ZOOtastic update
Big weekend. So Saturday my roommate, Meg, and I were cultured and went to the Queensland Museum, the Modern Art Gallery, and City Botanic Gardens (not to be confused with the Botanic GarDEN, the one closer to my apartment). The museum was a museum - four floors, a lot of Australasian historical artifacts and goodies. We met two kids from UMass Amherst in the elevator, which just means that this world is entirely too small for four massholes to meet in an elevator on the other side planet.
The Modern Art Gallery was really great. Everything was late 19thC and onward. It was interesting to get away from the typical American modern artists and see some names that I had never seen before. A lot of Pollock-inspired pieces from 20thC painters, some Aboriginal art, and reflections of Aborigines, and my favorite - an entire exhibit for the Spike Jonze/Chris Cunningham/Michel Gondry music video DVDs that just came out. I heard the Kylie Minogue song “Come Into My World” and figured they were just blasting it because she’s an Aussie, but then I saw the video, walked in and saw 3 huge screens, and tons of TVs playing all the videos that these guys made. Little kids and elderly alike watching Christopher Walken tap dance through a hotel. It totally made my day. That and the Australian culture crap.
The gardens were gardens. Not much to say except that they were gorgeous.
Sunday I went to the AUSTRALIAN ZOO AKA THE STEVE IRWIN CROCODILE HUNTER ZOO. By far the most exhilarating thing I’ve done thus far. Kangaroos are the laziest animals in the world (second only, perhaps, to the koala, which I’ll mention momentarily). You can walk right up to them and pet them like the huge overgrown rabbits they are. And the mamas’ pouches are certainly not the pleasant design we’ve been accustomed to seeing in animation. It’s a HOLE that the joey CRAWLS into and partially sticks out of. After being totally gross, it’s really amazing. I also pet a koala, but no hugging today. You can only hold them at the Lone Pine Sanctuary, which I’m still trying to get my butt over to. But I found out that koalas do NOT like to be touched above the hips. That’s the no-no spot, apparently. So yeah, next time you meet a koala, pet his bum - he’ll appreciate it. Other discoveries: Wombats are guinea pigs on steroids. Steve Irwin does NOT hang out at the zoo all the time. And crocodiles are just misunderstood sweethearts.
After the zoo, we hit up the Sunshine Coast. If you’ll recall, I went to the Gold Coast a few weeks back. The Gold Coast is to the Sunshine Coast what Nantucket is to the rest of the Cape. It was a good handful of hours. I’m working on my “tan,” and by “tan” I mean Don’t Worry, I Realize I’m Coming Home Pale.
Keep checking http://groups.msn.com/KTDinAustralia for pictures. For some reason I can’t upload pictures to it even from my own laptop, so my dad is doing it for me because he’s awesome. So the 20 or so pictures of kangaroos should be up in a day or two.
Friday night I am going to see “The Real Inspector Hound” (Tom Stoppard) and “Black Comedy” (Peter Shaffer). I’m hoping to pee my pants. Speaking of pants, there’s another play, “The Underpants,” adapted by Steve Martin. It’s about pre-WWI Germany, and a woman who drops her pants during a parade. I’ll probably get tickets to that, too.
What have you been doing lately?
At least I’m not in Kregland,
kt
The Modern Art Gallery was really great. Everything was late 19thC and onward. It was interesting to get away from the typical American modern artists and see some names that I had never seen before. A lot of Pollock-inspired pieces from 20thC painters, some Aboriginal art, and reflections of Aborigines, and my favorite - an entire exhibit for the Spike Jonze/Chris Cunningham/Michel Gondry music video DVDs that just came out. I heard the Kylie Minogue song “Come Into My World” and figured they were just blasting it because she’s an Aussie, but then I saw the video, walked in and saw 3 huge screens, and tons of TVs playing all the videos that these guys made. Little kids and elderly alike watching Christopher Walken tap dance through a hotel. It totally made my day. That and the Australian culture crap.
The gardens were gardens. Not much to say except that they were gorgeous.
Sunday I went to the AUSTRALIAN ZOO AKA THE STEVE IRWIN CROCODILE HUNTER ZOO. By far the most exhilarating thing I’ve done thus far. Kangaroos are the laziest animals in the world (second only, perhaps, to the koala, which I’ll mention momentarily). You can walk right up to them and pet them like the huge overgrown rabbits they are. And the mamas’ pouches are certainly not the pleasant design we’ve been accustomed to seeing in animation. It’s a HOLE that the joey CRAWLS into and partially sticks out of. After being totally gross, it’s really amazing. I also pet a koala, but no hugging today. You can only hold them at the Lone Pine Sanctuary, which I’m still trying to get my butt over to. But I found out that koalas do NOT like to be touched above the hips. That’s the no-no spot, apparently. So yeah, next time you meet a koala, pet his bum - he’ll appreciate it. Other discoveries: Wombats are guinea pigs on steroids. Steve Irwin does NOT hang out at the zoo all the time. And crocodiles are just misunderstood sweethearts.
After the zoo, we hit up the Sunshine Coast. If you’ll recall, I went to the Gold Coast a few weeks back. The Gold Coast is to the Sunshine Coast what Nantucket is to the rest of the Cape. It was a good handful of hours. I’m working on my “tan,” and by “tan” I mean Don’t Worry, I Realize I’m Coming Home Pale.
Keep checking http://groups.msn.com/KTDinAustralia for pictures. For some reason I can’t upload pictures to it even from my own laptop, so my dad is doing it for me because he’s awesome. So the 20 or so pictures of kangaroos should be up in a day or two.
Friday night I am going to see “The Real Inspector Hound” (Tom Stoppard) and “Black Comedy” (Peter Shaffer). I’m hoping to pee my pants. Speaking of pants, there’s another play, “The Underpants,” adapted by Steve Martin. It’s about pre-WWI Germany, and a woman who drops her pants during a parade. I’ll probably get tickets to that, too.
What have you been doing lately?
At least I’m not in Kregland,
kt