Sydney -- last day, cram it in!

Our last day in Sydney, and we really didn’t cram all that much.  We chose two things to do today:  The Australian Museum and the Art Gallery of NSW (New South Wales), but those two things did last us much of the day.  Whew.

At the Australian Museum, we wanted to focus on the aboriginal culture to follow up on the Sydney Museum’s learning experience yesterday.  The first thing we noticed upon entering was the written statement we have also heard at the beginning of every tour we have taken.

This statement is meant to pay homage to the aboriginal people who occupied the land around Sydney.  While our Blue Mountain tour guide didn’t think it was a good idea (too perfunctory), we all came to the conclusion that it was an appropriate statement to make.

Harold intently surveys one of the areas.

Within the museum, amongst other things, we learned about shields, bark painting, and totems.  Noticeable was all the natural colors of all three.

The museum was definitely more extensive than what we are sharing here.  For example, there was a large dinosaur section, an animal section, and a huge Australian bird section.  The number and distinctness of the birds on this continent is utterly amazing.  Oh – and a section on kangaroos.  Duh.  Other stuff too, but you get the idea – it was worth our time.

We had lunch at Chin Chin’s, another restaurant on Gil’s list and advertised as one of the most popular restaurants in Sydney, Asian food given an Australian flair.  The food was delicious (Gil said it was the best goat he had ever had), but the noise level was horrendous – so bad we could hardly wait to leave.

So we left and headed for the Art Gallery of NSW.  Here we also focused on aboriginal art, but there was also a special modern art exhibition from the Hermitage in Russia – excellent.  Probably the best thing there was a five-screen video program on one of the Russians who started collecting Matisse’s work.  It was called "Shchukin, Matisse, Dance and Music," and if you ever get a chance to see it somewhere, be sure you do so.

First thing again, however, was the sign paying homage to the Gadigal people.

Most noticeable was the use of the same earth tones in much of the art – whether it be past or present.

We also saw more shields, masks, and bamugura which I'll share a bit about just cuz I thought it was intriguing, smart, and creative.

And here is a bit about the video presentation that was unrelated to our trip but was absolutely stupendous.

After the museum, we toddled back to the apartment, relaxed, thought about tomorrow when we leave Sydney to fly to Melbourne, and then we went out for our martinis and dinner! WHICH is sort of an understatement.  We ended up at a great restaurant on the Finger Wharf and drank and ate and drank and ate and drank and ate, using the excuse that it was raining, and we couldn't leave until the rain quite.  The result? The most expensive meal Gil and Deb have ever had, and damn close for us.  Oh so good, though.  No regret.

Gil is thinking this crab is looking divine enough to kiss (or something).  It was huge and it turned out that the price was based on weight, not a total price.

Now -- hoping we can sleep tonight, sans heart burn!