Well, that's it... holiday's over... back to real life!
*le sigh*
I will say that I think we had one of the better final days of any of our recent trips.
I packed my suitcase last night, although I'm not sure how... it was like a really soft and squishy game of Tetris. Essentially my clothes were used as packing around my purchases. And for the first time my suitcase was a little hard to close.
It still weighs less than Ma's suitcase though.
After I got up and got ready I did the usual "wander around every room making sure I haven't forgotten anything" interpretive dance. Then loaded myself up with bags, hats, shoes, jackets (okay, hat and jacket, but still) and tromped down to Ma's room as per the Final Day Tradition.
Our plan to head down to the Opera House for breakfast came to naught given that nothing really seems to be properly open down there at 7am. I guess there's not a lot of through traffic at that time in the morning, but still...
We ended up back at Circular Quay at the café in the foyer of the AMP Building,
Mirabelle (although someone needs to tell them we don't do music on websites anymore). Other than the fact that the food took a little while to arrive, it was quite nice, plus I stole about 10MB of their free WiFi (downloading an update to a malfunctioning app).
We'd been going backwards and forwards about heading over to Cockatoo Island for the Outpost Project street art installation out on the island. I also used the free WiFi to download a copy of the appropriate ferry timetable, so we figured we could ride out there, wander around for a while and be back in time to get to the airport a little early.
Turned out to be the perfect idea, and I'm so very glad that we did it.
Once we were done with breakfast we went back to the hotel, checked out of our rooms officially (by which I mean left our keys with one of the cleaners), stored our bags and headed back to Circular Quay to catch the ferry out to the island.
Instead of one of the slow (but beautiful) green and tan ferries, we got one of the fast "Fantasea" boats, which was something different... plus we've never been on a ferry in that direction before, so that was good too.
Cockatoo Island itself is awesome... it's industrial and big and full of interesting things to photograph, even before the addition of the street art. But with the street art... wow. It's the perfect blend of artistic style and location, and I got a little giddy taking photos.
The highlight was probably the Dog-Leg Tunnel (above), complete with not only works by street artists hung on boards between the pillars but also these intriguing sound installations (and an eerie video installation off in a room on the side).
It's just a shame that we were there on the opening morning (a little like Sculpture By The Sea really)... Outpost is going to be one of those exhibitions/festivals/projects that evolve between now and Decemeber... things will be added, pieces of work will change, the whole experience could transform itself.
But if you're in Sydney between now and December and you're at all interested in street art, please go! It would be so amazing if it became a yearly event.
I even saw some work from home... my blobby little buddy Mr Sloppy made an appearance amongst the paste-ups. In fact His Sloppiness also turned up in the laneways of Melbourne...
I also left my mark as part of the Chalk Walk...
I may need to refine that as a piece actually... I know I had a version in one of my notebooks... but how exactly does one go about getting things printed en mass to vinyl sticker form? Hmmm...
We caught the ferry back just before noon, which went back a different way and stopped at a few more points.
I've possibly said it before, but that really is a civilised way to travel... much more interesting and classier than a train or a bus.
And, really, that was about it... we went straight from the ferry to the hotel and from there to a taxi and from there to the airport.
*sad face*
There was a minor hiccup when we got to the airport, there wasn't a gate number against our flight... now I don't know if that happens often, but given that we've flown about twice a year for the last three years, that's never happened before. Freaked me out a tiny little bit I have to say, so after we'd grabbed a quick bite to eat and found somewhere to sit, I went and stared at the Departures board until it finally updated with our gate number.
Thank fuck!
Now I'm finishing writing this on the plane after watching the So You Think You Can Dance results show...
Then the plane will land and I'll have to go back to my regular old life.
Later...
Yep, that's pretty much what happened... the plane landed, we collected our luggage and then had to sit in the back of a very hot taxi all the way back to North Adelaide thanks to Friday afternoon traffic.
Note to self: Don't fly home at 4pm on a Friday... just don't.
When I got home again everything was pretty much as I'd left it. Okay, everything was exactly where I'd left it... otherwise that's just weird. And the apartment was mercifully cool.
I half-unpacked and then sent Ma on her way with my suitcase and associated bits and pieces before arranging all the bits and pieces I'd bought during the past nine days for their photoshoot...
No matter how many times I travel, I always have to take this photo about 10 times, there's always more things that I forgot to add to it and have to keep taking it as I remember them all.
There's a few things in there for Ma for Christmas, and a few situational things, like the 3D glasses from Sydney Tower Eye, the card for the camera strap (since I was using it), the free tissues from Kinokuniya and the receipt for the Aquabump print which should show up some time next week.
I do seem to come back with more stuff from Sydney than anywhere else though... or else we stay longer in Sydney, so I just accumulate more stuff.
Once I was done I wandered off to the supermarket to get some food because I had pretty much nothing in the fridge.
And with that, everything was about the same as it was before I left. Oh, and my hot water went out for the 500th time of late while I was away, so I'll have to try and fix that in the morning.
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