Eliot's School of Life: October 2009

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

On the road to Melbourne -

We're on the road to Melbourne now in our Wicked Van. We thought this beach was pretty much deserted (Pebbles Beach) except for these birds and ... wild kangaroos. You aren't supposed to pet the kangaroos but what do you do when they are licking you?

This is Mom's contribution

My mom thinks this is art.

Museum of NSW - 17.10.09

We went to see the Kaldor exhibit at this museum. He funds exhibitions of public art in public spaces. They are usually large scale and hard to miss. He has had artists drape things like a piece of the coast of australia. People don't have to go to the "art" because the art is in their public space and they can react to it however they feel.
Look at the blue structure outside the museum. It is the newest piece of public art. When you go up the stairs into it it is the top of the statue that sits outside the museum. See the photo above. The artist wanted you to see the statue from a whole different perspective as it has been there since 1920 or so and most people don't see it anymore. There were 2 boxes that were rooms and in the other one the TV console had the head of a horse and the coffee table had a man's head on it.

Travel is Exhausting!

I needed a massage to recuperate from all that walking!

Powerhouse Museum 15.10.09

This is Artefact H15015...this is a virtual artefact commissioned by the Powerhouse Museum. To find out more about it go to their website. It is fascinating. You can load your own images into it and "feed" it. It is an interactive artefact. When you touch the cube you affect the artefact and when you enter your information on line you feed it.

They used to race these.

Here I am helping to launch a pretend rocket. We learned all about the components of a rocket.

The Powerhouse Museum is a science + design museum. They had transport starting with steam engines and going to space ships.

Taronga Zoo - 14.10.09

You actually can't touch the koalas as they sleep 20-22 hours per day and they shouldn't be disturbed. They have flat heads so they can sleep in the tree and a flat bum like a cushion. This one woke up for a moment while we were there which is really rare. They have really sharp claws so they can hang onto the tree so picking them up like you see in pictures is not reasonable.

This is a wambat. The zookeeper (we had a private tour) jumped in so we could pet the wambat and then he had to jump out quickly after he put him down because the wambat thinks he wants to play and, you guessed it, he has sharp teeth and claws!

I was afraid to feed the emu...they are huge and very strong!

The kangaroos look cute but a big one can kill a person. They stand up on their tail and kick their hind legs at you with a massive force. This one was small and friendly.

Botanical Gardens

13.10.09
At the tropical garden we found carnivorous plants. They were small not like in the movies but they eat bugs and insects...like the venus flytrap.

Sydney Opera House - Inside

Well, we found out. This is the ceiling of the restaurant. There are six performance theatres and each one has a different ceiling depending on the acoustics that are required.

Sydney Opera House

12.10.09
The Sydney Opera House is an iconic (mom's word) piece of architecture in Sydney. Everyone goes to visit it. I wondered if the ceiling on the inside looked like the roof on the outside?
What do you think?

The Museum of Contemporary Art - Sydney

11.10.09
We are at the MCA Sydney. This exhibit is by an artist who uses graphs and statistics to make her art. (Her last name is Butardeci if you want to look her up)

What do YOU think art is good for?

Dim Sum in Sydney

10.10.09
They call Dim Sum - Yum Cha here in Sydney. There are 4.3 million people living here. Do you know how many of them are asians?

Saturday, October 17, 2009

World Masters Opening Ceremony

10.10.09
Here is the opening ceremonies. My mom arranged for me to walk in the parade of athletes. There are over 28000 masters athletes here. My mom doesn't compete until Friday so we have the week to hang out. The ceremonies were really fun.

Sydney Aquarium

10.10.09
This aquarium was all about sharks and fear. This was the only cool area (I thought). We walked under the tank holding the sharks and rays and were able to view them overhead just like being under the water. I went to the Monterey Aquarium in Feb and it was much better. This seemed commercial (but it was still fun).

Hong Kong Airport

8.10.09
We had a 7 hour layover at the Hong Kong airport and it had a big sports play area and we were the only people in it. We had lots of fun and the time flew by.