Australia 2010 - 2nd post

I woke up by the sun shining through my window. I jumped out of my bed and rushed out on my balcony with panorama view. The sky was clear, the temperature was just perfect and the city had woken up from its sleep and had just started to move. This was sure going to be a beautiful day. I ate an extraordinary breakfast at the hotel, went back to my room and brushed my teeth, made sure that I’d got my money, camera and all that other stuff, and I was ready to go.

Because this city, with almost as many inhabitants as Norway itself, has so much to offer you don’t have time to visit all the attractions or do all the things you want to. Therefore, I decided to visit the market at the dockside and visit the world famous Sydney Opera House. 

I walked down to the market at the dockside, The Bondi Beach Market, since it was just a 15 min. walk from the hotel I’m staying at. When I came down at the market I was overwhelmed over how huge it was! It was stands everywhere where they sold everything you could imagine and cooked delicious food. I could easily have spent a whole day here.

I was walking around at the market for about three hours I think. Both locals and tourists seem to visit the market, and today it was crowded. However, I had a great time.  I ate kangaroo and crocodile meat and different kind’s Australian food and at 11 o’clock a group of aboriginals was playing indigenous Australian music. I was told that one of them was Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, a well known indigenous performer who sings in the Yolŋu Matha languages, which is a language used by some aboriginals.

After I’d walked through the whole market and had a look at and tasted some of the food, I realized that Australia hasn’t got their “own” food since those who settled here brought the food they used to eat in their own countries.

For about 40 000 years ago, before the Europeans came to Australia, they natives ate what we can call bush food (food you can find in the nature; meat, berries, plants etc.).  Later, in the 18^th century, Australia was introduced to food from the British Isles. In the 19^th and 20^th century the Australian cuisine was influenced by Mediterranean and Asian cuisine, brought by immigrants to Australia. In brief we can say that the Australian cuisine is a product of the colonization and the globalization.

As I mentioned, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu was performing at the market. People gathered around them, and I must confess that I’ve never heard such lively music in my entire life. They were singing on their original language and they were playing on instruments like the didgeridoo, a hollow log who’s between 60 and 240 cm long. I couldn’t resist, and actually bought one myself. They’re so awesome!

I also visited the Sydney Opera House, but it wasn’t that great. Of course the construction is pretty cool, but there were way too many tourists there for me, so I didn’t stay long.

See you later guys!