Dan's Walkabout 2010: Day 3 in Sydney

Today I got kind of a late start because I had some administrative activities to take care of. Since I have a baggage weight restriction on my outback tour, I can't take all of my bags with me and have to ship one of them to Cairns to meet me at the dive boat. I researched the requirements before I left so I am praying that I got it right... I bought a bag that would just fit within the max package size and I hope my scuba gear doesn't weigh more than the max... and I'm shipping it via the Australian Postal Service!! which I hope is better than the US Postal service. They have 2 weeks to get the bag from Sydney to Cairns (about 1,700 miles) so I hope they make it.

Yay!!
I guess I did it right, because they were happy to ship my bag and the man said it would only take 3 days. I think I did make a mistake though, since I insured it for the cost of the goods in the US but if I have to replace them here in Australia, they will cost about 3 times as much... oops!! Based on the guy who helped me at the post office, I think they will get it there... and on time. If they don't, I'll have to learn to hold my breath a really long time and I'll be diving naked...

Once on my way for the day, I went to a DaVinci exhibit showing a number of his mechanical inventions and his anatomical studies. The exhibit had some graphic representations of the dissections he made in his studies, but it was really interesting. There was a large group of school children there, so it was kind of weird to see anatomical models dissected with grade school children running around... but they didn't seem to care.

After the exhibit, I went to the top of the Sydney Tower. At something like 450 meters, it is the highest structure in Sydney and has a beautiful 360 degree view of the city. It also has the obligatory restaurant, but I didn't eat there. You can also go on a tour of the outside of the top observation deck, but it was a little more than I wanted to spend to be strapped in a harness and tethered to the outside of a building... If you look at the first picture, you can see the outside deck on the right side top of the tower.

Tonight I paid homage to my Aunt and Mother and went to a play at the Sydney Opera House. I tried to get in to the hottest play going, but of course it was sold out (and as I found out very very expensive.... $175) so I settled for a family adaptation of Mac Beth... well not really Mac Beth, but a performance that incorporated the general theme of the original play into a family-friendly comedy for all ages. It wasn't very sophisticated for Shakespeare but it was enjoyable and less expensive than the other play.

the Opera House... duh...