My Sydney Trip - Part One

Last week I went to Sydney for a few days. The main purpose of the trip was to watch my children perform. Husband came too and we managed to sneak in a couple of touristy things as well.

The trip got me thinking about entertainment. It seems that, as long as humans have existed, they have sought out and engaged in entertainment. As a species we love to watch and play sports, create and listen to or read stories, draw and paint and look at Art, dance, sing and act. The forms of entertainment around these days bear little resemblance to those of our early ancestors but they still fulfil that need we have.

The touristy things Husband and I did were, in some cases, forms of entertainment. We walked around Darling Harbour, went to Madame Tussaud’s, wandered around the Powerhouse Museum and went to the top of the Sydney Tower.

Yesterday I went on a hypothetical journey about what would happen if stores engaged in enormous boycotts. That, however, is not really what Footprints is all about. It’s about what my family is doing to live as ethically as possible. Today I want to look at some of what we did and how ethical it was. I’m going to specifically focus on the places listed above.

I really liked Darling Harbour. What I liked the most were the fountains. There was one in particular where jets of water on both sides created an archway of water. As I admired them I wondered whether they used a pump to minimize water consumption. I then thought, however, if they did, that the pump probably used electricity. Husband suggested that evaporation would mean periodic topping up of the water. The fountain was going to be there whether I was or not. Furthermore, since I wasn’t consuming it, my admiration of it was not leading to any supply and demand. I figured that my coming to Darling Harbour and admiring it would have no impact whatsoever.

Husband was lukewarm on Madame Tussaud’s. It was purely my idea. I wanted to go there at least once in my life and thought that Sydney was the one I was most likely to be able to get to. Why wait and never end up going? I don’t have a bucket list but going to Madame Tussaud’s felt like it was something I could say I’d done in my life. It far exceeded our expectations. It was so much fun. Husband ended up having a ball. Photography with the wax models was encouraged and props were provided. I suspect the whole thing was an environmental no-no. There were lights and loud music. Furthermore, all that wax and paint can’t be good. To be honest, I’d do it again. A big cross on the Footprints report card for that one. There would be supply and demand with Madame Tussaud’s. It is a ticketed place; it stays open because people visit it. By going and admitting I’d go again I’m contributing to the problem.

Another day we spent several happy hours in the Powerhouse museum. Museums are interesting. They do use electricity and preservation chemicals. However, not only do they entertain us, they teach us. I learnt so much at the Powerhouse Museum it made my head spin. Jury’s still out on this one. I’m loathe to write anything negative about visiting museums; I’m a History major.

Sydney Tower! Once up there it’s a panoramic view of Sydney. It’s really only the short 4D cinema experience and the lifts that I can find to condemn. So I was happy with the experience from a Footprints point of view. Furthermore, we travelled there by monorail which was running regardless of whether we were on it or not. We wanted to do so because it’s going to be disbanded. When we finished at the Tower we walked back to our apartment.

What I also found interesting about our trip in terms of entertainment was how much more we used our computers or watched TV in our apartment there. Since we weren’t working – either at work or around the house – when we were having down time at the apartment Husband and I sat on our devices plugged into Facebook. In all fairness, there were pictures of the children’s adventures being regularly uploaded. Nevertheless, the amount of device charging we did exceeded what we’d do at home. Oh dear.

Cheers.