30a. Chris's Free Day in Sydney (10/29/2024)

A view of the Tasman Sea from Hunter Park

        It was another day of going our separate ways, although this time we reunited at the end of the day. Mom left the hotel at 5 am for the airport for her 7 am flight to Lord Howe Island. I would love to see its spectacular vistas and rare cloudforest, but was not the hassle of airflight for less than 4 hours on the ground.

        I stayed in the room in my pajamas until after noon, mentally deriding myself for not getting it together sooner to go out. On the other hand, it was a priority to catch up on the blog and chat a little bit with Beth on WhatsApp while she was still awake so I had to keep reminding myself that there were no wrong answers on how to spend my time. 

        Around 1 pm I left the hotel and started walking east towards Bondi Beach. Had I continued walking, it would have been a 3-hr, 6+ mile walk. Fortunately for me, Lime and HelloRide bicycles were all over the downtown area and I realized that I could easily combine a trip to the east coast of Syndey with fresh air and inexpensive transportation. Aside from making an account and understanding how to unlock the helmet contained in the front basket, the most difficult part of the ride was dealing with the roads when bike lanes ended and staying on the left after turning.

Cycling to Bondi Beach Using Lime

Lime e-bikes, complete with unlockable helmet in basket

En route

Hyde Park, downtown

Ponytail holes in hoodies

Rocking Lime's green helmet

My cycling route

        My route took me around Hyde Park, past the gay bars of Oxford St., alongside Centential Park and its 45,000 capacity Allianz Stadium, and through the commercial area of Bondi Junction. Sydney has blackout areas where e-bikes cannot go, so I said goodbye to the bike and helmet, and first started walking south along the Bondi to Bronte Coastal Walk. It was surprisingly busy on a Tuesday afternoon. I shared the cliffside trail with young Australians weaving in and out while trying to jog, groups of Asian tourists stopping frequently to take photos, and families with children exploring the outdoor art installations between Mackenzie's Point Lookout and Tahamarama Bay. I was impressed with myself that I found a spot to duck behind some shrubs for a "confort stop". With the crowds, the public facilities would be at least a 45-minute walk.     

        After stopping at the reef along Tahamarama to watch a few surfers in wetsuits mostly waiting for a good wave to come along, I left the trail to walk to north to Bondi Beach along the roadside rather than dealing with the congestion along the coastal trail. Without a clear destination or plan other than "see Bondi Beach", my mind started looping through several storylines. The most prominent was trying to come to terms with my age and my recent physical changes, especially in contrast to the dozens of people on the beach running, playing volleyball, doing a beachside fitness circuit. It was as if Chris Hemsworth had a hundred cousins, and they all were at the beach this afternoon. Seeing so many people out on the beach with families, dogs, surfboards, also make me wonder if I have been spending the last 51 years to the fullest. Based on how much we have crammed in during the last 28 days of traveling, I say "yes". But then I think, I never learned to surf...I haven't lifted weights for a while...I don't have a job right now, does this mean I have missed the boat for a satistfying career forever?  Self-reflection had its moments, but I also spent time wondering about the hundreds of people at the beach. How did they have time to be at the beach on a Tuesday afternoon? Have the other people of similar age figured out their lives yet or do we share a similar perplexity about the passage of time. Do they own the gorgous houses and condos here and how do they afford it? 

       Things continued this way for almost an hour as I walked along the beach, taking a few wrong turns to try and see aboriginal rock drawings at a site that was ultimately closed for renovation. I stopped along the way to take pictures of unusual birds and flowers, and thought about how amazing it was that people here in Australia can look out their windows to see rainbow lorikeets, crested pigeons, cockatoos, and laughing kookaburas. What birdfeeder species are foreigners excited to see when they visit the United States?

        My meandering self-reflection came to an abrupt stop when I decided that I needed to start heading back to the hotel. All focus needed to be on finding an unlocking a Lime bicycle, and navigating in and out of bike lanes at the same time that more cars were entering the roads at the beginning of rush hour. A strategy that generally worked was just to get behind another cyclist and follow them until it was clear that we were not going to the same location. Then I would stop and rereview my map and hope another cyclist would pass by along the direction that I needed to go. 

       Mom beat me back to the hotel, since I stopped at a nearby H&M to buy some leggings to go with my dress for tonight's evening out. I won't steal her thunder, but it was remarkable how neither of us had solid plans for the day and yet ended up doing very similar things. 

Bondi Beach Area

Rainbow lorikeet in Hunter Park at coast

One of several spray-painted murals celebrating the location

View of Mark's Park and Mackenie's Park Lookout from my "rest stop"

The first of many art installations along the coastal walk

"Big Heart"

Tamarama Bay from the lookout

Art installation in foreground, surfers in background

Surfer ending his run at Bondi Beach

Kiddie pool alongside Bondi Beach

They even have a doggie pool!

Crested pigeons near Williams Park at the coast

Laughing kookabura enjoying the afternoon sun on the rail of house on Hastings Road

Six, the Musical, at The Royal Theatre

        When I was researching the trip, I looked for cultural activities in each location as well as opportunities to see wildlife or unique features of the landscape. A short run of Six, the Musical, at the Theatre Royal Sydney coincided with our stay and without either of us having heard about the show, Mom purchased tickets. 

        The show was FABULOUS. Described as a "modern retelling of the lives of the six wives of Henry VIII, presented in the form of a singing competition." During the show, Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Catherine Parr all take turns sharing the "herstory" of their suffering during their marriages with their shared husband, and in the end decide to reclaim their own identities rather than just as "wives" in a glam pop finale. The audience was really energetic and included a lot of young professional women. All four musicians were also women, and the six primary performers were fire! Costumes: hot AF. Choreography: banging. 

        We both came out of the show smiling and full of giddy energy. I know what I'm going to be reading about tomorrow on the plane - the six wives of Henry the 8th and how the musical was created by two undergraduate students at Cambridge University.

Our "fancy" outfits

Encore performance in which the audience was invited to stand up and record

Post-show

On the walk back to the hotel

Additional birds spotted today

White ibis in Hyde Park

Australian magpie at Tamarama Point

Today's Plants of Interest

So this is what it is supposed to look like when established!

Banksia varieties are all over Australia. This tree was being visited by the rainbow lorikeets.