When it was proposed I was decidedly unsure about it. Kayaking on Saturday, despite the fact that it was six degrees - the entire idea was clearly completely nuts. My politicking against the plan was too subtle and I was left wondering if might be worth breaking my own arm to avoid the event.
And then, once again, Sydney surprised me.
The weather was lovely and the water warm. I have first hand knowledge of the water temperature as I managed to capsize my vessel 20 metres from the shore. This provided David, Elaine and Hideko with a solid 20 minutes of laughter but, pride and fingertips* aside, I was unhurt. Later on there were mangroves, a veritable blizzard of jellyfish and some of the most magnificent homes in Australia.
Winter! What Winter?
* Climbing out of the water over razor sharp mussel-shells
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Questicon
The trip to Canberra was long overdue. It's been months since Danielle and Chris moved there and I keep missing them when they're in Sydney.
Alison drove me down and began the weekend ferrying 8 of us around a selection of ACT's finest vineyards. An excellent start to an evening of revellry at Danielle and Chris's apartment.
The following day was dedicated to the many cultural opportunities offered by Canberra. After a preliminary investigation we decided to give the Questicon experience a miss. I should have guessed it from the name, but it was not quite what I expected. I was thinking "Smithsonian", "London Science Museum" or "Deutschemuseum". Questicon is more like a giant McDonalds Fun Centre. A group of about 6 of us stood in the entrance hall for about a minute. The blinding primary colours and near-riot of 6-year olds did not play nice with our collective hangovers. One of the girls commented that the tableau was causing her a pain in her ovaries and we departed for the relative serenity of the National Gallery.
We took in a visiting exhibit of "Soft Sculptures". These were a wide variety of objects that droop, ooze, squish or bend. It's just the sort of thing to do when you have a hangover. A lot of the exhibits put me in mind of the then state of my own grey matter; deformed and smushed.
Next time I shall go to Canberra I shall tick another gallary off the list. But I think Questicon will have to wait until mid-week when I have some borrowed 9-year olds and a clear head.
Alison drove me down and began the weekend ferrying 8 of us around a selection of ACT's finest vineyards. An excellent start to an evening of revellry at Danielle and Chris's apartment.
The following day was dedicated to the many cultural opportunities offered by Canberra. After a preliminary investigation we decided to give the Questicon experience a miss. I should have guessed it from the name, but it was not quite what I expected. I was thinking "Smithsonian", "London Science Museum" or "Deutschemuseum". Questicon is more like a giant McDonalds Fun Centre. A group of about 6 of us stood in the entrance hall for about a minute. The blinding primary colours and near-riot of 6-year olds did not play nice with our collective hangovers. One of the girls commented that the tableau was causing her a pain in her ovaries and we departed for the relative serenity of the National Gallery.
We took in a visiting exhibit of "Soft Sculptures". These were a wide variety of objects that droop, ooze, squish or bend. It's just the sort of thing to do when you have a hangover. A lot of the exhibits put me in mind of the then state of my own grey matter; deformed and smushed.
Next time I shall go to Canberra I shall tick another gallary off the list. But I think Questicon will have to wait until mid-week when I have some borrowed 9-year olds and a clear head.
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