Circular Quay, on The Rocks
Here's a little Sydney City tour for you — an afternoon in Circular Quay (pronounced "key") watching the buskers work their magic, followed by a quick tour of "The Rocks" (a seedy little part of town turned semi-touristy).
Circular Quay
It takes us about 10 minutes by train (once we're on it) to get to the Circular Quay stop in downtown Sydney. It's where all the ferry boats go in and out for the commuters and tourists, so it's a busy little hub — which makes it the perfect place to make money if you're a busker.
View of the Quay from the train station; that's the Harbour Bridge in the first photo (H: note the solar powered boat!), and the Opera House in the second:
Looking back on the city from the Quay:
As luck would have it, there happened to be a juggler performing that afternoon — with fire, nonetheless. He was ruthless with sarcasm, and drew a simple act out to an hour with his humour and witty tongue. Some parts were slow as a result, but we still stayed the whole hour for the finale and gave him a few bucks at the end. You'll see why as you scroll down the photos to see what he did:
Sword swallowing (with a balloon "sword"):
The Grand Finale: juggling a fire torch, a knife, and an apple while balancing on top of a bike that's on top of a pole being held up by people — and yes, he took bites out of the apple while juggling!
The Rocks
After the juggling show we walked over to The Rocks, Sydney's oldest neighborhood, to check out the outdoor market. It used to be quite the seedy little area (think Pioneer Square in Seattle, back in the days of "Skid Row"), but has been redone and is now clean for tourism. And yes, there are lots of rocks — not to mention Australia's oldest pub.
Cadman's Cottage, in Circular Quay, on the edge of the Rocks.
Walking around The Rocks, eating corn on a stick and checking out the outdoor market (pretty touristy, not very exciting compared to other neighborhood markets):
After this we went to Hyde Park — to juggle, of course! No fire for us today though. Just regular clubs and balls.
(Psssst: Don't tell Crash, but I secretly want to play baseball with the juggling clubs and juggling balls some day. The temptation is strong, but that's a big no-no in the juggling scene. I'd hate to cause a scandal so early in our Australian circus careers.)
Circular Quay
It takes us about 10 minutes by train (once we're on it) to get to the Circular Quay stop in downtown Sydney. It's where all the ferry boats go in and out for the commuters and tourists, so it's a busy little hub — which makes it the perfect place to make money if you're a busker.
View of the Quay from the train station; that's the Harbour Bridge in the first photo (H: note the solar powered boat!), and the Opera House in the second:
Looking back on the city from the Quay:
As luck would have it, there happened to be a juggler performing that afternoon — with fire, nonetheless. He was ruthless with sarcasm, and drew a simple act out to an hour with his humour and witty tongue. Some parts were slow as a result, but we still stayed the whole hour for the finale and gave him a few bucks at the end. You'll see why as you scroll down the photos to see what he did:
Sword swallowing (with a balloon "sword"):
The Grand Finale: juggling a fire torch, a knife, and an apple while balancing on top of a bike that's on top of a pole being held up by people — and yes, he took bites out of the apple while juggling!
The Rocks
After the juggling show we walked over to The Rocks, Sydney's oldest neighborhood, to check out the outdoor market. It used to be quite the seedy little area (think Pioneer Square in Seattle, back in the days of "Skid Row"), but has been redone and is now clean for tourism. And yes, there are lots of rocks — not to mention Australia's oldest pub.
Cadman's Cottage, in Circular Quay, on the edge of the Rocks.
Walking around The Rocks, eating corn on a stick and checking out the outdoor market (pretty touristy, not very exciting compared to other neighborhood markets):
After this we went to Hyde Park — to juggle, of course! No fire for us today though. Just regular clubs and balls.
(Psssst: Don't tell Crash, but I secretly want to play baseball with the juggling clubs and juggling balls some day. The temptation is strong, but that's a big no-no in the juggling scene. I'd hate to cause a scandal so early in our Australian circus careers.)
posted by ~a at 4/30/2006 09:47:00 pm
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