Here is my luggage awaiting what amounted to the second leg of my 9,000-mile journey home: the train journey from Circular Quay station to Sydney airport. Circular Quay must have one of the best views of any railway station in the world — accepting stiff competition from Durham in the north-east of England (look it up…) – so you’d think they might clean the windows now and again.
My last full day in Australia — for now. Spent the middle part of it at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, lured in by the promise of a free exhibition (and this is one of the most expensive cities in the world, so freebies are to be welcomed). Felt inspired by some really good photography, if you’re into this particular medium and you haven’t seen the work of Jeff Wall I do recommend checking it out. He works on some projects for up to six months, to capture a single image — like this one, for instance, probably my favourite of the exhibition and visible here on the left of my shot.
A flying visit here today for a meeting, so it can become the fourth Antipodean campus to make it onto the blog after QUT, CSU and (for non-work purposes) Otago, in Dunedin. Something about this shot brings to mind those artificial photos used by architects to show us how these wonderful but as-yet-unbuilt new complexes are going to look if only they could be given the money and the planning permission to create their masterpieces: although those won’t have ‘Graduation’ signs hanging up, presumably, and I feel the walkway to the left intrudes a little.
I know I did the ‘crossing a bridge’ thing a few days ago, but no offense to Brisbane, this is one of the world’s truly great bridges so needed to be shown on here (and I like the various lattices on the shot). And it is a very impressive piece of engineering. Eighty years old now but I am sure it will still be looking as good into the next century (though by then, who knows, it might be called the Hancock Westpac News International Bridge or something like that).
Joe, doing his cool dude act, as we have a drink after seeing a show at the Opera House (Frankenstein: a brilliant version). Mind you, whoever thought that the bland apartment blocks of Opera Quays would benefit the classic view of Sydney harbour from this point is an idiotic philistine of gargantuan proportions. Doubtless that gives him a role to play in the urban planning department of many a municipality around the world.
A bit cliched to take this view of one of the world’s great cityscapes as one flies into it for the weekend: but I like the way the sun has caught the CBD, particularly those few buildings just past Darling Harbor.
Even if he didn’t sing it at the Sydney Entertainment Center tonight – this man wrote Down By the River. For that reason alone, I’d have his babies.
This is definitely one of the world’s more photogenic cities – I got a whole bunch today that I might have put up here. I know there is a voyeuristic element to taking photos of strangers without them knowing, but look, they’re looking good and I hope I honour them by putting it up here. A fine city, yes. Lots to like.
Lunch here today – and if you can’t find some variety of ethnic food to satisfy you on this street, well, you just ain’t trying.
Task one on arrival in Sydney – head straight to this place. I’ve long admired this building from afar and I was very keen to see it for real – and my high opinion of it has been in no way diminished by being up close to it. (Although I never realised it’s effectively three separate buildings: and it’s also somewhat smaller than I thought.)
Task two – take a photograph of it that is not the same old cliched photo of it that everyone else takes. How have I done?
Being 42 