Cultured cats in Sydney

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Another wet and cold morning in Sydney and we rose to the familiar sound of rain spitting of on the window and our noses felling chapped and cold.We had just about got used to the weather and were determind not to let it get us down and still see the things we wanted to see.There were plenty of things to do inside in the city but some sunshine and abit of warmth would have been nice for a change!Pea was holding out for Fiji as she woefully donned the kag in a bag again,bracing the wet and windy weather.Anna and myself followed in suit and the 3 of us trudged down the main street looking like 3 designer plastic bags.

We had already found out the hard way that Sydney was an expensive city-Anna gleefully tripped into a corner shop the night before and purchased a chocolate bar and a carton of ribena which came to the grand total of about $16.99 for the 2-it still haunts her now, and blames the fact that she is running out of money on the offending over-priced snack and beverage.

But, today was cheap day as we were heading round the museums and galleries of Sydney that were free to the public.We set off in the rain with our special macs on towards the New South Wales gallery.We started off in the main galleries which were host to interesting paintings by some favourites such as Reynolds,Gainsborough,Hobart,Picasso,Kirschner (a particular favourite of mine)Pissarro and plenty more.We walked round,picking out our favorites and ended up..oopsie in the gift shop,but quickly skipped out,brushing past the extortionately priced books and pencil toppers.We wandered into the next exhibition which,not suprisingly held an interesting showcase of Aboriginal art-A whole room dedicated to one of Australia's most celebrated artists Nolan.Another interesting artist was Grace Cossington-Smith who's work was inspired by Aboriginal patterns and designs.The rest of the gallery held unusual busts,ancient sculptures and artefacts that had been uncovered or traded with the people of Australia thousands of years ago,we were having a very educational day!!!

It took us most of the day to walk round the gallery,so we headed back (yes in the rain) back to our hostel for a nice meal at the hostel restaurant,which was fairly cheap and filled our grumbling tummes until it was time for breakfast yeyeyey!!!!!!

Sunday 17th June 2007

This weekend was free-culture weekend for the 3 drowned rats,and today we we visiting the Maritime museum which looked good.We were also going to do the Sydney Skytower which was the priciest thing we were going to do that day,if you don't count the kilo of fudge we all bought on the way back...(!)

The museum had all sorts of interesting souvenirs from the decades,to do with the history of Australian fishing,whaling,seaside tourism and plenty of activities to sit and puzzle out,which Anna and Pea took full advantage of as every time I turned the corner,they were huddled onto one stool and trying to press various buttons that made shrimp farting noises.We finished the museum after buying a few postcards from the gift shop and then headed to the sky tower for a spot of city gazing!It wasn't far from the museum and we were greeted at the tower by a friendly Brummie guide who asked of we were all Sweedish models.I think it must have been my delectable grey hoody and greasy hair that gave him that idea.We blushed and politely smiled that we were in fact British models actually and had our picture taken with the tower view as the backdrop.The afternoon started with a simulated video of Australia and we were strapped into seats thats jerked around with the movement of the screen and felt like we were about to be thrown onto the floor.Anna looked a little green as we dismounted and headed for the second leg which was a ride around another screen which was an informative little 3D sketch of Australia and all about it's wildlife and city life!
We then set off in the lift to se out of the top of the tower wich was an amazing view,if not a little grey and dull so we couldn't really see much but was a nice view none the less!!We had a look through the viewing columns at the city below and then went off to buy our tower photos on postcards to send to folks back home.Oh arn't they the lucky ones to recieve postcards with our pretty faces on them!!!!

On the way back,it had got very dark and so we all felt we were all deserved of a nice bit of something before bed,and so went into a shopping centre and treated ourselves to massive yummy salads and Anna and I had a huge chunk of fudge,and Pea had a fudgy brown looking chocolate turtle,which she dropped half of on the steps outside oopsie.Back at the hostel,Anna settled down to some postcard writing, and the Pea and myself wandered upstairs to the video room where they were serving free popcorn (which tasted like it had been in the microwave for 2weeks and then left to fester in a pig farmers' sock) and showing 'The Good German' with sexy George Clooney.Abit of Clooney was alright with us so we sat and ate the rest of the peanut brittle we had received free with the fudge.Shower book and bed followed our hectic and very gamorous Sydney lifestyle and ready for another day in the rain!!!

Beano x x x

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