Saturday, November 12, 2005

Rock Around the Clock

Sydney is a city built on a solid foundation. There is an intricate network of tunnels criss-crossing both the city and harbor that allows one (provided one knows how to actually get to the mouth of said tunnel) to circumvent much of the congested traffic in order to get around town.

It is a bit uncanny, the level in which they build underground here. Shopping malls, parking garages are all dug out of this same sandstone foundation. You'll see these tan-colored rocks everywhere, stacked to form the pylons of the Sydney Harbor Bridge, the buildings of the old town and most any public monument. The cliffs which frame the Blue Mountains are of the same mineral.

Recently, there was a stink when one of their tunnels gave way a bit, causing the housing complex above it to crack and tumble. The tunnels have also been a point of contention with commuters and city officials as well, having received much criticism of late. They've allowed a private developer to come in a build tunnels, then allowed for an alternate route (which would be free of the $3 toll charge) to be scaled back, closing a few lanes. Up in arms went the city residents, asking why they must put into the pockets of the investors in order to face reduced traffic conditions.

The head of the Transportation administration then quickly retires, washing his hands of the mess and heading towards the sunset. Still, trying to alleviate some of the negativity caused by this tunnel endeavor, the city gave free pass to anyone driving through the tunnel for two weeks. They had hoped that something like 70k would take it on a daily basis, but in reality on 20k have made it a habit, even when free.

An interesting feature of these blocks o'rocks is the jagged hashes made on the internally-facing side of older buildings. Made by convicts counting their days, they say. Like the great pyramids of Egypt, it seems as if many of the great public works projects in Australia were built on the backs of convicts, the first wave of immigrants to this country.

Speakin' of immigrants, Frank and Chana are due in tomorrow morning. Peggy's parents will be arriving directly via LAX, getting in at the customary 9am or so. There here for a few days before jettisoning off to Tasmania with Peggy.

posted by ncawthon at 3:09 PM

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Less Al Qaeda, More Al Fresco

Our friendly city of Sydney has made global headlines as of late, having busted up a suspected terror cell yesterday. 17 people were arrested in New South Wales and Victoria. The Prime Minister 'called his shot' a few days previous, saying that he knew something was going on and that evil doers best beware. Lo and behold, the media clamored, 'what? what? what's going on?', but to no avail. The government wouldn't give any specifics nor show any sign of relent.

Then, yesterday, they put the royal smackdown on thems people, successfully quelling whatever it was that these theoretical terrorists may or may not have been planning. One of those arrested was a very visible cleric who repeatedly was in the press, justifiably speaking out against anti-Muslim activities. Whoops. Bad move, dude.

In my daily jaunt on the metropolitan public transport system, I've noticed no change in public persona on the days building up to this alleged event. Business as usual. I'll bet if this was Singapore, however, it would be a different story. Never have I seen such an awesome display of public firepower, save the time I had that chili dog before going on the Tilt-a-Whirl. Bad times.

On to the weather. With the current heat, we feel somewhat vindicated for bailing out of California in the middle of summer. Now, boys and girls, its payback time - we hit ninety today. Today was unseasonably warm, with a fairly high level of humidity. The conditions seem to swing quite wildly here, with a hard tropical rain one day and blistering sun the next. I've had my first sun burn, toasting my back a bit whilst Boogie Boarding. The daylight sticks around until 7:30pm, which sure beats 4:30pm dusk when we first arrived.

posted by ncawthon at 7:02 PM

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Get Lost

Life without a television is going pretty smoothly. We rent DVDs from our brick-and-mortar shop up the road from time-to-time, go out to movies and do puzzles or read magazines while listening to music. Makes for quiet evenings for the most part, with the windows open the sound of the waves crashing keep us calm. I've oft scoffed at certain relatives and friends who've become gravitated towards prime-time television shows, passing them off with comments like 'mindless zombies' and 'anti-socialites'.

I know, I know... stop the presses... human beings not watching television! Hardly compelling content for your reading pleasure, but it is important to know what a revolutionary cause a television-less household has been. Threats, tears and deceit all have accompanied this negotiated withdrawal from a constant banter of canned Australian content. The Gaza Strip handover went smoother.

Recently, everyman's computer company, Apple, announced they are selling television episodes, allowing people to download them to their computer and watching them commercial-free. Unfortunately, they only offer television shows to their domestic, U.S. audience. I realized this because my credit card information was based on a U.S. address, which allowed me to go to town on programming content normally available to those stateside. The feeling of illicit viewing harkened me back to the days of sneaking into my parent's closet and plugging in the contraband T.V. to watch Scooby Doo after school. I was sure to keep the volume real low in case our nanny Lilly was within earshot. I had a problem with T.V. at a young age, just couldn't get enough of that hilarious Scooby Doo.

We began to download episodes of the show Lost, at $2 a pop - cheaper than renting a DVD. First, I got our German friend Thomas addicted (he can continue following the show back home) and after a bit of handholding through the violence of the first couple episodes, Peggy went in hook, line and sinker. The show is currently in their second season and we're about halfway through the first. I'd heard about Lost before leaving home, but because of the recent holier-than-thou attitude I've taken in my young adulthood (much too intelligent to waste time on television), never been compelled to watch the show. I couldn't have been more wrong about the show itself, but it certainly doesn't hurt that there are no commercials to interrupt the action.

The premise of the show is a mix between Fantasy Island and Survivor. A bunch of fit, good-looking people survive a plane crash (on the Sydney to LAX route, for all you upcoming visitors!) and try to figure out what's going on with one another and the island itself. Each week, you get a bit of back story on one of the members of the party as well as more info on the strange goings on around the island.

One of the more amusing parts about Lost is that since all 46 survivors have just departed from Sydney, there are quite a few flashback shots of them hub-bubbing around the city. No mention of Begong Moths or Cockroaches as of yet, but we're hoping for the Bronte scene where someone gets run over by the miniature train set in the park.

From a financial point of view, we're not being very smart. One could purchase the entire first season for $35 - all 24 episodes at once. Instead, we're hedging downloads and buying them for $2 a piece, incurring a 40% price spike in total. However, if my Scooby Doo consumption levels as a child are any indication, we're better off going a la carte as to draw the experience out, rationing our episodes similar to the way the survivors ration their tooth whitening kits on the show.

No spoiling it for us by leaving telling comments! It's the only television we allow ourselves to indulge in.

posted by ncawthon at 8:54 PM

Monday, November 07, 2005

Picture This

Just taking a second to point out the site of a local photographer, who shoots much better pictures than I, and the location of his site. He's got a blog similar to this one, covering Sydney from a visual perspective:

http://sydneywebcam.com.au

Use the months on the right hand column to go into the archives abit, November's postings are pretty paltry thus far. He does make an effort to
put up a new picture of almost Sydney every day, we started looking longingly at this site a few weeks before leaving. Now that we've been here for some time, it provides new energy and perspective on the beauty of the city enivrons. He's even got a picture of Mr. Mungo's boat at it's current berth, if you scroll on down to October 18th. How about that!

posted by ncawthon at 4:33 PM

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Bring Your Own

An aspect of Aussie life that is quite unique is the lack of fully licensed restaurants. We're not sure what the terms for jurisdiction in having a liquor license are, but many places avoid it. In some ways, it presents an opportunity to have a fairly cheap night out.

More so the ethnic restaurants that do business during the daytime, then convert from take away to sit-down dining at night. Bottle shops are a common sight in most neighborhoods, as are people trudging from place to place with large quantities of booze in their hand. Never any corkage fees, either. Restaurants seem to be quite comfortable with the concept. I guess they figure the drunker people are, the more they order.

We went to a neighborhood around Stanley Street last weekend, to a place called Bill and Toni's, a very authentic Italian place. We first welcomed by a horde of bats, making their nightly exodus from the nearby botanical gardens. They filled the skies and were pretty demonic in presence. Back to the dining angle, Bill and Toni's menu could be best described using the V-word. You know what I'm talking about ladies... that's right, veal. Veal, and lots of it at this place. Veal schnitzel, veal pizza, veal knuckles. If someone can point out where the knuckles on a baby cow are, please let me know.

Also worth noting, not only could you bring your own (which we did), but they served you orange cordial (reminiscent to Tang) in a gallon jug. Now that's amore!

posted by ncawthon at 8:45 AM