New Years 2000
We arrived in Sydney, dropped Helen off at her place and set up housekeeping with Heather in Wollstonecraft. We picked Heather Jekel up at the train station on the next day and I spent some time identifying plumbing problems around Heather’s place.
On the following day Heather J, Karen and I embarked on some tours of those parts of Sydney that Karen and I had missed the last time. First was Hyde Park and the Botanical Gardens in downtown Sydney. These beautiful green spots are similar in character to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and Central Park in New York City where they provide a refreshing break in the concrete and steel of the inner city. Here, Heather and Karen mug it up at the fountain in Hyde Park.
We wandered by the Art Gallery and viewed a considerable collection of Australian and European art before making our way to the Botanical Gardens. Karen couldn’t resist posing with a posy (well, OK, so it’s not a posy).
All of these attractions are first rate and shouldn’t be missed. From there, we walked along harbor’s edge past the Sydney Opera House and eventually to the Tasmanian tourist information offices to gather info for our upcoming trip to Tazzie. Everywhere preparations for the next night’s New Year’s Eve celebration were underway. On the way back to the train station we encountered this facility.
It’s a self cleaning public toilet! No fee to pay - you just walk in, push a button to close the door, do your thing, and push another button to be let out. When the door closes behind you, it starts a cleaning cycle that flushes the toilet, rinses the sink, and washes the room down with a disinfectant! It has a fully grated floor to drain away the cleaning fluids and avoid a slippery surface. God help you if you close the door without leaving!! There are several of these around Sydney town and I’d expect to see a fee charged once they get out of the trial stage. Nifty facility and much cleaner/safer than the run-of-the-mill public toilets.
The next day we took Heather Jekel to the train station and sent her on her way to a New Year’s celebration with rellies in Canberra. We gathered our contribution to the New Year’s Eve party and transported it off to Pat Burgoyne’s place in North Sydney. Now, Pat has a 14th floor, penthouse flat that overlooks the Harbor Bridge and the Sydney Opera House. It’d be tough to find a place with a better view of the fireworks!! She graciously invited us, along with a few close relatives and friends, to help her see in the New Year. In addition to people that we hadn’t met before, Kate and Peter Nacard, Kate’s sister, Terri, and Pat’s sister, Peta were there. It was a great party with everyone bringing something to contribute to the party. The fireworks were spectacular.
As you all now know, the power stayed on and the Y2K bug turned out to be the biggest anti-climax in history - thanks in no small part to one of the world’s most extensive preparation efforts! In order to avoid the inevitable driving/parking hassles, Heather LW, Karen and I walked the short distance from Heather’s place to Pat’s, and back after the celebration was over. It was amazing to see thousands of people walking the streets at 2:00 AM! There was no rowdiness in the crowd, just a sense of jubilation and fellowship that was infectious. Like the rest of the planet, we slept in the next morning and spent most of the day watching the New Millennium come in around the world - literally a once-in-a-lifetime experience!!
On Monday night Heather took us out to the "Black Stump Steakhouse" where we had truly exquisite fillet mignon steaks. We ate until we could hardly move and still took home a big doggy bag! To make matters worse, after of day of preparations to leave, we had this sumptuous feast that included Karen’s potato onion soup and my onion pie.
The beer bottle is called a Darwin stubby and holds 2 liters of beer. That’s a half gallon for you Yanks! I had to drink it all by myself as Karen and Heather were stuck into their wine. All of this holiday eating and drinking has put back whatever weight we lost while tramping around in northern Queensland and the Northern Territory!! Heather’s cat, Cappy, looked on with mild amusement and opportunistic interest.
The day before leaving Sydney, we got to visit with Kate in the morning. Then we took time out in the afternoon to see the movie "Snow Falling on Cedars" with Heather and her friends, Elizabeth and Margaret. It was a wonderful respite and the movie was enjoyed by all of us, even the ones that hadn’t read the book of the same title written by David Guterson.
Finally it was time to hit the road again! We’re off to Canberra, the national capital, to see the sights and attend the Summer Nationals (Australia’s Street Machine competition). According to "Plan A", release 3.01, we will be meeting Heather LW and the Banks’ in Tasmania sometime later in Feb., so our farewell was only temporary. It’s a "High Ho, Silver and away!" as we dashed out of Sydney toward the great inland capital of Aussieland!