HAUNTED HOTEL

                                               Haunted Hotel

     I had never been anywhere where there were supposed to be ghosts---until I stayed in a haunted hotel in Sydney, Australia.

    I found the story framed on the wall of my hotel room. It  explained that the second part of the building had been constructed of sandstone with Georgian flattened brick arches over the windows. Built as six terrace houses, they were known as Scarlett’s Cottages. Scarlett, a well-known lady of the night, lived and died in the area.

   The story continued that Scarlett was Eric’s one true love.  In a moment of thoughtlessness, she declared her love for him also, even though she did not mean it. However, Eric died before learning of Scarlett’s lie. It is said that to this day Eric wanders the halls and cottages of the hotel searching and calling for Scarlett, who also met a tragic and untimely death. On occasion Eric has appeared in front of the surprised hotel staff questioning of Scarlett’s whereabouts.

    I asked reception for a copy of the story/legend which she happily gave to me.

    The 170-year old building was built on the site of Sydney’s first hospital. After the hospital was moved, the terrace houses were added and the building was turned into a hotel.

    Each evening we kidded about Eric’s ghost, and each morning questioned each other to learn if anyone has seen or heard him. No one encountered Eric during our Sydney stay, and I doubt anyone lost any sleep  worrying about it. It was a fun stay and an interesting story.

SYDNEY continued

                    More on Sydney

     We eventually made our way to the Harbor Bridge after lunch. I  contemplated of perhaps  climbing the bridge, not realizing it was such a popular attraction. We found the 200 steps leading up to the bridge level.  Walking to the second pylon we had a wonderful view of Sydney Harbor and the city. The Bridge was a

monumental engineering feat when completed in 1932. The arch spans 503 meters. It is 134 meters up to the top of the 1149-meter long, 49-meter wide arch. After getting a good view of what lay ahead we were only minimally disappointed to learn there were no openings to climb to the top of the bridge. After seeing the steep  steps, we agreed it would be a really tough climb. Looking up to the top the tethered walkers were dwarfed to the size of tiny people, but we clearly heard the occasional screams.

     Policemen in shorts and knee-high socks, as seen in Bermuda, were a common sight. I like the look!

The Nurses Walk was only a block from our hotel. We learned the colony’s first hospital was established in this area.  Many of the first settlers suffered dysentery, smallpox, scurvy, and typhoid after the long voyage. A few days after landing Governor Phillips set up a tent hospital to care for the worst cases.  When the second fleet arrived in 1790, a quarter of its convicts had died and many others were critically ill on arrival. The Second Fleet carried a prefabricated hospital, which was quickly erected, and immediately filled with patients.

     The city’s largest church, a Catholic one, burned twice, and it was vowed that it would be burned whenever it was finished. Today the church stands with its two towers unfinished! 
      During World War II many a service man knew and visited Harry’s. The establishment moved twice and at one point it was ordered to be disposed of, but a petition with 90,000 signatures from all over the world was presented to the legislature who then decided to save and preserve it. Harry’s, now a national landmark, is still in business at its waterfront location.

     Paddington is an old residential area with a New Orleans flair. Decorative wrought iron grillwork is prevalent. Originally the grillwork was created from ships’ iron ballast—a nice contrast from the sandstone facades in the Rocks. New South Wales has little timber for building so most homes were brick or stucco with tile roofs. Apparently there is a big termite problem so these construction materials serve their owners well.

     It is 179 miles around Sydney’s deep harbor. The city boasts 34 beaches, perhaps the most famous is Bondi because it’s an optional topless beach. The sand was powder fine. The inland side of the street is lined with various shops—typical beach décor.

     The rolling parkland of the Royal Botanical Gardens forms the eastern boundary of the city. A farm garden in 1816, now the Gardens have duck ponds, groves of palm trees, a cactus garden, and acres of lawn and pathways. It also houses Mrs. Macquarie’s large sandstone chair that was carved by convicts. She used to go and sit in her chair overlooking the harbor, and there are two stories as to why. One that she was homesick for England and longed to return, the other that she contemplated on how she could help her husband, the governor, solve the many problems he faced. The chair is large enough for two to sit in and it still seemed to swallow us.

      Sydney Tower, top of the Centerpoint shopping complex is the highest vantage-point in the city. It actually is the highest public building in the Southern Hemisphere. Besides the viewing area for a spectacular view any time of day, it also houses two revolving restaurants.

     We enjoyed quite a lot of sidewalk entertainment throughout the city. A couple of the mimes, one the Statue of Liberty, were exceptionally good.

     On one of our excursions out of town our driver told us, “In the 1970s the government began redeveloping The Rocks while keeping its heritage intact. The blend of history and culture mingled among tropical palm trees, flower gardens, ponds, and grassy lawn areas all blends to give the area a distinctive personality. The preserved sandstone colonial architecture provides facades for many shops and restaurants. The many architectural styles include colonial convict, colonial military, colonial Georgian, contemporary expressionism, early colonial, modern expressionism, Victorian, and Victorian lace.”

     It seemed to me that is an excellent summary of this large city. I have not mentioned the famous Sydney Opera House as I described the fabulous building in an 11/ 2010 post. It should be on every visitor’s list to tour with a docent. Truly a not to miss facility.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

                                         Bit about the Big City

      Stretching 60 miles north to south and 35 miles east to west Sydney is Australia's largest city. The harbor divides the city into its north and south sections. After an eight month voyage from England Captain Arthur Phillip established a penal colony in 1788. The flotilla of eleven ships carried a thousand convicts. Forty of the original passengers died during the 250-day voyage from England. They landed on a sandstone peninsular known as The Rocks. After 1776, the English could no longer send their prisoners to the United States, so they sent them to barren and isolated Australia.

      Because of a lack of soil, some of the original settlers migrated several miles inland to farm. Later soil was imported into The Rocks. Home now to 3 ½ million people, the city is hilly reminding me a great deal of San Francisco. The streets are narrow. The city has subway and monorail systems. The downtown monorail makes a loop of the area every six minutes. Sydney is the capital of New South Wales. Natives call themselves Sydneysiders. The southeast part of Sydney is parkland, greenbelt, and sporting area.

      During the 1838 plague, the city was burned to the ground, then was rebuilt. In years past hangings took place at sunrise or sunset because the spirit rises at that time. Sydney’s famous Harbor Bridge, built in 1932-34, is the longest single span steel bridge in the world. Paul  Hogan was working on the bridge when the movie industry discovered him.

     The first crude wood huts erected by the convicts were followed with simple houses made of mud bricks cemented together with a mixture of sheep’s wool and mud. Rain soon washed the mortar away and no buildings in The Rocks survived the earliest period of convict settlement. There were no permanent buildings before 1816. Much restoration on historic colonial buildings has taken place in recent years.

      Cadman’s Cottage, a small two-story yellow sandstone building built in 1816 is the oldest surviving house in Sydney.  John Cadman was sentenced for stealing a horse. He eventually married Elizabeth who had stolen a hairbrush and a knife. Cadman became superintendent of government boats and was allowed to live in the upper story of the cottage. Originally the cottage was at the water’s edge, but because a fair amount of reclaimed land, the cottage now sits back 100 feet or so from the water. The original seawall still stands in front of the cottage.

     The waterfront of this thriving port was once lined with warehouses backed by a row of tradesmen’s shops, banks, and taverns. Above them rose cobblestone alleyways to the cottages of seamen and wharf laborers.

Garrison Church

      The very walkable inner city is best seen on foot.  British and Colonial Regiments once worshiped at Holy Trinity Church, built in 1840, and is also known as the Garrison Church. The oldest church in the country has a distinctive ‘wine glass’ shaped pulpit. The Visitor Center occupies the Sydney Sailors’ Home, 1859. The Argyle stores date to the 1800s, and Susannah Place, an example of a typical dwelling occupied by working class families from the mid 1840s, is now a museum.

     Sydney became a notorious port full of taverns and brothels. The old west image of bars, brawls, amd brothels is long gone. Prostitution, once outlawed, became legal again in Sydney in mid 1999. Sydney is surrounded by sprawling suburbs. With three-quarters of the country desert, 86% of the population lives in urban areas, with the majority of those in Sydney and Melbourne. All of the large cities are on the coast. The harbor officially titled Port Jackson, but commonly called Sydney Harbor, has 150 miles of waterfront, and the harbor area is basically downtown. The Lord Nelson, built in 1836 as a Brewery Hotel, still brews its own beer on the premises. Large aging vats are visible from the dining area. It is the oldest remaining hotel in the city. We enjoyed a very good lunch here in the historic ‘brew house’.

Tomorrow more on Sydney

AUSSIE UNIQUENESS

                                  Interesting  Aussie Facts

I have posted numerous blogs from my two long trips Down Under, but there is so much more to share that I have decided that all the posts in April will concern this distant destination. It is spring here in Texas and many of us are thinking about getting out of the summer heat and since it is fall Down Under this might be on one’s list.

Victoria is the smallest state and is dairy country; Queensland is known for its wool production; wheat comes from the west, and wine from the south. New South Wales produces beef, and Tasmania grows fruit---these are only the main crops and what identifies each state.

The 2500 mile long Great Divide mountain range divides the country by dividing two river systems and is the second longest mountain range in the world, after the Alps.

Australia is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the south by the Southern Ocean, on the east by the Pacific Ocean, and on the north by the Coral Sea. The Tasman Sea runs between Australia and Tasmania, the only island state, at the southeast corner of the country.

The Dutch explorer, Abel Tasman discovered Tasmania in 1642. In 1770 Captain Cook  discovered Australia, and in 1788 the first English prison ships arrived landing at the Rocks in Sydney.

Native Aborigines have inhabited Australia for 40,000 years.

The Australian landscape includes 36,000 kilometers of beach, rain forest, bush, and outback. There is the lure of the mountains as well as the glamour of the big cities. The Australian Alps are a ski area.

Sydney is New South Wales’ capital and the first and largest city in the country.

The east coast from Brisbane to Cairns (pronounced cans) is tropical, complete with beach, palm trees, and tropical flora.

The Great Barrier Reef protects hundreds of small off shore islands. The Reef itself is a protected national landmark.

The Australian coat of arms contains both the kangaroo and the emu. Neither can walk backwards.

Australia is the driest continent on earth.

Several poisonous snakes live in the country and it is the law that no one picks up a snake. If bitten there is no need to retrieve the snake as a litmus test of the wound can tell the doctor what kind of a snake inflicted the bite; thus he knows the treatment.

Many of the world’s opals come from Australia. Lightening Ridge, in the outback, 500 miles from Sydney, is the world’s most celebrated source of opals. It was discovered in 1901.

Australia is the largest producer of camels; they are exported all over the globe.

There are 151 different nationalities/ethnic groups; Aborigines make up 2.4 % of the population.

All eucalyptus trees belong to the gum family, but not all gum trees are eucalyptus. There are 1100 known varieties of eucalyptus trees in the world, Australia has 760 varieties and the koala eats only five varieties. Because of the trees oil content when they are in a fire they literally explode.

 The kiwi is seldom seen in the wild.   It hunts by smell, not by sight. Its nostrils are located at the tip of its long curved beak, technically making his beak the shortest of any bird, as a beak is measured from the nostrils to the tip. The kiwi has no wings so cannot fly. He is all fur and feathers over a very small skeleton. He lays the largest egg for his body weight and it is the male who incubates the egg for 80 days. I have seen a kiwi twice, both times in a controlled enclosure.

TID BITS

SOME GOOD AND SOME ANNOYING

Pesky Hawkers are always annoying. Our first day in China set the tone for what was to come at nearly every tourist attraction.

In Beijing, it was very hot and humid but clear, and I was beginning to think I had taken the Texas heat with me. There were a lot of people about, but Tienanmen  Square was not a mob scene. This is where we experienced our introduction to really pesky, in-your-face hawkers.  They were relentless following one around, and never taking no for an answer. The price of whatever they were selling kept getting lower and lower, and eventually became a good buy if the article interested you.

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We were just finishing a city tour the first time I was in Auckland, New Zealand when I asked the driver, “Is there a floral clock in the city?”

He answered, “Yes, there is a lovely one in the park. Would you like me to take your there?”

 When we arrived he let us out to wander, take pictures and enjoy the area. I was a happy camper as I have been fascinated with floral clocks ever since I saw my first on in Niagara Falls in 1965.

I thanked this kind kiwi profusely for taking the time and going out of his way to accommodate a stranger to his city.

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QVB is short for Queen Victoria Building, a beautiful sand-stone structure, built in 1893. It occupies a whole city block in Sydney, Australia. The building has been restored and now houses 150 specialty shops. The tile on each of the three floors is different. Stain glass windows tower above the beautiful large marble stairways. A large clock dangles from the ceiling in the atrium in the center of the building. The basement level, which is under the street, is full of eateries.

This is a most unusual and beautiful building.

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE

Fantastic Place

One of the most recognizable landmarks in the world is the Sydney Opera House. Pictures just don’t do it justice and what a history! The 4 ½ acre building stands facing the harbor on Bennelong Point Sydney, Australia..

The guided tour was worth both the time and money. Our guide told us, “The opera house has ten ‘sails’ and stands the height of a 22 story building.”

She continued, “In 1959 there was enormous controversy and debate from the inception of the idea for an opera house. An international competition resulted in 233 entries. The dazzling and dramatic design of Danish architect Joern Utzon fired the imagination of the judges. But the technology did not exist in the 50s to build the sails that formed the roof and walls.

“The original cost estimate was seven million dollars with a projected construction time of four years. The actual cost was 102 million and construction took 15 years. However, a special opera lottery paid the additional bills, and the opera house was completely paid for by mid 1975, just two years after its opening!

“The criterion was for a multipurpose hall and minor hall. The first of a three stage construction plan started in 1959. Stage I involved the foundation and base, to the podium level. Stage II was the construction of the roof vaults. One day while peeling an orange Utzon had the inspiration to construct the shells from rib sections of a complete sphere. And so the 2194 concrete ribs, forming the skeleton of the building, were prefabricated and joined together with 217 miles of tension steel. Each section weighs 15 tons. These ribs are clearly visible in the foyers and staircase areas of the concert hall."

The ‘roof’ is covered with 1,056,000 Swedish white tiles which appear as a mosaic. Any one section of the ‘sails’ can be removed without compromising the entire structure. This is also true of the ribs and the tile coverings.

In 1966,shortly before completion of Stage II, Utzon resigned from the project. A team of Australian architects overtook the project and completed this stage in about a year.

The guide continued, “Stage III involved the glass walls, interior rooms, and all the innards, promenades and approaches. Opera House is a bit of a misnomer as it is actually an arts center. Besides the 1547-seat opera theater there is a 2690-seat concert hall, a 544-seat drama theater, and a 398-seat playhouse.

“The building houses a 1000 rooms including a reception hall, five rehearsal studios, four restaurants, six theater bars, extensive foyers and lounge areas, sixty dressing rooms, library, artist lounge, administrative offices, and extensive plant and machinery areas.

“The concert hall roof vault at 221-feet is the highest. The roofs are supported by 32 eight-foot square columns sunk 82 feet below sea level. The acoustics here are nearly perfect. It took Ronald Chap, an Australian, ten years to design and build the organ in this hall. The organ has 10,500 pipes and extends into the back 8 ½ meters.”

The first three rows in the drama theater are actually below sea level. That theater is cooled by salt water passing through aluminum coils on the ceiling.

She concluded, “Brushbox and white birch plywood, both obtained from northern New South Wales, are used extensively throughout. The 67,000 square feet of two layer glass for the windows came from France. One layer of 2000 panes, in 700 sizes, is tinted. The glass wall acts as sound proofing. 400 miles of electrical cable was needed. The power supply, adequate for a city of 25,000, involves 120 distribution boards. Twelve miles of air conditioning duct run from 26 air conditioning rooms/areas.”

I would hate to trouble shoot that electrical system!

This was a most fascinating tour of a fabulous interesting building.