Sydney: Take Two

We managed to get back to Sydney today for a quick look. We ferried to the Harbour and walked along the Circular Quay and through the Domain. 

Take a look:

Ferry from Greenwich into the city

Sydney

The Rocks--the older section on the Quay

Harbour Bridge
Luna Park in the background

Didgeridoo Player

The Opera House

Me and the Bridge

Graeme checking out the Opera House

Opera House again

The gate to the Domain and Botanical Garden

Is this a Banyan Tree?

I love these trunks

On Mrs. Macquarie's Chair

Cockatoos

Bats

Government House

Someone dressed up King Edward VII

Another Didgeridoo Player

Us

I love cities at night.

About the Music

With a few days of tour left, we really should talk about the music, shouldn't we? After all, you may be wondering what this concert tour is all about.


Well, it's Nick's tour actually. Nick Parnell. He's a concert percussionist. 


Did you know there were such things as concert percussionists?


I didn't, until a few years ago.


It's pretty cool stuff.


Mostly, on this tour anyway, it's classical and world music re-contextualized for vibraphone and piano, with other percussion instruments, like drums, wood blocks, chimes, etc, incorporated throughout. It's a spectacular show, both musically and visually. 


Graeme is a pianist. He loves to perform and to collaborate with other musicians. He works primarily with opera singers, but for the last several weeks, he's been enjoying the change and the chance to work with Nick again. 


If you're interested in Nick's music, check him out on YouTube. There are one or two clips on there. (Please note, the pianist in those clips is not my husband.) You could also visit his website: www.nickparnell.com

It's Not Over Yet

Last week did not go as planned.

Let me clarify. I'm not talking about the performances--they were great. But I'm being egocentric and talking about how last week went for me.

I knew our schedule would be tight--five cities and five concerts in five days--and that I would see very little of the great cities of Melbourne and Sydney, but I had not expected to spend most of those days in hotel rooms, ordering room service, watching Animal Planet, going through a tissue box a day. I emerged from the hotel room only to attend the Melbourne and Sydney performances. Oh, and maybe to do the tiniest bit of shopping in Sydney.

But things are looking up, and the last few days have been packed with laughter and relaxation as we've had a few days off before this afternoon's performance in Nowra. We've spent the days sightseeing in Canberra, sipping coffee at a Nowra cafe, walking along the Shoalhaven River, and poking around a wildlife park. Ellie, Nick's wife, has joined us now, and the two of them have been so much fun.

Graeme at Parliament House in Canberra

Flat White

Shoalhaven River in Nowra

Ellie at the wildlife park

Nick and Ellie

It's not often that I meet people that actually like the American accent and want to put it on. 

We spent much of last evening's dinner swapping phrase usage and pronunciation notes. I'm coming to understand the many applications of the word cheers and getting closer to its pronunciation: chee-ahs. Nick and Ellie sound pretty good with their "Smoke 'em," though I'm not sure where they came across that phrase. They must have met a Texan at some point. They're still working on "Yo. What's up." It's the yo that's the problem, as it should be pronounced yoh, with a clipped /o/, not yo-oo-ou.

But that is not my point today. This is my point:

Dark chocolate pate, with crispy wafers and blackberry glace. Have you ever heard of something so wonderful? It was thick and rich and creamy and smooth. A bit like mousse, but denser. Banana dumplings are in the background.

It's been hard to go wrong with the food in New South Wales. It's all looked and tasted so wonderful, that I've forgotten to pause to take a picture before digging into it. But I've been making notes, and I plan to work on my own versions of these dishes when I get home: muesli pancakes, risotto with rocket (arugula), cornish pasty, pan-fried gnocchi in blue cheese sauce, chicken sandwich with cream cheese and mango chutney, chocolate pudding, and, oh-my-goodness, affogato! 

If you're too far away to taste-test, don't worry. When I get them right, I'll share the recipes.

Our six weeks here are nearing their end. After today, we have only two more concerts. On Monday we'll board the plane for LA where we'll spend a couple days. Then, a week from tomorrow, we'll be home. It's been wonderful and wearying. While we're looking forward to returning home, we plan to enjoy our last several days. Our mobile broadband account has two more days on it before it expires, and there's much more to share between now and then.

Cheers!

An Alternate View

After kicking back for the weekend, enjoying time with the family at Wayne and Jan's house on the Murray,

Jan, Wayne, Chris, and Malcolm on the dock.
And Quinn too.

a cruise on Malcolm's boat,

and a walk on the beach with friends,

we said farewell to Adelaide and those whom we love dearly and embarked on the second and final leg of the concert tour.

Destination: Victoria and New South Wales.

Thirteen days. Eight cities. Eight concerts. No sweat.

We're in Wagga Wagga now.

Isn't that fun to say?

I'm laid up with a sinus infection, and Graeme is off, not feeling much better himself, performing with Nick. I hope it's going well. I'm sure it is.

Today being the second day on the road again, I don't have much to share--except that we splurged tonight and ordered room service--risotto with ham, spinach and mushroom--and it was so convenient, and so good, and I didn't think to take a picture of it until it was long gone.

But I want to back up a few days to last Friday and tell you about our flight from Esperance back to Adelaide.

With Nick's father John as our pilot, we flew in this:

Graeme in foreground, smiling.
Nick in background, texting.

We saw this:

Farmland surrounding Esperance

Salt Pools

Even Saltier Pools
Pink!

Getting closer to the Nullarbor

The desolation of the Nullarbor Plain

Half-way through our 5-hour flight, we landed on this:

Dirt air-strip at Border Village, on the border of WA and SA

Then, we ate at this:

Road house at Border Village, where we ate lunch.
Other than this, BV is made up of a few out-buildings,
some sleeping quarters and a fuel station.

From the air, Border Village looked like this:

Border Village from the air. Population: 20.
Basically, it's a service station and roadhouse
on the highway that crosses the Nullarbor.

At the end of our flight, tired but happy, we posed for this:

Graeme, Me, and John, our pilot

It was a was great experience.

The View from the Backseat Window

We've logged thousands of miles, strike that, thousands of kilometers since the concert tour began on September 9th. In our little green rental car, we've driven from Perth to Katanning to Denmark to Albany to Bunbury to Dalwallanu to Wyalkatchem and back to Perth again. I've seen much of the southwestern corner of WA from the window of the green bug. This was my view:

Canola Fields

Scrub

Gum Trees
Lots and lots of all sorts of gum trees

Sheep Paddocks
Lots and lots of sheep paddocks

Cattle
Lots and lots of cattle

Remains after bush fires

Emu!

Coal Mining Pile-Ups

Salt Lakes
When the salinity gets high enough, the water turns pinkish

Red Clay Roads
And more gum trees

Desolation

Wheat Fields

Today, we return the car and fly to Esperance for the final concert of the Western Australia leg of the tour. Tomorrow, it's back to Adelaide for a few days of rest, then onto the east coast.