April 2nd, Australia Day 42

This week has been pretty uneventful, except for the fact that Monday was a holiday (Easter Monday). Also, daylight savings ended on Easter Sunday and the clocks were rolled back by 1 hour. As we are now moving into the autumn season of the southern hemisphere, the days have been getting progressively shorter, though the difference is less apparent than in Ottawa. As you move progressively closer to the poles, the difference between longest and shortest day becomes more extreme, and in an exponential manner. This means that the difference between 40 and 60 degrees latitude is much greater than the difference between 20 and 40 degrees. Sydney is located at about 34 degrees South, while Ottawa is just south of 46 degrees North.

On Wednesday I went to the Wynyard Hotel Pub for trivia and I managed to finish 4th of 10 teams, solo. The prizes at this place are quite substantial with the 1st place team receiving $60.00 worth of credit for the Wynyard, while the 2nd place team receives $40.00 worth of credit. There are also a few opportunities during the game to win $10.00 vouchers and a few chocolates. The next day, I went to the SAM Bar, the student-run bar on campus, and I decided to join a team since I would have a better chance of winning some money. Here, the 1st place receives $50.00 cash while the 2nd place team gets $20.00 cash. There are a few chances throughout the game to win a jug of beer from the bar. Here, with my team, we finished 1st and I took my cut of $10.00. If you're good, trivia can be fairly lucrative down here.

On Friday, I went to an area of Sydney known as Darling Harbour, which is just west of the Central Business District. I had decided to go to the Powerhouse Museum which I heard was a very interesting venue. I arrived hoping that I could see the Lord of the Rings exhibit but to my horror, is seemed as though I was a day late, but once more, the Fates were smiling upon me and the exhibit was still on. However, the Gods have a cruel sense of humour and although I could see the exhibit, I couldn't photograph anything but the entrance. It has to do with copyright issues that I can't understand.

The exhibit was amazing. It contained mostly the clothes that were used and drawings of the scenes. There was also an impressive collection of weaponry used for the trilogy, as well the makeup. There were the props used and in the center of the exhibit I came face-to-face with the One Ring in a dark room and I assure you that it is every bit as evil as the movie makes it. I saw a Palantir, the "Seeing Stone", as well as the Sword of Earendil as well as the Reforged Sword of Aragorn. Rest assured that there were many other pieces, especially armour, and it was a great display.

The rest of the museum was also very interesting with several sections. The photos will show what I think were the highlights. There was even a dancing, block-building and button pushing robot that I have video of which was pretty entertaining. There was also a copy of the robot from Lost in Space, the one whose hooks were always flailing wildly. I'll let the photos speak for themselves. After the museum, I went to The Rocks and bought myself a Northern Territory Style Outback Hat which makes me look very Australian. I also noticed an ANZAC Hat but I'll get that at some later date. That night I went to the Macquarie Astronomical Observatory which runs an observing program on Friday nights. Saturday I spent just hanging around the apartment doing necessary work. All-in-all, a fairly uneventful, but still interesting week.

Photos are now available at: http://australiaday42.blogspot.com/