Bondi Beach & Sculpture by the sea & My future schedule

I'm too lazy to write this in English & German. So this is gonna be a rare German posting cause I already had it written (as a mail) :-O

Wir haben hier zwar grade ne ziemliche - fuer australische Verhaeltnisse - Regenzeit, die ca. ne Woche andauern soll :-( Hier der Beweis, dass es auch mal in Australien regnet. ist aber auszuhalten, da der Regen warm ist :-)

das ist mal ne Regenwolke!

Gestern war aber einer der - sonst normalen - Bombentage!

Sonne pur und statt Wolken nur ein Kunstflieger am Himmel. Wir sind mittags per Bus in Richtung Bondi Beach aufgebrochen...

Dumm nur, dass Busfahrer etwas unkonzentriert war und es auf einmal hinten ziemlich rummste...

weil beim Verlassen und Ausschwenken wohl eine Ampel im Weg stand


Die Maedelz waren nicht so begeistert, zumal wir uns in einen anderen (schon wartenden) Bus quetschen mussten

Wir sind schiesslich aber doch angekommen

und haben bis 5 Uhr den Bondi Beach genossen (das Wasser ist merklich waermer geworden)...

Elena (Italienerin) enjoying one of her last days at the beach before going back to cold Europe...

...Herrje! das klingt jetzt doof, aber ich hatte grad Musik auf den Ohren und prompt schreib ich nicht mehr deutsch...*lachuebersichselber*

Bondi Beach Lifeguard (sposored by DHL!!!)

I just tag the pictures in english now...

the original (made by a asian couple)

and Elena as a follow-up mermaid

with biiig ears

und sind danach den extrem coolen "Sculputure by the sea" (link) Walk gelaufen.
Ich hatte das irgendwann, vor meinem Plan nach Australien aufzubrechen, mal im Fernsehen in irgendeiner Reportage gesehen und mir gedacht:
"Wie geil ist das denn? Kunst mit der ich was anfangen kann in so einer Kulisse!"
besser als jedes schnoede Museum. Werde dazu aber noch Bilder posten...und hier sind sie:

Mic above Bondi Beach

one of my favorites - the silver spoon
Tomas Misura, "twisted reality"
"the dream is possible."

Personally it reminded me (and maybe the artist got inspired by that as well) of a one of my favorite quotes:

1: "Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible.
Instead... only try to realize the truth."

2: "What truth?"
1: "There is no spoon."

2: "There is no spoon?"
1: "Then you'll see, that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself."

Feel free to comment that quote!


Steffi and Mic taking a shower - an audio shower :-0
Jesse Cox, "recommissioned"
"exploring the idea of reusing public showers to tell stories and histories of Bondi and Tamarama coastline"

Alex Asch, "salt box"
"Salt Box" is a term given to the small wooden houses facing the Atlantic along the North East coast of the USA. My sculpture is a portrait of me, relocated in Australia and facing the Pacific"

so true....
Jan Shaw, "Sydney real estate scramble",
"Golden sihoulettes of stereotypical Sydneyities clamouring and scrambling up slippery slopes in a race to obtain the pinnacle of possessions, money, power and real estate, real estate, real estate."

Tim Ferrier, "anemone"

Peter Tilley, "means of escape"

Dan Stewart-Moore, "the mollusc that ate the harbour bridge"
"For me Sydney's connection to the sea is what it makes so special. But is it also Sydney's nemesis?"

Mike Macgregor, "guardian figure"
"The xanthorrhoea stands as a figure which holds history and myth, passive in the landscape, a strong watching presence."

transparent on the one side...Bondi Beach in a mirror on the opposite side

Tim Kyle, "i-sea"
"I-Sea is a monumental figurative statement based on a self portrait. The sculpture's purpose is to attain a connection between itself and its enviroment."

Toshio Lezumi, "m.071001"
"Through being transparent, can glass turn into material for sculpture by means of visual depth and textures?"

Bert Flugelman, "tetrapus" (won highest price money - 80.000$)

Martin Kuchar, "sun stela"
"Sun Stela is growing from the ground, uplifting the pyramid. The stone is antithetical to the sun's rays, which are absorbed by shades of grey and black."

Thomas Kayser, "souvenir" (famous views),
"Pilgrimages (Pilgerreise) to views end in pictures which then become fixed as memories. "Souvenir" takes an image of a past view and places it against the fluidity of time"

Dale Miles, "mobile home",
"Mobile Home amplifies that latent non-human life present in an object and purposes an alternative value to its use from luxury to necessity."

Gary Deirmendjian, "subject to condition",
"Appearing conscious, he is depicted as being either raised or lowered - the choice does not seem to be his. He is wet by and subject to the tides of his condition."

one of my "delivering a message favorites....the strenght of nature...
Alex Kosmas, "silent escape"
"An hommage to nature's ability to survive"

the wings of the airplane in the back start to move up and down if there is somebody on the swing...like this kid.
Sandra Landolt, "zero agl"
" Zero AGL is an aeronautical term that means zero above the ground level, based on the idea of revitalizing an "injured" airplane via a children's dream of flying."

R.M. (Ron) Gomboc, "nature's balance",
"Close together in spirit - the relationship of man and nature"

another one of my favorites - an old Mercedes getting attacked by (metal) "giants".
Dillon McEwan, "carcutter",
"Omnia mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis. All things change and we must change with them."

Mercedes that lost its hatch...a coincident?

of course not...20meters further down...

Nerine Martine, "life boat / thuyen cuu roi"
"Made in Vietnam, this sculpture is about ocean journeys of courage and compassion"


Hiroyuki Kita, "wind, shining, 2007"
"Can you hear the voices of the wind?
Can you see the colour of the wind?"

Michelle Le Grand, "shuttle"

art "pimped" by a brasilian girl in the background :-)
Richard Byrnes, "aroundandaround"
"Lives. planets and circumstances all go round and around"

Chi Phan, "lift, plonk"
"For the live you lived, the memories you left, the mother you were, this is for you."

verschiedene verschoenerte "Trimm-dich-Geraete" entlang des Walks...
Keith Chidzey, "body beautiful"
"These sculptures are a response to the often inappropriate Anglo-European intervention on the land, and our obsessions with the fitness industry."

view on Tamarama Beach/Bay

(almost) sunset on Tamarama Beach


Steffi & Elena taking a picture of what? Correct! A lemon tree...what did you think...eeeasy :-0
Irene Hoppenberg (Germany), "lemon tree"
"Lemon Tree is a project where I transform colour into a 3D form. Yellow represents light. For me th elemons are a symbol of the southern countries and the sun."

Tchja, wer aus Deutschland stammt, der kennt eben das Problem mit der fehlenden Sonne... ;-)

Mitsuo Takeuchi, "transfiguration "link" xx"
"This is an experiment in which I am expressing the concepts of position and visible topologies as one substance."

another life guard on his duty
Sam Deal, "on the lookout"
"I express the relationship between art, science and technology through kinetic sculpture."

Stephen Paul Coburn, "hunter valley sun"
"Represents growth under the sunin the valley. Please draw your own conclusions."

Marguerite Derricourt, "arboretum"
Arboretum: a grove of trees, drawn in a continuous line through which one may see the ocean and the sky. A memory of the South Coast holiday."


one of my "delivering a message favorites: messing with the Kyoto protocol (Australia didn't sign it but it is an issue in the ongoing election campaign)
Joachim van den Hurk, "formal rags"
"Three precious rags printed with Kyoto protocol blowing in the wind attached by a red life line. An artists statement for the benefit of mankind's enviroment."

one one my favorites as well but it's been so extremly hard to get this one on my camera without people staring in it...

Julia Adzuki & Mark Szulgit, "fossil"
Fossil is composed of sedimentary layers containing the engraved trace of a fictitious aquatic growth. A memory of our rapidly depleting (dezimieren, verringern) ecosystem due to climate change."

it took me around 15 Minutes...

until there were only 3 people around. So I asked them if the could step back for a second....but it was worth it...I believe.

Mic "Jumping" Tamarama Beach

...to have dinner at the beach pool afterwards.
What a brilliant day!

...morgen ist erst mal Melbourne Cup (link), was australienweit eine Art special day ist. So treffen wir uns irgendwo und schauen von 2-5 den Pferderennen zu - bezahlt versteht sich :-0
Das ist auch das Gute an dem Anzug...wieder Geld zu verdienen. Lieben werde ich ihn wohl nie und hier in Australien gibt es eben soooo viele Alternativen schoen durchs Leben zu kommen, z.B. Tauch-, Sky divelehrer oder auf irgendeinem Kreuzfahrtschiff arbeiten...wird aber bestimmt auch irgendwann langweilig....alles also soweit OK.

Verkuerze meinen Job aber ziemlich sicher um 2 Monate auf Ende Januar (wie teils schon erwaehnt). Parke dann meinen Krempel bei nem Kumpel (Vince), schulter den leichten Rucksack und nehme noch Neuseeland (evtl. Tasmanien) und Melbourne mit. Ueberlege, ob ich dann die Great Ocean Road nach Sydney zuruecktrampe...will mich vorher allerdings noch bewerben...

:-)

Luv ya!

First days in Sydney

I already got in touch with Nadine (I met her on the CeBit 07 and we found out that we're in Sydney at the same time) so I could sleep 2 nights at her place...she lived in a large room with own kitchen/bathroom in a pool/guest house of some CEO.
I met the whole family ones (who turned out to be very nice) and considered asking them if I could move in after Nadine left but although the room was relatively cheap (150$/week) I preferred people around me rather than paying a cheap price, be more or less on my own and get woken up on weekends by the kid playing basketball early in the morning.

FeeBee vs. CEO Bentley (and 196x Corvette) *g* nice contrast!

I stayed for two days and then had a look at the reisebine hostel guide (I highly recommend this German page to everyone who intends to spent some time in Australia) and choose to go to Sydney's oldest suburb - Glebe and the Glebe Village Backpacker.

Glebe's name derives from the fact that the land on which it was developed was a glebe, originally owned by the Anglican church. 'The Glebe' was a land grant of 400 acres given by Govenor Arthur Phillip to Reverend Richard Johnson, Chaplain of the First Fleet, in 1790. Glebe was also home to a first grade football team in the New South Wales Rugby League (now the National Rugby League). The Glebe Dirty Reds were - as I heard - the first rugby team in Australia, relatively successful but got (unfairly?!?) excluded from the league in 1930.

The hostels totally matched my expectation with a large outdoor meeting area, BBQ days, a comfy TV room, a bed and most important nice people.

My mission for the upcoming days: Have fun with the people and find a shared accommodation (the hostel charges 140$/week for being in a 10!!! bed dorm). I signed up for the close by library for a 1,50$ and got 2 hours of internet every day in return (all day if you just wanna research and don't access mail/upload pictures). Looking at gumtree, domain.com.au and flatmates.com.au, writing down the basic facts and possible questions with the phone number and call the landlords for sightings and finally drive there. Finding a (resonable) place to stay is crap in almost all parts of the world, I reckon.

It took me 3 full days with a lot of ups and downs to find my current place but I paused every second day for some fun and relaxation. I even - as I found out later - ended up in Australia's biggest comedy show called "Chaser's war on everything" when they did some shots on the rental crisis in Sydney. I went to the sighting, a woman opened the door and a guy showed me around. When we went to the bathroom they showed me the bath top with a blanket and a pillow in it and said that this was supposed to be the sleeping place. There was another option outside next to the dryer...but I actually considered the little shed outside as sort of a last option....and seriously I've seen worse places. They toped it by a guy in a room pretending to throw up after a hard night out...but as a former backpacker you're kind of used to those situations. I got a strange feeling about this sighting but my guess was it might be a research project for the close by university. The woman called me after I drove a couple meters and explained the situation so I went back. Her behavior afterwards can be described as focusing on getting my signature to be able to publish it. She promised to notify me if they broadcast it...but as I said she probably would have said anything. I found out later that this promise didn't match the show's policies which didn't surprise me at all. After that I went back to the hostel and told the story. Cause I could cross another sighting of my list due to the same phone number I tried to find people to bust the show in telling'em a really great story (something like a girl goes in and tell'em that she's having gang bangs but inviting the house mates to join in) and then negotiate about the payment afterwards. Usually they pay 50 bucks

...but for a great shot I was sure they'd pay more. Unfortunately none of the girls/boys around didn't have the guts/time to earn quick money...
Anyway...you can see the whole 3rd October show here (Video). If you're wondering why I actually lay down...they cut out the parts where they were trying to get me in and I did it more for the sake of it...but it looks funny ;-)


We went to a quiz in a bar and won! a bar tab against aaaaall those other teams...cross cultural knowledge and a group of 10 helps ;-)

The other day we heard from a "secret" myspace sponsored "Digitalism" gig (they're German and made songs for "Daft Punk"). What a queue! At least myspace spent some money on goodies for us.

getting there

the queue

group picture

Having fun

some first impressions when I was wondering around Sydney...

Hyde Park Sydney with a little photo art exhibition
(I cross it every morning on my way to work)

Hyde Park fountain

Sydney Sky Tower (view from Hyde park)


figuring out where to go the next day (Allianz Australia at Darling harbour)

Fairfax view on Allianz

passing the pedestrian bridge with a street art event

I finally found a nice place to stay in Palmer St., Darlinghurst (next to the Ferrari/Maserati dealer on William Street. Pepe (the landlord)...

...asked me whether I'm up to go to the Spanish Festival at Darling Harbour with him and two Columbian girls. Sunshine, good food and something to do...Why not?

Marcella (she hardly speaks/understands any English by now) and me

nice show

Samba!

I think I jumped into the Harbour (link) at the very same weekend/day on Saturday night. After that I discovered a bit more about this place by spending some evenings with my (former) room mates (Steffi, Jens, Kevin)...

...and wondering around Sydney:

Mic @ Royal Botanic Gardens (where our IT Christmas party'll be)

what a view!

just really nice

where I witnessed an asian Wedding for about 15 minutes until the sealing kiss :-)
(Romantic but pretty public and probably expensive)

but back to Harbour Bridge and Opera

Mic sitting on Mrs Macquarie's Chair

Mrs Macquarie's Chair is an exposed sandstone rock cut into the shape of a bench, on a peninsula in Sydney Harbour, hand carved by convicts from sandstone in 1810 for Governor Macquarie's wife Elizabeth. The peninsula itself is named Mrs Macquarie's Point. It is part of the Royal Botanic Gardens, at the end of Mrs Macquarie's Road. Mrs Macquarie was the wife of Major-General Lachlan Macquarie, Governor of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821. Folklore has it that she used to sit on the rock and watch for ships from England sailing into the harbour. She was known to visit the area and sit enjoying the panoramic views of the harbour (even though it was way before the Harbour Bridge and Opera were built).

first resumee: I love Sydney!

what I definately do not love though is the parking situation. There is no free parking! All suburbs around the CBD (Central Business District) got signs who prohibit parking during a certain time of a day (usually in the morning). Pepe said it won't be a problem...for a week. Then I got my first parking ticket: 79$!
What to do? I noticed that brave FeeBee needs to hit the road again...with another backpacker...

...first I had to park her somewhere free of tickets...and the only 24 hour free parking spot in Sydney which is close to the centre is the car park of the Cricket?!? Stadium just a footwalk away from Kings Cross. I spoke to the staff and just didn't want me to park there for month...

...due to not having the time to properly fix FeeBee or even go to a mechanic I decided to give the Kings Cross (backpacker) Car Market a go and booked me in for 80 bucks (1 week). Additionally you should get a pink (car is ok) or white slip (car needs some fixing)

but I didn't have the time for that either (would have been white anyway).

I spent the whole Saturday in this - how backpackers call it - "dungeon" or "hell" waiting for customers and chatting to other (more or less frustarated) sellers.

Nothing happened. But we all had camping gear what made it a bit comfortable.

On Sunday I left after 1 hour cause I figured that most backpackers are rather concerned about their Saturday night hangover than buying a car. Therefore I left a description and some other marketing notes as well as price and my phone number on the car. If people are interested despite the front dint they will call me anyway I thought.

And they did. 3 evenings in a row I went down to the 2nd level (5th level is the exit) to have a chat with the now well known other sellers and to promote my FeeBee.

On Friday I had 2 Germans interested (who just bought a car, didn't fully pay it and crash it on the way out of Sydney after three days....yep...there is worse situations than mine...) and a french couple (who already testdrived it. They showed up after the "official trading hours" and we had a chat, even about the price...but he tried to push it to hard so I locked the car and was about to go upstairs cause we were already asked to leave (to pay another week). But then...the frenchies agreed on the compromide price...we did the formal stuff and I walked back a couple of 100$ bills in my pocket...

...to come back to next day for leaving my note on the car market roof and for bringing in the case of beer (I bought Goon). There were some other happy sellers around so we drank, went upstairs on a table (we had to leave again) to finally end up in a hostel at Kings Cross with a brilliant view on the rooftop...


after all I lost 3.300$ on the car experience which is pretty equivalent to a total crash BUT I could still drive her and yes it's been expensive but for the time I had her she was still cheaper than a stupid crappy wicked camper! Good karma will come back...some time!

Luv ya FeeBee!

And...

Good Luck to all upcoming sellers and buyers of "the dungeon"!