COCKATOO ISLAND
The following weekend was my birthday take 2, a camping trip with 10 of us on Cockatoo Island. I finish work at 2.30 on Fridays and so raced over to Circular Quay to catch the 3.07 ferry to the island along with Carrie Ann, Emma and Camille. Emma arrived in Australia only the day before and Camille had been in New Zealand since our last camping trip in March. You aren't allowed to take your own booze to Cockatoo Island. Something to do with licensing laws. So of course we came up with inventive ways of smuggling it in. Sarah at work had advised me to hide a bottle in a hollowed out loaf of bread, whilst the others had hidden bags of wine in the bottom of cereal packets. Expecting a full bag search, we were rather disappointed when we were just waved through to our tents. We made ourselves at home then went for an explore of the island. It was bizarre... Views of the harbour bridge mixed with industrial boat building buildings, convict relics, rusted cranes and huge derelict warehouses.
Everyone else begun to arrive in dribs and drabs. First up were Fraser and Will. As I had smuggled the gin in, Will only had mixers, but Fraser had a bottle of rum. And unfortunately for him, the daytime staff had gone home and the night guards were on duty. And they checked your bags. Very thoroughly. Frasers booze was found and confiscated although he was told he'd get it back at the end of our stay. He quickly sent a message out to everyone else not to bother as if you had it, they WOULD find it! Unfortunately Oli didn't get the message and went through the humiliation of the guard finding not one, not two, not three, but 4 bottles hidden in his bag. And every time he found one, he would ask is that everything and every time, Oli answered back "yes mate, that's the last one" only for the guy to rummage a little deeper, pluck out a bottle and say "what's this then" and repeat the whole process.
By 7ish, everyone had arrived, and we congregated at the only bar at the island that's open after 5pm, but still closes at 7.30. With everyone accounted for, we headed back to our camp area for a BBQ dinner. We had all bought something for the BBQ, although no one had brought BBQ implements. Undeterred, we made do with what we had a fork.
On the Saturday we had a guided tour of the island which was brilliant. Ghost stories, convict prisons, and asbestos were just a few of the many topics our friendly guide covered. The tour conveniently finished at the wine bar on the hill, so of course we got a few bottles of bubbly and a cheeseboard, and took in the view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Next up was a tour of the Art Biennale, an exhibition of Australian artists work, located across Sydney but most of the works are on Cockatoo Island. There were some awesome pieces, but the guide wasn't all that inspiring so we left the tour and made our own way round. A few people accidentally got lost and ended up in the bar, however a few of us persevered to see all the works. Highlights included a room of swinging pendulums, a room with made beds and string, a room of massive pencil drawings, and a room with a row of life size plaster cast naked Indian prostitutes. The buildings with art works were dotted around the island and it felt rather like a treasure hunt.
More wine at the top bar and more wine at the lower bar, and a surprise of some birthday muffins, everyone singing happy birthday and birthday hats later, it was time for food and then bed, extremely early at 10.30!! Before turning in for the night, me and Will went on a stroll through the scary tunnel and around the deserted headland. Suitably terrified, we headed to bed, where Will found and promptly 'got rid of', a massive spider.
On Sunday we chilled, making another spectacular BBQ breakfast of bacon, eggs and avo sandwiches, walking round the island and having a cheeseboard lunch before taking the ferry back to mainland Sydney. We all headed to Bondi for an afternoon of surfing and lazing on the beach. What a brilliant weekend!!!
Thanks to Holly for some of the pics.