Our First Free Day

April 26
Sydney
Mostly sunny and mild

We were awakened twice during the night by the hotel fire alarm. It's a little different than what I've experienced in the States; the alarm sounds in the room as well as in the halls, and one then hears a voice saying that the fire alarm system has been activated and the hotel guests should stand by. So, one has time enough to throw a few clothes on and retrieve the passport and money. After a few minutes, the sound changes from a beep to a wail, and the voice instructs the guest to evacuate.

The first alarm was at 3:30am. After getting downstairs, we waited outside for just a moment before the firefighters arrived, and then a little while longer before they gave the all-clear for us to return to our rooms. The firefighters said that someone was probably smoking and set off the alarm.

We were all awakened again around 6am. The drill was more or less the same, but then they discovered smoke coming from an electrical closet on the third floor, and kept us out while they checked it out and let the smoke dissipate. They shut down the suspicious air conditioning unit and stuck around for a while to make sure that there was not anything else going on. WE all got to go back to our rooms around 6:45 but like many of the students, I just stayed up and started my day. My guess is that we'll have some repair guys in the building soon.

As my lovely wife will attest, this is not my first experience with hotel fire alarms. But I have to say that the Y Hotel's fire alarm system seems to be more considerate of the guests. Announcing that the alarm has been activated but that we should stand by presumably allows the hotel staff to check out whether an evacuation is truly necessary. That's more than we got at the Holiday Inn at Atlantic City, where my lovely wife and I found ourselves outside in our pajamas on the Boardwalk at midnight -- in January -- with our two children who were very young boys at the time. That time, it turned out that some idiot was smoking in the stairwell and set off the alarm. A whole building evacuated and a fire department called because of a cigarette?!

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I spent the day on laundry, errands for the course, and a walk around the Botanical Gardens. I always get a bit of sticker shock the first time I do laundry over here. The machines are $3 for a load of wash, $3 for dryer time. I bought a box of laundry soap that should last me the course with some left over for my colleague or the students.

In general, the cost of food and other daily needs has risen a troubling amount in the last two years. And since we're much closer to parity between Australian dollars and US dollars, we really feel it more while traveling. The course money is good, and my colleague and I plan on throwing in some extra meals along the way, so the students will be fine. But I can see that it's affecting the Australians; the economy is a constant topic on the news. There are two forces driving food prices here at the moment: the price of oil; and the severe drought affecting much of the country's breadbasket. So, Australians are hunkering down for a rough patch.

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The Botanical Garden was very pleasant. The weather has improved, so a lot of folks were out walking, picnicking, playing rugby or Frisbee, and generally enjoying the return of good weather. We arrived at the tail end of a two-week period of dreary skies and showers. It was good for filling the catchments and easing the drought, but the gloom was foreign to Sydney; it's tuned to sunshine.

The flying fox colony in the Gardens put on a very good show for the camera bugs. They were squabbling and flying about. Though they are classified as bats, they are neither nocturnal nor carnivorous, preferring to eat eucalyptus blossoms and/or farmer's fruit. A couple of them even obliged flying about for a moment so that I could get a good couple of photos. We'll see how they turn out.

It is now the morning of the 27th; we will leave in a little while for Canberra. The course is off to a very good start. The students are good traveling companions: not too many problems, and when problems have come up they've let me know right away. Of course, sometimes there's nothing I can do, but it's still good for me to be in the information loop. And they've acquitted themselves well also, doing what we've asked of them with little complaint. I am very happy to have this group traveling with me.

On to Canberra!