Sunday, 12/27/09: Arrival in Sydney

The remainder of the flight went very smoothly. All of us slept for at least several hours, Laura and Elena for 8 or more! Immigrations and customs went quickly and efficiently. The officers were actually smiling! Their name badges had their first name and the initial of their last name, opposed to “Office xyz” in the U.S. This simple thing creates a completely different climate while waiting in line than in the U.S. where the mission of the immigration and customs officers seems to be to instill cold naked fear :-).

Bill, Katrina, Sophie and Lucy greeted us as we exited the customs area and there were lots of hugs, smiles and laughs. It was so great to see everybody again! From the warm gentle breeze and the lush tropical vegetation, it was obvious that this was NOT Northern California in the middle of winter!

Before going to Bill and Katrina’s house, we did a quick round of sightseeing. We drove over the Harbor Bridge, stopped for a quick look and photo of the Opera House and then made our way to the suburb of Willoughby on the North Shore where the Ellises live. We unpacked, showered and relaxed for a few hours.

Bocks (and Lucy) in front of Harbor Bridge and Opera House 

Crossing the Harbor Bridge—they do believe in signage, don’t they? 

Then it was off for the Royal Botanic Gardens, a large public green space near the Opera House. For the plant aficionado in me, it was awesome seeing so many plants that I only knew from books.

Queensland bottle tree

The first highlight (aside from the stunning views of downtown, the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge) was coming upon ibises and sulphur-crested cockatoos that wander about much like squirrels would in Capitol Park in Sacramento. It’s clear that the cockatoos get fed by the passers-by because you can get VERY close to them. All they do is look at you with a somewhat cheeky look that says “Feed me!”.

Sulphur-crested cockatoo

The next highlight for me (even though not necessarily for the others) was the Oriental Garden section of the Royal Botanic Gardens. They have lots of mature stands of tropical and subtropical bamboos, including Bambusa vulgaris ‘Vitatta’, Dendrocalamus latiflorus ‘Mei-nung’, Thyrsostachys siamensis, Gigantochloa atroviolacea and Bambusa membranacea. Quite a few species that we could never grow in the Sacramento area, with very thick culms.

Gigantochloa atroviolacea

Lots of people find them attractive, too, apparently—so much that they feel compelled to carve their names, initials and/or messages into them. At first I was upset that these mature bamboos were disfigured like that, but in a way, the sheer volume of these graffiti makes for a very artistic patchwork of lines and shapes.

Timber bamboo with graffiti

After I had photographed all the bamboos I could find, we went home to drink champagne, eat dinner, drink some more. At eight pm or so we went for a nice stroll through the neighborhood and then the Bocks pretty quickly hopped into bed. It had been a long day and a half since we left Davis!