Back to The Rocks!

So, I was only here a week ago. What I didn’t mention in my last post was that I did get a spot of shopping in at The Rocks  while my race crew were scurrying around, and then left my bag of goodies in Starbucks. I gave them a worried call when I got home to make sure it was all still there and organised to pick it up the following weekend.

Today, in fact.

My hubby and I drove in planning a walk and breakfast at the same time. The first trick was finding a parking place. Patience is the key, as always. It’s Sunday so the traffic was fairly low. However, we were going to The Rocks (tourist destination) and it was a beautifully sunny morning. We drove through the city; down Oxford Street and the trendies eating breakfast at the footpath cafes, past Hyde Park (fairly deserted but usually full of people lounging around on the grass), across to and down George Street to Circular Quay.

Circular Quay is really best approached by train. The view of the harbour and the Opera House as you come out of the subway and into the daylight is wonderful. This train station has the best view anywhere! We were in a car though so we drove underneath the railway line (the station is elevated) and into The Rocks.

The Rocks is the peninsular underneath the Harbour Bridge. This is the area where our first English settlers, convicts and army guards set up camp. Prior to their arrival, the sandstone cliffs and shores were home to the Cadigal people. The Europeans turned it into an “open-air” gaol. It was a pretty good spot to start a settlement with fresh water streams available and an excellent harbour at its disposal. Unfortunately, the arrival of the Europeans introduced diseases that the local people were unable to withstand. The Cadigal population was decimated.

The convict settlement soon became a busy port, more people arrived and the rest is history. Today, The Rocks is a mix of old sandstone buildings, terraces, wharf structures and ”modern” buildings (modern as in built in the latter part of the 190os). It’s also a maze of narrow alleys, staircases, and courtyards. If you haven’t been there before, take a map.

So back to finding a parking spot. We drove straight through the main street of The Rocks and around Hickson Road, which goes under the bridge, to Walsh Bay, and found an empty section of street just up from the Sydney Theatre Company. We fulfilled our hope to walk some by tramping up the closest staircase (they’re all steep here – sandstone cliffs) to Lower Fort Street and then down Cumberland Street until we reached the steps down to Argyle Street, which come out just near the Visitor Information Centre. On the weekend, the area is also part of The Rocks Markets so there were people everywhere.

We fetched my lost shopping from Starbucks (back at Circular Quay – more walking) then found a cafe that didn’t look too expensive or too crowded (more walking, we went nearly all the way back to the bridge). The Swagman Cafe, where I ate the week before, has tables out front, tables inside, and if you wind your way all the way out back, a pile more tables in a paved, sheltered courtyard. The back “fence” is a high sandstone wall that is topped by a street of more terrace houses.

We ordered tea, coffee and French Toast with Apple Rhubarb jam. By this time, it was 11.30 and we were starving! Plain toast would have been a welcome diversion for our grumbling stomachs. However, we held firm and enjoyed the French version much more.

With our walking and eating goals satisfied, hubby and I wandered through the markets before heading back to the car. Sunday is a good day to head into the city for a look-see and a meal, especially when the sun is shining and you’re with your favourite person.

There’s some great places for walking and in a couple of weeks we might head back in for a leisurely stroll around the Royal Botanical Gardens; also on the Harbour. Not next week though, there’s some Marathon or other on. That’s much too much exercise and way too many people around for me!

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Race around The Rocks: birthday fun in Sydney

What better way to spend your birthday than in Sydney’s birthplace, The Rocks, with your friends. There’s several great pubs and lots of nightlife – if you’re over 18, that is. But if you’ve just turned 15, just as fun is running around completing silly tasks, finding the hard to find (even when they’re right in front of you), and trying to beat your friends to the end of your very own “Amazing Race”!

Given three days notice of my daughter’s intentions, I came up with a series of tasks based around the heritage area The Rocks. There’s a heritage building, spot or musuem on every second street corner so it wasn’t too hard. Figuring out the timing and planning enough to do to last three hours and still be fun was another thing all together.

The plan was that I would be the “Race Chief”. My daughter, Toni, and her three friends would make up two teams of Racers. My other two daughters (unknown to Toni) were the Pit Stop Chiefs. The girls had to complete a set of tasks to earn points. These included compulsory tasks and were based on visiting museums etc, bonus tasks (silly things like singing in public to earn extra points), and secret tasks given by the Pit Stop Chiefs. Easy peasy!

We caught the 8am train and arrived at Circular Quay just before 9am. I gave the girls a map of The Rocks area and sent them off to First Fleet Park to await the Race Chief. I quickly then rang my Pit Stop Chiefs to make sure they had not only gotten out of bed but were in fact already on their way in. So far so good. They were on the very next train and would arrive in half an hour.

I donned my special Safari Helmet and strode across the park to the Racers. Time to organise the teams and send them on their way. Each team had the same tasks but in different order so that they weren’t following each other around and would end up at the first Pit Stop at roughly the same time (around 10am). That done the girls went running off in opposite directions while I walked up to check on the final task of the competition, which included finding a copy of a certain book in a specific bookshop. Once they had completed that they would then go on to meet me for lunch at my favourite bakery/cafe that I always stop at when I’m visiting The Rocks. I just needed to check that the store actually had the book. I came across my first little problem of the day as I reached the Bakery a few doors down from the bookshop (Ariel by the way – good store). The bakery was closed for renovations!

Most inconvenient, but not insurmountable. There’s plenty of cafes and eateries at The Rocks.

Next problem hit. The Rocks Discovery Museum, Toni’s team’s first task, was not open and there was no opening time advertised at or near the door. Just go on to the next task, I told her, it’ll open soon.

No worries!

I returned to the park to meet my other daughters and go over what they had to do as all they had was a list of hastily typed instructions that had only been printed out that morning. Have I mentioned the “only three days” to organise this yet? They looked a little dazed as I laid it all out for them but I had every faith in their ability. I sent them off (I was getting good at the whole sending off thing) in time to get a worried telephone call from Toni and the third small problem of the day – the museum was still not open, it was nearly ten and she would be late for the pit stop.

Reaching the pit stop exactly at ten wasn’t a requirement. Luckily, as they were all going to be late. I raced up there and found Toni and her friend dejected and hungry on the sidewalk. All was not lost. Staff were moving around inside the museum preparing for opening, which (we read on the sign one of them popped out on the narrow footpath) would be at 10am. The girls rang the other team to get them back to the museum so everyone could finish their tasks before racing off to the first Pit Stop. I left to go find coffee.

They finally made it to the first stop (after running right past the “mysterious girl” they were on hunt for). Daughter number two moved to a more obvious spot and was finally found. She gave them something silly to do then handed over the second lot of tasks to complete.

Each team managed the tasks with no problem. Finding the second pit stop was a little harder. One team got a little lost. I was confused. The stop was across the road from where their last task was. The truth is that The Rocks are easy to get lost in – lots of narrow allies, staircases and winding paths. According to the map, they were roughly in the right spot. In reality, the right spot was several feet upward. They were in the Argyle Cut and needed to be somewhat higher up at the Australian Heritage Hotel.

I took them in hand and back to the pub where they had to “find a young couple sitting outside with a soft toy turtle named Wendell on the table between them”. Toni’s eldest sister and her boyfriend had a good laugh and then went to buy them some lemonade as they were quite hot and bothered.

I had managed to get a coffee by this time. Daughter number 2 and I shared a Devonshire Tea at the Swagman’s Cafe, Rocks Markets. Very nice. Much needed.

The first team rang me as I was leaving the pub. They had found the bookstore and the book and needed the next instructions. Very mysterious instructions too! “Meet me in the Captain Tench Arcade. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

I was and they did. About 15 minutes later, Toni and her teammate contacted us and we told them were to come as well. We spent the next ten minutes laughing over everyone’s silly antics (proof of dancing and singing in the street came via the cameraphones).

We were all exhausted. In three hours, we had combed The Rocks; stopped at the Discovery Museum, The Big Dig, the Susannah Place Museum, Sydney Visitor’s Centre, The Rock’s Markets, Australian Heritage Hotel, Cadman Cottage, various historical staircases, and the First Fleet Park.

Phew!

Here’s what I brought away from the experience:

First and most importantly, you need more than three days to organise something like this properly. At least one full week that includes a weekend or day that you can go and personally visit the area.

Second – double check opening hours of places. Do not assume that they might operate under normal business hours.

Thirdly. Always remember that it’s a game. The point of it is to have fun with your friends. Both teams were winners (I bought prizes for everyone) and we had a day we won’t forget in a long time.

Oh, and one last tip. When dealing with 15 year olds, perhaps remind them to look up occasionally and look around them even more.

Tasks included photobombing a tourist taking a photo and pictures of partners outside specified Heritage buildings in the area.

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Of Mice and Men: The Opera

Opera House, Sydney.

I hadn’t realised there was an opera for this story, but apparently it was written in the 1960s. Go figure. At any rate, it’s a Steinbeck story so, of course, I had to go see it having been blown away by NIDA’s production of “The Grapes of Wrath” a few years ago.

I easily convinced my friend, Lyn, to come with: we packed our bags with bubbly and munchies and we were ready to be impressed. Lyn hadn’t read the story so, as we consumed the bubbly from Christmas themed paper cups on the steps of the Opera House, I tantalised her with the basic plot line, but kept the ending to myself (I know my audience).

View from the Opera House: even better at night

It took the first half of the first act to get around the idea of 1930s drifting ranch-hands singing in opera. From then on though, I was hooked.

A few parts of the story, and at least one character, are left out; that sort of story-shrinking is to be expected I suppose. Otherwise, the storytelling using props and artwork are very well done. The large screens filled with painting of farmhands cutting hay etc are quite descriptive, especially if you know the background of the story and/or have watched the Gary Sinise/John Malkovich film version. I’m not sure how effective they are if you haven’t done at least that much. After all, not everyone has read the book (or seen the movie). The beginning also relies on the audience knowing the story well and being able to make the connections throughout and in the final scenes.

The acting/singing is excellent. The interaction between characters, particularly in the scene with Lennie and Curly’s wife in the barn, is evocative  and immediately increases understanding of the wife’s situation and, therefore, behaviour. Poor Lennie, one thinks as he guiltily hides the body of the precious puppy. Poor wife, the only person listening and understanding, she thinks, is Lennie. But neither have thoughts beyond their own situation; neither really undesrtands the other.

The ending in the opera is as tear-jerking as the book. Hard decisions. Hard choices. Crushed dreams. The embodiment of a good opera?

Yes, I think so.

Of Mice and Men/Opera Australia

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