Travels with My Paduan

I haven't got a Friday Fuckwit this week. The week has been too busy and much fun in fact I've watched the news twice. Apart from the queuing which is a new phenomenon for Aussies other than buying band tickets for super groups or waiting in line at the bar. For some reason, this year above all, the city is packed. Absolutely jammed with tourists. We've queued for museums, aquariums, been squished in by Chinese and Japanese who seem to have no concept of that 'circle of personal space'. We've been inundated with Spaniards, Russians, Germans, in fact the only Aussie voices I've heard other than my own family this week have been at ticket booths. Even catching ferries thanks to the NSW Government offering a $17 family ticket to go anywhere and cancelling the hydrofoil we were herded into 'cattle pens' to await our ferry.

We've had an excursion a day this week - we've been to Manly on the ferry, had lunch at Bondi, travelled to the Hunter Valley and had a winery tour at McWilliams Wines, visited the Aquarium complete with new dugongs, cruised around the Olympic Park, taken a peek at the new Australian Wildlife Zoo, the fantastic Maritime Museum - where we spent three and a half hours wondering through battleship Vampire and inside a submarine on blisteringly hot day. We visited Featherdale Wildlife Park - by far the best native zoo in the state but I forgot my camera and then the Powerhouse Museum. Apparently our 'fast food' is amazing, our booze is cheap and the digs aren't too shabby. He's pretty much as I thought he would be with a few rough edges. It's interesting meeting fellow bloggers but I guess when they're not your age, takes a little getting used to. Still, we have history so we're getting on OK and the kids are stepping up to the plate and have a weekend of youngling fun promised.

Oporto Portuguese chicken has received the thumbs up and there's Bulmers on tap at Cargo Bar! And my lasagne has also received an accolade so I'm happy that he's happy. It's a lot of money to spend for just 2 weeks in the Antipodes. Although he's going through XBox live withdrawals and still finding it hard to stay awake and needs a bit of a 'power nap' before round 2.

One of our fave visits this week, besides the Maritime Museum which is wonderful, was the Powerhouse Museum - it resides in the old Pyrmont Power Station and has been around for ages but has undergone some renovation and is a 'touchy feely' museum based generally on science and technology, life and ecology. No stuffed owls or mummies, just everyday things from yesteryear and tomorrow but lots of hands on experimental stuff. Perfect for a young scientist and an old bag.

This time, there was a Star Wars Exhibition which linked the 'technology' mooted in the movie with it's modern day counterparts. And yes, we had to QUEUE. The exhibition had all the original models from the Star Wars movies, costumes, and loads of 'build your own robot', 'ride on a hovercraft', 'work out the centre of gravity' kind of exhibits for the kids big and small . . and yes . . D built and programmed a little R2D2 after waiting ages for a posi at the testing site!

The rest of the museum allows you to be electrocuted, experiment with steam, feel what it's like to travel in a space station and how hard you need to cycle to power an ambulance, it's really something. So, I leave you with some images from some of our excursions this week (my battery went flat in the Hunter which was a shame) If you have visitors in Sydney, young or old, the Maritime and Power House are well worth a look . . .

Climbing a gun turret on the "Vampire" at the Maritime Museum. . . it was 38 in the shade but the tour was well worth it.


Gunner D . . . Clearly impressed . . .


Atop the replica Endeavour which now takes tourists (who are prepared to climb the rigging) for $700 per 4 day trips. Beautifully restored, so much so I wasn't sure I was allowed to take photos below deck so the top deck will have to do.



Scale model of C3PO of course . . .



Empire Ice Walker from Hoth . . .


An 8 year old creates enough energy to drive a small train around a track . . .




Programming an R2D2 to behave . . .it's not easy . . .and yes, he had to queue!

Scale model of Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder w00t. . . .


Glimpse of the rest of the powerhouse . . this area based on transport, trains, planes and automobiles . . .



Looks fake doesn't it. . .this is the latest exhibit in the centre of the city. I didn't like it. Too artificial but if you've only got a couple of days in town I guess it's your only chance to learn about native animals . . .the Red Roos are very real.
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He wants her posi in the tree but she's nursing a baby and not letting him anywhere near the penthouse . . .


Grey Nurse Shark at the aquarium. . the ladies swim 'real slow' so as not to attract the aggressive attention of the men . . they bring new meaning to LOVE BITE!


Two dugongs are the latest attraction but they only come up for air very rarely. They're really beautiful but difficult to photograph . .


Yeh well, everyone has to go there I guess and I can't work out why!


Saturday 3rd Jan - late pickup and Featherdale - forgot camera
Sunday 4th Jan - The Rocks, Circular Quay Manly Beach
Monday 5th Jan - Bondi
Tuesday 6th Jan - Maritime Museum
Wednesday 7th Jan - Hunter Valley McWilliams Wine Tour
Thursday 8th Jan - Power House Museum
Friday 9th Jan - Aquarium and Wildlife World - drive around Olympic Park
Saturday 10th - Effy Bus - Dune rolling and BBQ with the younglings
Sunday 11th Jan - off on his own
Monday 12th Jan - Jenolan Caves, Blue Mountains, Mean Fiddler with the Younglings
Tuesday 13th Jan - Featherdale/Go Carting (afternoon)
Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th Canberra - War Memorial, Australia Museum and stuff
Friday 15th - MBF Tennis
Saturday 16th - Paintball and youngling shindig in the evening
Sunday - R & R and Home

Oh, and all this walking . . I'm losing weight and my glutes are firming . . EGGSELLENT! The Paduan however, is missing his XBox, eating loads of junk, cannot out drink me and is craving some youngling adventure . . .this weekend . . .Facebook will tell all! Heheheh. . I have a bet he can't cut the mustard.