March 1-21, 2001 - Part 2 - Sydney, Australia
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| Wild Yellow Crested Cockatoos - Botanical Garden - Sydney, Australia |
There are just so many parks, bike and walking paths in Sydney, which included the expansive Botanical Garden. There are a large variety of plants in the garden, grouped by the region of the world they came from. Yellow crested cockatoos shriek noisily among the quiet Japanese Ibis foraging on the grass.
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| Dusk with bats flying high in the Sydney skies - Sydney, Australia |
A large community of fruit bats nests here during the day and by dusk, you can see them depart from their trees and fly over Sydney, out into the suburbs in search for food. It was eerie to see them fly out at dusk, covering the skies, quiet, as if an evil being was calling them to do his biddings.
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| Dykes on Bikes roaring through the streets at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras - Sydney, Australia |
March is also the time when Australia has an event that's now their biggest tourist event - the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. More than 500,000 people lined the streets from Hayde Park to the far end of Oxford Street to watch the spectacle. Dykes on Bikes led the parade with roaring Harleys, with exposed, painted breasts sprinkled with sparkles.
After that, it was an endless line of floats with dancing queens, drag queens, butch leather queens, and even bearded beauty queens. Gay men's obsession with buffed bodies, tweaked eyebrows, and tight cloths that leaves nothing to the imagination was very evident in the parade of people. Tattooed and pierced bodies slicked with oil and makeups also marched by.
People cheered and danced to the music, gay and straight alike. The gay community showed their appreciation for the police by giving the biggest roar of cheers during the parade when the Sydney Police Force marched through the parade. Fireworks lit up the skies toward as the evening descended on Sydney. I know it's not even close to the fireworks during the Olympics and Y2K celebration, but it was still nice.
After the last float passed, people poured into the street as various clubs blast their music out of the window. People just danced and danced right in the street - it was an excellent party atmosphere in the air.
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| Blue Mountains, Australia |
Colin also took us to the Blue Mountains one day to see the "Grand Canyon of Australia". It was a vast forest of green and brown that stretches as far as the eyes can see. The park got its name from a hovering of blue mist, emitted by the Eucalyptus trees.
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| "Three Sisters" at the Blue Mountains, Australia |
We stopped by various view points, waterfalls, and even an old estate. It's just a vast expanse of forest, mountains, and canyons. However, I think the Grand Canyon is even more majestic.
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| Sydney Opera House - Sydney, Australia |
Another "must see" sites I visited was the famed Opera House look like smooth sailing domes from the distance and photos, but upon closer inspection, the surface is actually divided in a grid-like tiles.
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