Ok, enough of this drain problem and bathtub fun. By now you must be wondering what does the title "you all look funny upside down" means. Well, I am glad you asked. I had the opportunity to visit Australia to personally observe this Coriolis effect. And I can assure you that the vortex does spin the other way in the southern hemisphere. And that's not the only thing I observed. Mosquito might be the state bird of New Jersey, but I swear that the fly is the national bird of Australia. They come in swarms and are really annoying, especially in the Blue Mountains and the outback region. Because of the recent brush fire, part of the Blue Mountains National Park was closed. The "haze" from the nearby fire caused the temporary renaming of the Blue Mountains to the Grey Mountains 8-) Drought and strong wind did not help in easing the problem. But no matter what happens, nothing seems to stop the onslaught of these Japanese tourists. In this region, you can usually tell how "touristy" a place is by the queue formed by the Japanese tourists. Three sisters, for example, was full of these lines. But if you go into the Narrowneck Ridge, there is no Japanese tourists in sight.
The city I visited was Sydney, the site of the 2000 Olympics game. It has one of the most beautiful harbors in the world. The entrance is guarded by high cliffs called the Heads. The harbor is surrounded by nice and expensive houses. Cruise into port Jackson, the famous Sydney opera house and the harbor bridge come to view. And there is the Darling harbor and the Rocks near the city. Lots of parks and lots of history. I missed the notorious spots such as Bondi beach, Manly beach, and King's Cross. So I really can't say much about the local sub culture. Sydney tower has one of the cheapest food of all the high structures. The food at New York's World Trade Center and S'pore Westin Hotel are expensive and below par. But the buffet at the Sydney tower was quite good and reasonable. I was disappointed by the Batony Bay since I was so intrigued by the USS Batony Bay of the Star Trek fame. But it's simply a polluted harbor where you can see while landing and taking off at the Sydney airport.
Just a few miscellaneous notes. The popular TV sport in Australia is cricket and rugby, where in France is the Bocci ball. For the life of me, can't understand any of these games. Give me the good old American football any day. (my ignorance is showing.) Lot of "chemists" on the street corner. Australian beer might be the best in the word... NOT! But they are cheap (I guess I have been in S'pore too long.) According to the tour guide, there are no sharks in Sydney. Because they are eaten by the crocodiles. There are also no crocodiles in Sydney, because they are eaten by the local poisonous spider (the name escapes me at this moment.) And there are really no spider... At least at one of these Australian bachelor parties, the groom was left on the shark island to stay over night - alone. Australia seems to be the favorite destination for French honeymooners. And finally, never buy a boomerang from aborigines because they will try to sell you their A$50 boomerangs that has been "tested" for the past hundreds of years while discouraging you from buying those hi-tech A$10 boomerangs "computer designed by the white men" and has been winning the world boomerang championship.
It's amazing how a country so rich in European influence can exist amongst all these Asian countries. So different in culture. So different in value. There is a recent movement to make Australia more "Asian." Not sure why. Maybe because increase in trade opportunity. But no matter what happens, I certainly hope Australia will not become another S'pore. One is enough 8-)
p.s. To those people in the states, Happy Turkey Day! Have a Bowl 8-)
23/11/94
