A late (and sociable) night meant a late start on 21st March. Over coffee I made one last attempt to fix my now empty camera, but it was to no avail. The film winding mechanism was totally jammed. I didn’t want to be without a camera for longer than I had to be, so I went and found a repair shop near Kings Cross. At was at the back of a boomerang shop! – if it wasn’t already obvious that I’m in Australia then it is now! They estimated a minimum of 90 USD to fix it. They said they would take a look and tell me the next day if it was repairable. I figured that I could probably buy a new camera for not much more than that amount, so went looking. However the Olympus XA is not a current model, and I found myself being directed to second hand camera shops.
Sydney is a big modern sophisticated city – I am still feeling nostalgia for the simplicity of Latin America, and when I came across a Mexican restaurant I decided to have lunch there. Needless to say, the tacos didn’t make me feel like I was immediately back in Mexico… I then wandered down to Darling Harbour on the inland side of Sydney Harbour Bridge, and saw the small but pretty Chinese Garden. I rang Liz and Rick’s number again, and to my delight Liz answered and said that I was welcome to stay with them, and that they would come and fetch me at 9 pm, from the backpackers’ apartment in Kings Cross.
The day continued to improve later, when I found 2 Olympus XA cameras in a second hand shop. They looked in good condition. I rang my sister in Bedfordshire to let my family know that I was still alive despite jumping off assorted bridges and hills… then headed back towards Kings Cross where I collected my backpack, and waited for Rick and Liz.
They magically appeared at the appointed time and 45 minutes later we were at their house in Church Point, about 40 km north. It seemed a very peaceful and rather rural location after the hubbub of Sydney. Rick and Liz wasted no time in alerting me to the various deadly creepy-crawlies that would be delighted to kill me if they got the chance, in particular the dreaded funnel web spider.
On 22nd March, after a peaceful sleep, I woke up in an empty house, and after breakfast took advantage of the piano to practice a few things that I can still play from memory. I rang the boomerang / camera repair shop and they said the camera was not repairable. A 90 minute bus trip got me back to the centre of Sydney, where after much deliberation I picked which of the 2 used Olympus XA’s was in better condition, then went to the repair shop, and accepted 40 USD as the scrap value of the old camera.
Then it was time to try out the new camera. I headed for the Sydney tower and went up to the viewing platform – at 305 m (1000 ft) it is the tallest viewing tower in the southern hemisphere.
Eventually, as the sun was setting, I headed down and went to the Circular Quay area again for some night photos of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. This will be a good test of the new camera – I hope the photos come out OK.
Another long bus trip got me back to Church Point where I managed to get my diary back up to date.
Photos are amazing!
Thanks Liz. But I took far too many of the Opera House and and the Harbour Bridge, and none at all of you, Rick, your house or the nice Church Point shoreline!