White week

Having a white week now and again, or even several can only be good and healthy I thought. White week meaning of course that you don't drink wine or beer or other spirits for a week or maybe longer. Then I saw this poster, advertising the Temperance Movement, when I visited the museum in La Perouse and I started thinking differently. Do I really want to end up like these ladies? Hmmm! They look a bit stern and maybe not so attractive.

The reason we went to the Bare Island Fort, La Perouse, which is a part of Sydney on Botany Bay where the first ship came in, is that they had a re-enactment of the French arriving a bare six days after Captain Cook's arrival. La Perouse was the name of the French captain.

Don't let history get in the way of entertainment! 

They had people dressed up in the uniforms of the Napoleon army and also the soldiers of the British army. As far as uniforms go I like the French better but you can judge for yourself. There was canon and musket firing, and by the way this is when the expression "pull your finger out " was minted, an expression frequently used here in Australia.

Here we have the British Army.

And this is the glorious French Army. Sadly their ships
disappeared after their 'defeat' in Australia somewhere
near the Solomon Islands.

 We were told a lot of other interesting words and expressions that hailed from this time. Like "a square meal" which was a meal after battle served up on square wooden plates. This was after they had eaten next to nothing or just what they had in their little pouches. Another snippet was that the reason you call a bayonet a bayonet is that they were originally made in Bayonne, France.

Bare Island was used for the main action scenes in the second half of the film Mission Impossible II, starring Tom Cruise.  I wonder what 'our Nicole' thought of that.

After a walk around Bare Island we had our customary seafood lunch and then we had a quick walk through the museum.

Looks pretty scary, doesn't it!

We tried to take a selfie but someone took pity on us.

If you have been reading here  before you might remember that I mentioned how the birds can get quite aggressive and here is how one cyclist is protecting himself. Don't think it would work if the pelicans attacked but they never do, they seem placid and friendly.

When we came home we heard on the news that there had been a demonstration in Sydney because of the new budget.  As usual it seems to hit everybody except the untouchables "up there". We'll see what happens next.

It is glorious sunshine outside so I need to go out and do some garden chores. Until next time, be good!

Weekend fun and games

I am reading a book right now by an Australian writer. The title of the book is Indelible Ink, by Fiona McGregor, aptly called so since it is very much about tattooing. It is not only about that of course, but also about life in Sydney, or life in Sydney on the North Shore. That is where all the well to do live, with cleaning ladies and gardeners. They travel overseas, they go to the beauty parlours to do their hair and waxing and spray tanning and they gossip. They have affairs and  sometimes divorce, and generally do what people do do but with more money involved. We follow the main character Marie and her three adult children but also friends and tattoo artists and tattoo addicts. It is also a book about dying of cancer. It is not a fun book to read but it is fascinating, bordering on unputdownable.

In real life we have visitors right now from three different countries. Two colleagues of hubby from Spain and Japan are here, and then we have a young man from Meylan who is just here for a few days before going back to France. Yesterday we took them down to the South coast.

The spot where this photo was taken is where they do a lot of hang gliding and para gliding. We tried to talk our visitors into doing it, but no luck. Still, it is fun to watch.

We also went to a hindu temple in Helensburgh, which is supposed to be the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere. There was a special celebration going on so we felt a bit conspicious, but people didn't seem to mind us walking around, having a little look. You must leave your shoes outside and not take photos and if you eat anything it must be vegetarian! Very sensible rules I thought! I think I'll instigate them here too. I often feel I could be a fish eating vegetarian. Maybe there is a word for it.

Friday night we went to Darling Harbor for drinks and then dinner, quite a change from our little quiet life in Illawong.  This was a party boat that we saw, for example ,and it looked like it was hosting a private party. Apparently it quite common to do that, for corporate parties especially.

Have to be off now, to the Sydney Fishmarket and La Perouse with our visitors.

More about that another time. Hope you all have a great Sunday!