick and I headed for Manly. Took the ferry and the half-hour ride across the Sydney Harbor was delightful indeed.

So, Manly. In all fairness I should not describe Manly by describing its likeness to Sausalito, CA or to the French Riviera. Manly is a special place all its own. It should be. I walked about 4 kilometers of its beach area and enjoyed the blue sky, turquoise-colored water, incredibly nice residents and picture/postcard-perfect setting.

Manly. Lovely. Enough said.

I am Mary Grace, New Zealand bound