Day Three? July 19 2015

It’s sort of Day Three…

 G’Day Mates!

Well finally a clear day, bright blue skies; chilly, but fine.

But despite the good weather, I was pretty disciplined and stayed in the room following breakfast to finish talks and try to cut them down so that I don’t go overtime.. Eventually left at about 1 pm. Sydney is truly a beautiful city with water everywhere — and it’s really nice when it’s not 40 degrees and raining.

There are demonstrations occurring all over Australia. A group called “Reclaim Australia” which seems like a combination Tea Party and Skinhead group has been demonstrating to keep Australia as it’s been — for “Australians”. The protests are heavily anti-Muslim. Another group formed that is promoting diversity and calling for anti-racism. I was quite tempted to go to the demonstration to walk with the anti-racist counter group which was intending to disrupt the Reclaim demonstration.. but it started at 10 am and I was committed to work on my paper. So, I’m only following it on TV.. Several arrests and some train routes were re-routed. Once I actually set out and was on the train I could see lines of police at several train stations. The hatred seemed quite strong and there is a candidate (female) running for Parliament who has been speaking at these rallies. She has formed a “Fed Up” tour of the country.. Some of the Reclaim Australia group were apparently wearing ancient Greek army costumes. The counter protest group waved banners that said “Stand With Multiculturalism Against Racism” and “No Racism, no Islamophobia.” The Reclaim group is saying they are against the Islamization of Australia.

So, I headed to the train.. becoming quite a pro at the system which seems efficient, clean, but not cheap. Took the train to St James station which the train agent said was closest to the Botanical Gardens, where I planned to stroll and have lunch… when I emerged from the station, I set my iPhone GPS.. and started my walk. Several people have stopped me in these past two days asking me for directions, so I suppose I look like I know where I am going. It’s strange since so much of my travels are in countries which do not speak English.. it’s kind of cool to be able to fit in so easily. Anyway, as I walked and walked.. I passed several other train stations and couldn’t figure out why the station guy didn’t tell me to get off at those stations.. I figured by now that the GPS was not getting me to the right place.. I tried asking people, but no one seemed to know how to get anywhere. So I continued my walk — about 4 miles.. And lo and behold, the GPS took me to the Chinese Garden.. not the Botanical Gardens. I checked out the Chinese Garden and then grabbed a taxi – determined to have my nice lunch at the Botanical gardens. Lunch ended at 3 I knew and it was now about 2:15. I got there at 2:30 with the taxi.. and headed through the gardens to the restaurant.. only to be confronted with a sign that they were having a private event.. I dashed to the café as by now I was pretty starved. They were out of almost everything except some kind of roast beef sandwich.. which I ordered. When it arrived it was like eating very thinly sliced leather. Needless to say the only good news was that it wasn’t very expensive. Didn’t eat it.

Oh — the botanical gardens are famous for something called a flying fox.. but it’s really a bat and it’s native to Australia. There are also red flying foxes and black flying foxes.. I didn’t see any, and I’m glad.. I looked them up on the Internet and they look pretty creepy…

Strolled the gardens and then headed to Chinatown (which was back where the Chinese Garden was)… pretty much like other Chinatowns.. and I walked through Paddy’s Markets.. sort of a giant flea market with about a thousand little stalls — all selling cheap imported clothes and giftware and every imaginable item you might never need.. There is also a small section for fresh fruit, vegetables and seafood. I could have bought a green wig, post cards, sunglasses, watches, rip-off jeans and watches, trinkets, masks, costumes, or a fancy dress. I passed on all of it.

From there I walked about two miles down a few major streets back into the central area and eventually headed back to the hotel… where I am sitting and writing this note. Not that easy to get back by train (which I did) since several stations were closed due to the demonstrations — had to keep changing trains .. but made it. I decided that after all of this, I’m treating myself to a nice dinner at a place called Chiswick… and taking a taxi.

Will report on my dinner in tomorrow’s note.

I’m off now..

Cheers –

Fern