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| Clicked this picture of the HMAS Vampire when going whale watching. Click to enlarge. |
Email comes late in the week. This email is for Monday, May 16 - Sunday, May 22. In Melbourne this week and surviving on four hours of sleep every day (working, not partying) so could not write in earlier. So last week was in Sydney as well. On Monday, went to a real nice restaurant called Rockpool Bar & Grill. This restaurant is owned by Neil Perry, a prominent Australian chef, restaurateur, author and television presenter. The restaurant was recommended by my cousin. Had the Cream of Jerusalem Artichoke & Cauliflower Soup with Mushroom & Gruyere Toast. For the main course I had Goats Cheese Tortellini with Burnt Butter, Pine Nuts & Raisins. The soup was fantastic, the main course while good was extremely bland.
Tuesday was make your own pizza dinner night at office. You are given the pizza bread and you are supposed to fill it up and put it in the oven. I had no idea how to make one's own pizza but was helped by a colleague and ended up making a pretty good pizza.
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday was in office. On Thursday however, I went for the first day, first show screening of Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides in 3D at the world's largest IMAX screen at the Sydney LG IMAX theatre. I liked the movie. Much, much better than the previous 'at world's end.' And no, the first day, first show was at 6:45 in the evening so it doesn't mean I skipped work.
On Saturday, I did one of the most exciting things I have ever done. Went skydiving. This was a really early day. The only available slot was at 8:00am and the airstrip was two hours away from Sydney by train and the train runs only once every hour. So had to get up at 5:00am and walk towards the station. Reached the station to find out track work was in progress and no trains would run on my line for that day. So took the bus to the air strip.
Got all geared up and the skydiving instructor gave me the low down of what I need to do. The most important point he said. When we jump, keep your hands holding on to the strap or keep them crossed like a Pharaoh. Don't spread them or you and me are screwed. Before boarding, they do some brilliant up-selling, 'Sir, would you like to take the completely optional $30 accident insurance.' Who's going to say no at that point in time? We took off and reached 14,000 feet. We were 4 in the plane and the 3 others jumped before me and thats when you get scared first. Seeing someone just dropping off without a parachute.
When I reached the door, I am supposed to sit on the edge of the airplane door and put my feet outside and push them under the belly of the airplane. And then they say...'watch your hands' (the plane door is like a shutter so you aren't supposed to touch it in case you pull it down by mistake)...yeah, the plane door is what I am worried about right now! This at 14,000 feet. At this point, a froze for the nick of second before the instructor shouted asking me to put my legs under the belly of the airplane and then we rolled off. We free fell for 45secs at speeds of 200kms/hr and the wind hits your face hard. The view was spectacular. In the last 15secs we opened the parachute and glided towards the landing zone. By far the most adventurous thing I have done till date. Unforgettable. Especially the moment when you jump off.
I then walked along North beach before stopping at a beach side cafe for a cup of hot cocoa and sitting back and watch the world go by.
Took the train back to Sydney. On the same day, I visited the Australian National Maritime Museum. The main purpose of the visit was to board Her Majesty's Australian Ship (HMAS) Vampire and the HMAS Onslaw.
The HMAS Vampire was an Australian destroyer ship that once had a crew of 320 and after being decommissioned in 1986, she was permanently docked at the museum. It was a delight boarding the ship and being on the decks of an erstwhile destroyer ship and seeing every aspect of the ship from the menu in the ship's canteen still prominently displayed to the chart room to the captain's quarters.
The HMAS Onslaw was a submarine that served in the Australian Navy. It is best known for becoming the first conventionally powered submarine to be fitted with anti ship missiles. the submarine is kept as is and even some of the torpedoes are still present in their bays for users to see (though obviously now defunct). A torpedo missile is pretty huge. Never thought of it. The submarine is as cramped as can be and I was surprised the way the sailors slept and lived in a submarine. Gives you a whole new degree of respect for them. It is is hard to walk with your head straight up and without bumping into stuff. Both the submarine's periscopes are still functional and visitors get to use them. The periscope was super powerful. One of the periscopes is pointed towards the top of the Sydney tower. The Sudney tower is around 2kms away from the submarine and the top is at a height of 1,014 feet. The periscope could not only let me see the top at that distance, but it was so clear, you could actually see people walking inside the tower through the windows. If a submarine built in 1969 has this powerful a periscope, one can only imagine the technology that exists today.
I also boarded the James Craig. The unique aspect being that this ship was built as early 1874. Through the years it changed hands and was finally abandoned to be sold as scrap. However, volunteers brought this ship back to the museum and through funding completely restored it back its original grandeur thereby giving visitors a unique look in to how ships were over a hundred years ago. The ship is actually now sailable and still runs on sails (though an engine has been fitted as backup). In fact for around $100, you can go with the ship on one of it's sails and experience living in the ship just as it was. I would have taken this up as the ship luckily was sailing the next day but unfortunately I had to fly to Melbourne.
Sunday: Melborune. Cold, raining, windy weather. Anyways, was pretty excited as in the evening I was going to Phillip Island. I was all set to see the little penguins in the evening. The Little Penguin (Eudyptula minor) is the smallest species of penguin. The penguin, which usually grows to between 30 and 33 cm tall (12 to 13 inches), is found only on the coastlines of southern Australia and New Zealand. I had booked several weeks early to book the ultimate tour. This is the best tour as it is only open to 10 people on a first come first serve basis. If you sign up for this, the group of 10 are assigned a dedicated park ranger and you are taken to a secluded beach to view the little penguins waddling ashore to their sand dune burrows. You are also given high-tech night vision 'nightscopes' to 'spy' on penguins in the dark. The reason it's only open to 10 people as you are less than 100 metres away from the penguins and it becomes important to stay camouflaged so as not to startle them or let them know you are there. We walked around 2kms to the area and we had to sit absolutely still for an hour waiting for the first penguin to appear. At first I wondered if it would be better without the goggles. But as we waited and darkness dawned, I realised how I could not see 5 metres ahead forget being able to clearly see a penguin. Slowly, around 6pm, the first penguin swam up to shore.
Now the little penguins are a fascinating species in my opinion. Once they form a burrow, for the rest of their lives, they will live in that burrow and return to it every year. Even after traveling hundreds of kilometres at sea, they will return every year to the exact same burrow. They will also mate with one other penguin and live them them in the same burrow for the rest of their life. This is what makes it possible for scientists to track their exact movements and paths. We were given wireless headsets and the park ranger quietly updated us on each penguin as they came and guided us on various penguins. For example, the park ranger identified how one of the penguins had a little limp and this was a sign of old age. Another penguin landed ashore with its tail covered with oil and hence had been somewhere where there had been an oil spill. It spent a good 30mins cleaning itself on shore before moving on. Now the burrows of some of the penguins are up a slope and it was cute to see the little penguins climbing up and being pushed by the other penguins behind. Then there was this little penguin who came to shore looked around and then ran back into the sea. The ranger told us that this was probably the penguins first return back to its burrow and he knows he is on the right island but unsure so ran back and will soon be back with an adult penguin who is from the same area. Sure enough, after a few minutes it was back with an adult penguin. Overall, I counted seeing 127 penguins and the ranger said it was our lucky day. Though we were supposed to be there for only 2hrs, we were there for a good 3 1/2hrs as the penguins kept on coming (and you cannot get up when the penguins are there). Finally, the last penguin came and the ranger said we would crawl back after this penguin left. But the penguin just stood there looking at the sky refusing to move. Finally it moved on. The night vision goggles were super powerful and allowed us to see the penguins to the detail of their eyes. A unique experience.
So that ends Week 2. Week 3 ends day after and stay tuned for hopefully another exciting weekend!
