Checked into the Rocks YHA on Friday. Talk about a 360 from the Bondi Beach digs. This is a 1 year old contemporary, air conditioned, sleek design, open air, air conditioned....did I mention air conditioned. After drifting into a mild coma on Wednesday night from heat exhaustion. Which I like to think is similar to when we die. It is just a slow drift into unconsciousness. It could happen...but I want air conditioning. The blower is on a weird controller that will only kick on when you window is closed. Not sure why you want to open the window when you have air conditioning and want it turned on but another AU controlling of the natural resources. (cold air)??/ The building is very open and alot of bright high tech Dell computers with individual headsets for those oh so private SKYPE calls. The kitchen is large and open at the far end of the common area, then the 6-8 tables for communal dining, followed by a large lounge area, the Internet access and then reception. This location of the Rocks YHA is situated in the part of Sydney called the Rocks. There is alot of historically significance as the facility is only 1 year old and built over an archaeological digging site. Seemingly from all the signage and historical references around the facility the Rocks were a very poor neighborhood around the harbour where in the early1900's the ships brought bubonic plague via the diseased rats from foreign lands. Kinda nasty to think about but the entire area was seized by the government, most and I mean all but a few buildings were razed, the inhabitants relocated to newer public housing. The newer is only a matter of age not construction improvement and the place reconstruction was bitterly challenged by the inhabitants of the area. During the rehab the site was found to have historical interest due to the artifacts located during the razing of the grounds. So as with all government projects the progress is very slow to complete.
Saturday was a morning in search of nourishment. I headed to Coles grocery store that I located when i was staying at the Sydney Central YHA. The are reasonable and the product selection is although unrecognizable as far as brand name recognition is at least food that I will eat. There are alot of quick food shops (7-Eleven and small groceries) that sell a thousand types of no name brand soft chips, every sport drink and candy bar that any starving individual would look to as sustenance. However as far as real food, meat, vegetables, fruit they are really limited as far as selection ad/or quality. I went down to Paddy's market to their fruit/vegetable market and was there early enough to experience the calm to frenzy pace of hawkers and shoppers negotiating as a decibel that would possible make dogs howl. It was rather unsettling and mildly entertaining at the same time. I negotiated; was able to acquire green grapes, green & red apples and bananas at a reasonable rate lower than the posted price. I felt good but the Asians really know how to howl loudly to get the price that they want. I didn't understand the words but he tone was loud and clear to the sellers that the price they were going to pay was not the posted price. Something tells me I hardly got the best Asian deal....hey i did better than my fellow Americans that were just handing over the coins as they didn't even take time to learn the currency. The Americans and our demands is a blog for another time.
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| Circle Quay is the bus terminal right at the Sydney Harbour. Some pics are just for me ;-) |
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| Sydney Harbour Bridge from the roof of the Rocks YHA |
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| Sydney Opera House form the rooftop lounge of The Rocks YHA |
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