Cockatoo Island

Today, Rel and I went to Cockatoo Island because I thought it would be good to take advantage of his one week travelpass before it ran out.

One gets there by Sydney Ferries. It was quite sunny when we set out from Central. When we arrived at Circular Quay, we discovered that we'd just missed a ferry. We spent 40min eating bread, refilling our water bottles and watching some men work on small metal motorboats. Some were spraying something onto the water; we speculated that perhaps some oil spillage had occurred and they didn't want it forming a slick, since that would likely end poorly for aquatic life.

Just as we were going to head back to Wharf 5, the rain started pelting down, as it is wont to do on very hot, cloudy days. It dropped the temperature nicely.

The ferry was a little late. Cockatoo Island was the second stop, after King St Wharf. There are many fancy-looking paddleboats docked there, I'd never noticed before. The crew member laughed at us when we asked if that stop was Cockatoo Island; Rel was right in saying that it looked nothing like an island!

On arrival at Cockatoo Island, it was once again hot and sunny. Rel thought it would be best if we went looking for the cache first, so we did, making our way to the SW part of the island.

On the way there, we passed the camping area and saw some really big rusty .. things, two decomissioned cranes, and Rel exclaimed at how big the ants were. (They were normal sized.) We climbed some steps and ate some more of the bread I'd bought ($10 worth!)

Asked the people working on the plants where the Military Guardhouse was. Turns out we were going to head in entirely the wrong direction, so it is just as well that we asked. It turns out it's a sandstone building with no roof, and holes in the wall to shoot out of. Apparently it was built such that the guards could barricade themselves in there and shoot at the prisoners should there be an uprising. It's so true, Australia's past is full of convicts.

Spent quite some time there trying to figure out where the cache was. It turned out to be hidden behind a barrier fence (the large gaps of which I slipped through, to Rel's amusement) in what appeared to be temporary stack of sandstone. There was also a seagull nest there, with three small speckled eggs coloured much like my glow-in-the-dark dice. Rel had much fun taunting the bird, which shrieked loudly at us, as if that was going to do anything.

Finished the caching duties just as the rain started. After taking a few pictures of the angry bird and its eggs, we headed back towards the camping grounds (and thus, the ferry), when hail started to fall. Not unexpected, I suppose, given how hot it had been around noon. Then it started pouring rain, so we ducked into a tunnel that had been turned into an air raid shelter. The tram rails that held it up were numbered, and the tunnel had a nice breeze blowing through it.

We realised we weren't going to make the ferry; I really didn't want to walk through the rain. I had an umbrella, but Rel didn't, and I disliked the idea that he might get sick from it. So we sat/chatted/snoozed on the bench at the far side for a short while, waiting for the rain to stop. When it did, we continued exploring, since we had some 40min left before the ferry was going to think about showing up.

Walked over some stone that had water seeping down through it, and air bubbles coming out. It was odd to notice such a large body of rock emitting those sounds.

Walked through some really big warehouse/large parts manufacturing buildings. One had what appeared to be a shed inside it. Also walked through the building that the Biennale show had been in. It was empty, of course. The lack of lighting also made it seem really spooky, although Rel was more worried about the structural integrity of the place - there were neat holes seemingly drilled at random through the floorboards, you could see light coming up from the lower level.

Eventually we headed back to the wharf, feet sore and warm from walking. Rel continued to pace a little, since it was noticeably cold when we stopped. By the time the ferry arrived, it was raining again. We caught the round trip, with Circular Quay as the last stop. I dozed, having not slept the night before.

From there, we headed to EGG, but only Subfuture showed up, and I regretted going there after all. We could have been sleeping in a bed, had we decided to head home instead. We headed home earlier than usual.

All in all, the weather turned out to be terrible for exploration purposes, and Cockatoo Island doesn't really have much to see (a lot of it is still under construction; it only ceased its industrial ship making some 10 or so years ago, so I guess it makes sense), but I'm glad we went.