Out and about

Today I think I'll forgo the long diatribe in exchange for some pictures! For those of you with short attention-spans or an aversion to reading (you know who you are) I hope you enjoy the little bit of visual love. :)


This is the Sky View ferris wheel in Darling Harbour. Not quite Navy Pier, but there's something I like about it. Somehow, it reminds me of those slightly run-down, seedy amusement parks we all begged our parents to take us to growing up. Maybe it's the retro sign and the fact that it's about to rain (right after I took this it started pouring). Nothing really special, and no, I didn't take a ride, but there you have it.


Um. Check out the size of that bird. It's bigger than a human! The birds here are large. And Chris and I finally witnessed the bat colonies in the Botanic Gardens! The trees are just dripping with them. Apparently, by their sheer weight, they are damaging the trees and the city has tried everything, including smearing the trees with python feces, and other savory-smelling things like chili and shrimp paste in order to get rid of them. They are the world's LARGEST bats and weigh something like 10 pounds and have a 3-foot wing span. Terrifying. Here's a video - check out the guy at :40.

On Sunday, we were going to head to Manly to check out the beach, but the clouds started rolling in, and once we got to Circular Quay, the storm looked imminent, so we changed our plans. We happened upon a street artist who managed to stuff her 5'3", 100 lb. body into that tiny little box! It took her a bit of time to get in there and in the end, it was a pretty impressive sight. Not for the claustrophobic!

Ahhh, spoken like a true Aussie: