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Published: September 25th 2005
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Merry Go Round
Abby's second ride on a merry go round -Tumbalong Park These Flip-Flops Were Made For Walking
If there is a theme for this past week it’d be ‘walking’. Not just strolling about, but gigantic, large scale, feet numbing walks. I never mean for it to happen, but somehow on these sorts of walks we end up going for just about forever. Miles and miles and miles. It’s never for lack of planning, and it’s never for the lack of a good map, since I always have one and can read them very well. I think it’s just an enthusiasm to reach a certain point that never flags despite major obstacles. When others think perhaps it’s time to call a cab, or turn around or decide the view from “this little spot on the map” can’t possibly be worth it, I am always sure it will be both worth it and right around the corner.
For example, on our first Walk of the week, we decided to cross the peninsula that Bondi Beach edges on the eastern side. We’d walk west from Bondi to Rose Bay, and then north up to Shark Point, where our map said there was a great bistro and ocean-front park. It was clearly a few
Tumbalong Park
Abby and Es walking across one of the water paths at Tumbalong. miles. But it looked lovely, with ocean views the whole time, and a nice payoff at the end with only a little stroll to a bus stop to get home.
In this particular incident what the map failed to show, and what Les swore we’d never leave home without understanding again, was topography. Had it shown the second half of the walk would be straight up, through gated communities, with barely any sidewalk and minimal views of the ocean, we might not have continued. Had it shown that the short stroll to the bus stop would in fact be something like a two mile trek up and across a ridiculously steep hill we probably would have just called a cab.
But that’s just how it goes with us. Though it was one of the hottest, longest walks of my life (my cousins may correct me on that one recalling the Great Hike To the Cliff That Did Not Exist) we did love Rose Bay, and in fact, the bistro at Shark Point was great. They made wonderful pizzas and we ate lunch while watching the boats in the Sydney Harbor. Not bad. Just maybe not worth four solid hours of walking and a net total, we believe, of six miles.
The next day Abby and I checked out Fox Studios by taking two connecting busses, the 380 to the 355. Les opted out and hit the golf course. Fox Studios turns out to be a big Disneyland type place for movies. Like a movie themed compound that both showed movies, but also had all sorts of movie related activities such as a tour of a sound stage and TV studios. There was also the unrelated Adventure Golf and Skate Park next to the oddly placed bookstore. It was all a little weird on top of the fact that we were there in the morning and it was mostly deserted. If you’ve ever walked around a major theme park by yourself (and if not just imagine it) you’ll know what I mean.
Wanting to give Abby a better experience that day, I decided that we could skip the 355 and take the 380 directly home by walking from Fox Studios through Centennial Park to the bus stop on the other side. Which, for our second Walk of the week, turns out is like walking across Rhode Island. Makes for a small state, but a large park. Centennial Park is made up of vast expanses of fields and hills that are speckled with large ponds. There is room in the park for a rugby match, a foot race, an equestrian event and various other fields dedicated to just dogs, or children, or nothing at all. We walked by all of these. Naturally the bus we needed was at the far corner from where we entered, at the top of a steep hill, and then about a quarter of a mile down the road. But Abby loved it and actually walked a good bit of it herself rather than riding in her stroller - - and we are all for exhausting activities that make the afternoon nap last longer.
Finally, Saturday, is market day in Sydney. So we all took the bus and train downtown to check out the big markets. We only needed one loop through the market to know that we wouldn’t be spending the day there with Abby. Tight crowded spaces with easily accessible things to grab aren’t a good fit. So I whipped out my map and plotted a nice course through Darling Harbor. While the walk still qualified as a Walk in that we clocked more than 3 miles, it was by far the most relaxing of the three. Darling Harbor, Cockle Bay and Kings Wharf are just fantastic places. They form a U-shape with the water in the middle and cafes, shops and hotels along the two arms. The city provides the backdrop behind it all and there is a wonderful, massive playground at the base of the U. The playground is so large it’s got its own official park status as Tumbalong Park. The whole area was probably one of our favorite areas we’ve visited yet in the city. It felt festive and busy, yet not in a throngs-of-tourists sort of way.
The other obvious benefit to this third Walk of the week was that at the end of it, instead of trekking ever onward through hills and vales to find a way home, we were able to sit at a café, hand Abby a bowl of fruit and order ourselves some wine secure in our knowledge that the train was just down the street.
When not traversing greater Sydney on foot, we have been spending a lot of time at the beach. And this week we spent some time actually on the beach as beach-goers. All three of us took a swim in the ocean, still rather chilly at around 62, and lay in the warm sand. One great aspect about Bondi Beach is that naked babies are not frowned on. Swim diapers are optional - and we opted out! It’s just a million times easier to deal with a baby on the beach when it’s just the baby and not the diapers, clothes and bathing suits that are always getting wet and covered in sand.
In the wildlife department we saw our first kookaburra (not counting the one from the refuge last week). This was at the point of near mental collapse on the first Walk. So the large bird that should have otherwise been a source of excitement elicited no more than a “huh, do you think it flew from atop that very steep hill we have yet to climb?” I wanted to sing about it sitting in an old gum tree, but I believe it was sitting on a guardrail in front of a gated home, and I couldn’t summon the energy.
The other sighting was a foot long bat that was hanging from a telephone wire above the playground one afternoon. It was truly at least a foot long because I was able to clearly distinguish its nose, beady eyes and talon at the end of its wing. I was so stunned to see it just hanging there, above us, so big and well, just so darn big, that I actually went over to a man and asked.
“Do you think that bat is real?”
He stared at me. I could tell he was confused so I clarified.
“I mean, it’s just so big, I thought maybe it was a practical joke, like a fake bat on the telephone wire type prank. Like sneakers over the wire - - you know.”
He just hummed and then said, “They like to sleep from the wires.”
I gathered that asking if it was real was a silly question. Not only was it real, it was common. The astute reader will instantly be concerned that giant bats are yet another species that can enter thru our screen-less windows. But after three Walks like we had this week, Dracula himself could fly in on the back of a fire-breathing cockatoo and I think we’d all sleep thru it.
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