When you plan on going walkabout, make sure you:
A. Find out how much walking you’re actually going to be doing, and then
B. Wear some comfy shoes.
My Converse Black Hi-Tops are fucking comfy. Really fucking comfy. A big thanks to Ferdie for putting me onto to them some months ago because ever since my Hi-Top Gola’s died (which they don’t make anymore), I’ve been looking for something to fill the shoe-gap in my life.
So my Cons are comfy.
But at the moment my ankles hurt, and I don’t think wearing Cons on a walk that has you do somewhere between 7.5 and 8 kilometres in a day would’ve helped in cloth basketball shoes, as much as Chuck Taylor would probably disagree with me sometime.
However, the journey was worth it and my ankles will get better.
And if they don’t, there’s always amputee life.
[img]https://www.leighlo.com/uploads/random/2007/01-Walkabout-02.jpg[/img]
But don’t worry, I was warned before I left. The sign on one of the crappy rollercoasters at Luna Park warned me with the words “Good Luck” as if it could foresee that there would be pain and trauma on the walkabout of Sydney’s Harbour.
It also carried the words “Hold On”, but I assumed it meant my camera, which I already had planned on doing in the first place.
[img]https://www.leighlo.com/uploads/random/2007/01-Walkabout-08.jpg[/img]
Our troop, our little group of padres, our I-don’t-know-what-the-fuck-else you’d call us… we started at Luna Park.
Actually, Sheepie and I started at Circular Quay where we bought a Day Tripper and headed by delayed ferry to Luna Park where we in turn waited for the rest of the group that was to go walkabout: Stubbsy, Matt & Philo.
But when we all got together, there was much “how are you” and “it looks like a hot one today” followed by the slip-slap-slopping of drowning the flesh in alcoholic sunscreen. Mmmm… alcoholic sunscreen gel.
And then, after a quick lesson in French from Philo as she talked to a cute little French employee at Luna Park, we were on our way walking the long Harbour walkabout that we were… uhh… walking.
[img]https://www.leighlo.com/uploads/random/2007/01-Walkabout-04.jpg[/img]
The Sydney Harbour walkabout we were doing was basically a guinea pig experiment for a walk that Stubbsy wanted to do for the forum we run, [url=http://www.dslrusers.com]DSLRUsers.com[/url]. We do a fair amount of excursions so that people can meet, walk around places, fire off some good shots, get better at photography, and so forth, and this was to be one of those.
It was a long walk, however. I didn’t realise how long it was going to be.
We started — as I said — at Luna Park and walked seven and a half kilometres around the Harbour. I might get a map off of Stubbsy or Sheepie so I can show you where we walked as I don’t have a clue to the name of the suburbs or places we walked around at.
[img]https://www.leighlo.com/uploads/random/2007/01-Walkabout-09.jpg[/img]
There was much flora and fauna and wrecked boats and fishermen and random boats behaving like wild bouncing raving jiggly breasts bouncing to-and-fro over the ocean as it waved and jiggled and bounced against them like other random breasts having a random breast orgy.
[i](Don’t even ask how my mind fucking works. It’s not worth it.)[/i]
[img]https://www.leighlo.com/uploads/random/2007/01-Walkabout-06.jpg[/img]
It was a good day for me black & white-wise actually, as I was doing a fair amount of shooting of light and shadows in my shots as well as a good amount of what I would consider vastly improved infrared images.
Our walk started at 10ish in the morning on Saturday and, while we could probably have gone on for a bit longer, we ended it at around 1.30ish where there was a train station we could walk to in Sydney’s North.
Sheepie & I parted ways with Stubbsy and Matt & Philo when their train hit Milsons Point as their car was parked there.
[img]https://www.leighlo.com/uploads/random/2007/01-Walkabout-05.jpg[/img]
But Sheepie & I were somewhat distracted when it had ended.
Here, we had paid 15 bucks for a DayTripper — the one that lets you get on all forms of Sydney transport for a day for one price — and we’d only used it for one ferry ride and one train ride. Not exactly good value, really.
So we got off at Wynyard, had a quick lunch at a Pitt St. food court, and then headed back to Circular Quay to see if we could get some decent use out of our DayTripper.
We picked the Parramatta route since Sheepie had never been to Parramatta via the Rivercat and he’d never been on a Rivercat either.
I don’t remember the last time I’d been to Parramatta by Sydney’s water-transport services, even though I’m sure I’d done it as a kid.
Regardless, we waited while the Sydney ferries were stuck in their massive delayed schedules like everyone else did. Earlier in the day, we’d seen ferries waiting out of the way in the Quay near where the International terminals were because the ferry services were just THAT delayed at the Wharf side of things.
Now, we waited here too but when the Rivercat started up, everyone was quickly herded on being informed by the bridge mistress that it was going straight to Parramatta and by the Rivercat skipper that is was going to Parramatta after Rydalmere. One of these days, the bridge mistress and the Rivercat skipper are going to have to be taken to a marriage counsellor to work out their issues.
[img]https://www.leighlo.com/uploads/random/2007/01-Walkabout-07.jpg[/img]
Regardless of the issues the crew might have faced, the Rivercat left and with it a bunch of people standing at the front of it snapping pictures on phone cams and video cameras and crappy point and shoots with Sheepie & I there using longish lenses instead.
Yeah, baby. We’re the real deal. (You can get 20 cents off of us with a coupon!)
So we stood at the front and snapped photos of boats and landscapes and trees and girls lying topless on the front of boats.
[img]https://www.leighlo.com/uploads/random/2007/01-Walkabout-X1.jpg[/img]
Seriously, if I had nice tits, long legs, a vagina, and wasn’t (as a result of having all of that) considered a freak of nature because I’m currently male, I’d lie on the front of a boat to look hot too.
[img]https://www.leighlo.com/uploads/random/2007/01-Walkabout-X2.jpg[/img]
Alas, here is the part of the blog I must say something bad. I don’t like saying bad things, but it is imperative that I do.
Okay. Here goes.
[B]DON’T TAKE THE FERRY TO PARRAMATTA.[/b]
It’s not over actually. As much of a mouthful as that was to say, I’m not done.
[B]DON’T GO TO PARRAMATTA.
Not unless you’re planning on getting drunk or eating there. It’s a hole. It has properties of that similar to a hole and not that of a suburb people would actually want to go to, so…
DON’T GO TO PARRAMATTA.[/B]
There. I’m done with my awful words of advice.
Okay, I lied.
Seriously, the trip out on a Rivercat is supposed to be faster than that of a ferry, but once you reach the Mangrovy area that leads you to the Rydalmere stop, it all but slows to a crawl on a Rivercat that has practically no ventilation nor any vending machines on a hot summer’s day.
As you get taken through those industrial swamps, you could picture a toothless gimp sitting on the side of what rocks you might find with a banjo playing duh-duh-dang-dong-dang-dong-dang-dong-duuunnnggg… because it feels like a crappy trip through the Boondocks… and it’s slow.
It takes ages to go through it. Sheepie and I gave up at Rydalmere and went inside the Rivercat. It was another twenty minutes or so before we’d reached Parramatta, and that wasn’t much better.
[img]https://www.leighlo.com/uploads/random/2007/01-Walkabout-01.jpg[/img]
[i]This wasn’t shot in Parramatta. This was shot at Blues Point as we did our Harbour Walk as it’s a shot of Philo drinking from a water fountain in Infrared and processed in sepia. I just thought ya’ll needed an image to space yourself from the blur of text this blog entry is taking me on.[/i]
When you get off at Parramatta’s ferry stop on a Saturday afternoon, you find that everything is closed and it’s hot. Really hot.
And then when you make you way up the walk ramp, you see the Parramatta River is being trenched off and that looks like shit. You make your way up the road and nothing is open. The CBD-part of the suburb is poorly designed as if someone played the first few minutes of the original Simcity and thought immediately that they knew how to design a city. Whoever did it, go you… you stupid fuck.
This suburb is dead, for a lack of better words. You walk down the road and there are no signs. There are closed restaurants and business buildings that are somewhat high, but still don’t seem to buffer you from the sun in the same way they do in the CBD of Sydney itself. That’s to be expected somewhat, actually, but the lack of life isn’t.
Nothing is open. Pretty much nothing. And there are no signs telling you where to go either. No random coffee shops open or drink stores, almost as if this suburb is made for people to NOT go to.
You could just picture an advertising firm working really hard on a slogan for Parramatta. It would end up as something like “Come to Parramatta… then leave very quickly.” because quite frankly, [b]it is a hole.[/b]
I thought I’d seen holes before and, while I’ve been to Parramatta in the past, I’d never actually walked around it on a Saturday afternoon.
This is what there is to do (I know this cause Sheepie & I did it):
You can watch the buses and work out which one you want to take back to Sydney… you can try to work out where a sign is telling you where to go… you can get hot very quickly… and you can walk towards the Westfield.
Oh yes people, because in this suburb, the Westfield is the dominating force and it is the life-centre of this suburb.
All road flow to the Westfield, so much so that the bus and train terminal connect directly with the Westfield.
So we, in all our Parramatta exploring wants, went to a Westfield. We looked in the Camera House, looked at the Krispy Kremes, had a drink… and then caught a bus back.
Yes-sir-eee… Parramatta is the place. It’s the place for sheer boredom. Go here if you want to shop or die.
At night, I imagine it’s good for eating since I remember some of the places are really good restaurants. But in the day, go here to shop or die.
It’s that good.
We caught a bus home after that, chimping our images and talking as our bus made its way back to the city where we got off at Town Hall and each made our way back to our homes via the train.
Long day. Tiring day. Ankle-hurting day.
Mostly good day, though.