Australia: The land of The Crocodile Hunter and Elle McPherson – according to Yankee

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Our second morning into New York started on a very patriotic note, Michelle and I caught the metro to Battery Park for boarding a ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We arrived at Battery park a good hour before our Ferry was due to depart, in fact so early that the Ferry before ours hadn’t even departed yet. Fortunately for us we were able to board the earlier ferry which meant we had just gained an hour in our day.

Of course before we could board the ferry, and again later on before we could walk up the steps of the Statue of Liberty we went through a grueling security check, similar to that of the airport immigration. “Shoes off, belts off; stand in this line. No food or water past this point. Have your tickets out” directed the security officers. The way us tourists were being herded about it may of well of been 1921 immigrating through Ellis Island.

Once on Liberty island we took our headless pass (although the Statue head had recently been reopened since its closure brought about by 9/11, we did not acquire tickets to the head as they had already sold out) to the base of the statue, where yet another security check was performed. The only consolation in this case was we got to keep our shoes on. Everything else, including my dignity had to be put in a box and scanned through the X-Ray machine.

To our disappointment we soon discovered that although they kept advertising it as the ‘head section’, what they actually meant was the ‘Green part of the statue’, that is, all of it. We got as far as the first viewing platform, which granted was something like 156 steps, but it wasn’t in the actual statue itself, rather the platform the Americans built for the French designed statue.

The statue of liberty was a gift from the French people commemorating the alliance of France and the United States during the American Revolution. Yet it represented more than simple generosity. By honoring democracy in the United States, the French who proposed the gift were indirectly criticizing the repressive Second Empire (1853-70) at home. The monument was to be at once a reminder of this historic friendship and a bold call for returning democracy to France. Hands up how many people knew that? Although I am sure to the locals and those that know, the statue will remain a reminder of the friendship expressed by the French people, but more so in today’s eyes the statue itself resembles hope and freedom. Even back in 1921 immigrating to America; Imagine, after months of cramp quarters on a boat, surrounded by the stench and disease also associated with a long voyage from Europe back in the early 1900’s, imagine what you would of felt when you first laid eyes on the Liberty statue as you approached Ellis Island, it would have been so liberating.

The Ellis Island reception center has since been remodeled as a museum showing the history of immigration into the United States, it made for a great visual of how it would have been back in the day.

On the day of arrival, most immigrants felt both hope and apprehension. On Ellis Island, the weary travelers would be observed, examined and either permitted to land or sent back to their homelands. Many of the immigrants had invested all they owned in the journey, and exclusion at this point would almost certainly cause great financial and emotional hardships.

"We were put on a barge, jammed in so tight that I couldn't turn 'round, there were so many of us, you see, and the stench was terrible. And when we got to Ellis Island, they put the gangplank down, and there was a man at the foot, and he was shouting, at the top of his voice. 'Put your luggage here, drop your luggage here. Men this way. Women and children this way.' Dad looked at us and said, 'Well, we'll meet you back here at this mound of luggage and hope we find it again and see you later." Eleanor Kenderdine Lenhart, an English immigrant in 1921, interviewed in 1985

When disembarking at Ellis Island, some immigrants were so encumbered with large bundles that they kept their health certificates handy by clenching them between their teeth. The assortment of baggage contained what must have been their most prized but portable belongings: clothing, feather beds, and dinner ware, as well as photographs, family prayer books and other mementos of their homeland.

Ellis was an eye opener experience, you really did feel you had stepped back in time and were experiencing and living through the events from immigrants eyes (the afore mentioned security checks made it seem even more realistic at times).

The next day we ventured to ground zero, formally the location of the World Trade Center until the 11th of September 2001 where a terrorist plot to divide and traumatize the United States backfired, instead unifying the nation moreso, and the world with it. America has grown so much stronger since that tragic day.

We went to ground zero initially expecting the area to be shrouded by memorials, photographs of loved ones and other shrines. To our surprise, and to the determination of the American people to never be put down, the memorials, still strongly respected in their hearts were put to the side, some along the fire station, and others in various other locations around the city to make way for a grander and even better World Trade Center than before. Yes, Ground Zero was well under re-development with the foundations and lower levels of the towers well underway.

As a tribute to American ideology and determination this on a propaganda poster with rendered artist impressions: “Months after the events of September 11 2001, the U.S. Navy undertook a project to honor those who perished. Eight years and thousands of man-hours later, USS NEW YORK, her bow forged of 7 1/2 tons of precious steel recovered from the World Trade Center, will slice through the waters of New York Harbor to be officially commissioned as a U.S. Navy ship. USS NEW YORK will be an enduring tribute to those who lost their lives on 9/11 and, through the ship's crew, will carry the spirit of New York wherever she goes in defense of her country.”

Our last afternoon in New York was spent doing something probably more symbolic in the modern world than the Statue of Liberty or Empire State building itself, we went to a Yankees game; it wasn’t just any game though, it was one of the finals between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Socks held at the Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

Getting to and from the stadium was relatively easy, unlike going to a local Derby in Perth where the roads leading into Subiaco Oval become gridlocked. Michelle and I jumped on the metro from Broadway and took it right the way through to the Yankee Stadium station.


We were nervous only about two things, one, being seating in a Red Sock dominant area; especially since between us we had dressed up with a Yankee cap, shirt and giant foam finger. And secondly, due to this being one of the finals we weren’t entirely convinced we had the best seats, given there were slim pickings left over in the first place when we booked online a month earlier. As it turned out our concerns were not warranted on both accounts, we quickly realized upon entering Yankee Stadium that the stadium got its name simply because of the huge Yankee fan base that it has. Glad we were not Red Sock supporters, I don’t recall seeing a single Red-Sock paraphernalia store in the stadium. So the foam finger was proudly worn and the jacket concealing the Yankee shirt was unzipped.

After collecting our token bag of peanuts, some hot chips and two pepsi’s we journeyed on through the stadium to find our seats. We were sitting on the third tier directly across from third base with a view of the entire field and the giant multi-story plasma screen at the end of the field, used for highlights and player introductions. The seats turned out to be perfect, we were concerned initially because after making the game booking one of Michelle’s friends taunted her that ‘you never get third base seats’ (as if we knew that), but that only becomes problematic if no action makes it to third base, fortunately for us, our game did.

The game started off very slowly, if it were an AFL match a respective supporter would be forgiven for walking out or changing channel on TV. We went through about four rounds without a single person reaching home, but you wouldn’t know it - the stadium atmosphere was wild; the giant plasma screen constantly previewing introductions of the next batter. Particular batters even had their own theme music and video introduction. A lot of the Yankees theme music came from Star Wars.

The stadium was rather full, with only a few free seats scattered here and there. Next to us sat two American brothers who, you could easily tell, baseball was their life. While waiting for the game to start the guys were talking about the whole history of the Yankees, recollecting who won and by how much year after year. After a while one of them turned to me and asked ‘What accent is that?’, ‘Australian’ I replied pronouncing Australian with a bit of an auzzie slur. ‘Ah yeah, I know the place, the land of the Crocodile Hunter and Elle McPherson!’. After breaking the news to the man that Steve Irwin was in fact dead I turned back thinking, so that just leaves us with Elle McPherson? There has to be more than that, and at the very least, surely there are more famous (and significantly more beautiful) models in Australia than Elle.



After the fourth round the game started to pick up, at least for the Yankees. They put on an entertaining show and by the end of the match had a few home runs under their belt compared to the Red Socks which finished with a single run to their name. we were both disappointed with how fast the three hours seemed to go by, even with a wind of zero degrees (or so it seemed) hitting us at our elevated position the adrenalin felt through the entire match kept us going. What a great way to end our New York experience.

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