**NOTE** This entry was from last weekend.
I was delayed typing it out and then I lost internet for four days and
counting. The storms got pretty wicked here as in homes floated away and people
died. I wasn’t in any danger in the middle of the urban jungle though.**
Saturday I went to an event called St Bartholomew’s
Day with Wendy, Stan, and Demi. It was
pretty interesting. It was held at St Bartholomew’s Anglican Church which sits
on a hill overlooking the cemetery going down the hill to a highway. It is
supposed to be haunted and before it was restored apparently there was some dark
magic activities there as a random fyi. Of course our visit was unrelated to
that and it was daylight! First we walked through the graves which were much
different than our graves. They had concrete surrounding the perimeters so
there was no doubt where the person was buried. I much prefer that to our
system but it is not like that everywhere here but it is rather common.
Also,
they had these strange wire cages on them and glass jars. I don’t think I
had noticed that before at home. I can’t figure out what the significance/purpose of
them was for... Google let me down. As we got closer to the church there were
some graves that were marked with signs because they were important to the
church. Then there was a little market there that sold felted bags, honey,
wooden crafts, etc. On the way in you could toss money into the wishing well
and ring the bell. Demi was a very good bell ringer!
The presentation inside was mainly about Blacktown’s
contribution to WWI. It was really interesting actually and a great lead up to
what we are going to be talking about next blog. They talked of the boys who
were too young to sign up so they lied and the men who were too old to sign up
but did and got sent back right after. Australia is a very patriotic country, I
think much more so than we are in terms of wars and veterans. The women and
children raised a lot of money for the soldier’s funds. Laborers leapt at the
chance of becoming a digger as they made more per day than they did at their
jobs. A lot of men came back with Scottish wives as the majority of the
soldiers were single on embarking on this journey. The death/injury toll for Blacktown
was fairly high and thus they paid a high price for war. Afterwards we went and
looked around the market stalls some and had Demi take a picture with the town
crier who was quite the character.
After that we went to the Blacktown
Westpoint which is the mall where Demi had her party. I ended up getting a
gourmet meal of Mac and Cheese (yes my palate has not matured). The mac and
cheese had corn in it which was different. The breadstick was really good
though! I ended up getting a hairdryer at Big W which is like a Kmart but is
linked to Woolworths the grocery store. I also bought a sweater because I only
brought one warm article of clothing with me and it isn’t something I would
wear out in public. In case you were wondering, it is getting colder here. Last
night my room was 66F for Pete’s Sake…yeah I am in big trouble when I return
home. When I got home I took a Letitia Power Nap which lasted 4 hours:D It felt
really good actually.
Then on Sunday I had this dreamy idea to
get a walk in across the Harbour Bridge. I think subconsciously I know where
there is track work and I decide that is where I must go. So of course this
required a train to Central then a bus to Wynard and then a train to Milson’s
Point. Tricky tricky. Of course there are so many nice people to ask and no
scarcity of signs that a monkey could do it. Anyway, I did walk across the
Harbour Bridge which was really nice actually.
Different angle taken further down the bridge
I ended up at The Rocks where I
looked around some more.
A view of the Rocks from the Harbour Bridge
Some Street Art of Luna Park at a basketball court in the Rocks
The market of course was on again but artsy markets
never come cheap so I skipped browsing this time. I did pop into the
Contemporary Art Museum but not to actually look at the “art”. I wanted to stop
in the gift shop because the internet listed them as a lomography retailer. The
internet didn’t lie but also forgot to mention the 25% markup so no thank you.
It was a really cool gift shop though and one of everything would have been
great. I then came up with an awesome idea!...pause for a back patting... I would take a ferry back to
Parramatta thus eliminating all of the changes but alas the next ferry wasn’t
for 2 hours so I hopped back on the bus. Once back at Central, I still had time
so I went back to Paddy’s Market to buy some souvenirs for people. Then I went
home.
I have BIG plans for this weekend. Of course pretty soon I could use
flippers to get to work. Rain, rain, and more rain. Yesterday we even got sent
home early to prepare for flash flooding. It was for the people in the country
more but awesome for me nonetheless. I am getting tired of everything being
soaked though but I brought a raincoat with me (pat on the back) as I need a
license to carry an umbrella.
**EDIT** Fingers crossed I get internet
back soon because I accomplished everything I wanted to do this weekend and I
think (hope) it will make a really interesting blog**
