Kookaburra sits in the old Gum Tree

Our Australian tour would be unreal if we were not exposed to Australia’s black past, since the beginning of the settlement of foreigners within a society that has thrived unchanged for over 65,000 years.

‘The Apology’ has gone some way to at least recognising the folly of early attitudes towards the indigenous people and yet we still have much we can learn from them about sustainability and survival.

As I sit typing this in the dark with only the light from the screen shining on the keyboard in my bedroom at Bar Beach Newcastle, I can hear the Tasman surf pounding on the beach where once, not so long ago the native people fished with long sharp spears.

In the Australian Museum we discovered how artistically talented are the aborigines. By coincidence Rob and I had both visited the Dreamtime exhibition in the Hogarth Gallery in London years ago and I remember the ‘Pointilist’ designs and how they incorporated the startling clash with newcomers into their culture by painting on car doors etc. Just look at the shell work on the bridge and Opera House models. Same kind of thing.

And how well the headdress fits Rob! Then we had our first close up of the Kookaburra with his punky top knot and were delighted to see Brian behind glass, no more pooping on our bimini!

All this museum perusing had given us a thirst. The view of the Cathedral in the previous blog was taken as we sat on the sunny museum veranda sipping iced mochas before wandering slowly down through the Botanic Gardens towards the shore and our first glimpses of the elegant bridge across water and a gentle recline on Mrs Macquarie’s seat ( a past governor’s wife) followed by some wonderfully cold beer in the shade of an accommodating tree near Busby’s Bar, listening to a Kookaburra on a branch above us and watching the traffic on the water.

Onward to an exhibition of carnivorous plants in the Calix display area. Aren’t they attractive little blood suckers! Some of them are man-made in glass, thought I’d better clarify that. I mentioned Peter Wohlleben’s books on the secret lives of animals and trees to the volunteer on duty as they are as intriguing as these little beauties, I hope he enjoys them.

Everywhere of interest is so accessible in Sydney either by train or foot. Just a few minutes of easy walking later we were in the company of the beautiful Opera House with its pearlised tiled giant ‘shells’. There are some things we are leaving until our visit in Zoonie later this year and one is attending a concert within this unique building, we hope. Zoonie will be happily at anchor in one of the nearby bays. It was fun to rekey the area for a few months time, more on that later.

For now it was time to return to our little room for a rest. Rob’s back was doing well on the codeine tablets but we didn’t want to push it as the big evening approaching the New Year was coming up. So with a couple of frozen meals heated in the microwave and a glass each of Aussie wine we relaxed on the bed watching TV. Very ordinary!