It is a bank holiday today so ... I had to go to work. (?!!)
You see, I was able to stay home the past few public holidays (Easter Monday - 5 April; Anzac Day holiday - 26 April; Queen's birthday - 14 June) so today was my turn to go to office. Previously, my other officemates had to 'man the shop.'
Fortunately, we are only supposed to report for half a day and they are not very strict about what time you arrive, as long as you are able to complete the work to be done. So although I was at Sydney before 9am, I decided to hang around the Queen Victoria Building and enjoy the sights and sounds there.
I waited for the Royal Clock to strike 9. I was hoping to see the moving display but unfortunately there wasn't any. (I still hope to catch it another time.)
As you can see in the picture above, it is exactly 9:00 am,
Monday the 2nd of the month.
Check out the ship located about on the lower left side of the photo below the number 31.
The ship is the clock's "second hand" and it takes a minute for it to go around the clock.
It is now 9:01 am. The ship has moved after a couple of seconds.
It is now between the numbers 2 and 3.
In spite the 'no show' of the clock display, I still feel that the visit to QVB was worth it.
I was able to see the dioramas around the clock. I was able to hear the bells ring nine times. I was able to see the discs around the clock rotate slowly. But most of all, I was able to see the ship that 'sailed' around the clock and completed its rotation in one minute's time.
Below are the first five of the fifteen dioramas. I have yet to find the other ten.
1/15 -- Aborigines before White settlement.
2/15 -- Captain Cook's landing 1770
3/15 -- Second Fleet Landing 1790
4/15 -- Crossing of the Blue Mountains 1813
5/15 -- The Taking of the Children
No comments:
Post a Comment