Another outing to see Vivid Sydney 2014

Vivid Sydney 2014 has been on for 2 weeks and I have been telling my husband that we should go see it. The photographs put on the Australia Facebook page looked fab. Last year we ended up going on the last Sunday, it rained and was cold. This year the first week was good, dry and sunny all through the week so I suggested we go then. Also thought going during weekday would be less crowded.  But it seems that I am fated to go when it is cold and wet. 

Well this year we planned to go by train but from one station away, as then we would have the choice of 4 trains in the hour rather than just 2. So we set off at 4 pm with a view to catching the 4 23pm train. I think we got there early and managed to catch the one before. All jumped in, we even found seats and settled in. Normally the train starts off even before you have got comfortable in the seat but today the doors were still open. Soon enough there was an announcement that the delay was due to a police operation. Yes! It does happen to us…… Soon enough there were policemen walking on the platform and through the train. They were looking for someone and while we speculated – wonder if the person they are looking for got on here? Or did they get news that there was a suspect on the train from earlier stations? Would we see someone running? Craned out necks to see outside and catch glimpse of what was happening in this police action. It seems we were the only ones interested, shows our sheltered lifestyle!

After 5 minutes, the police walked away without any drama of dragging someone away in cuffs and off we went. There was a couple sitting next to us and both were on…. Yes you guessed … their iPhones. The lady was checking her mail or playing games, while the husband got a call. Soon there was a break in the network and he kept saying to his caller that he could not understand as the voice was breaking up. Am not sure who he was talking to as the phone was off and then his wife spoke up that of course we were going through a tunnel. Now there is a minuscule tunnel effect in that stretch of the line. Now a sensible person who knows that you are on a train and network is not good, when cut off, will wait for a while till you get off the train to call back. However the person kept calling back every couple of minutes. What could be so important that it could not wait and one braved the flickering network to get the message, a sentence at a time, across? Meanwhile, the lady started calling her kid who had made a few missed calls while the mother was buys playing games. How does asking if child is with friends help? All I can say is within 20 mins I was ready to punch the man out should the phone ring again. 

As we got to Burwood the skies had darkened a lot and down came the rain. And with it my mood went south. When we got out at Wynyard and we had to walk about half mile down to Circular Quay, in the rain. Walked along the quay to towards the bridge end so we could be positioned to see the display on the Opera House when it started at 6 pm. Then realised it was just 5 15 pm and the prospect of standing in the rain for another 45 mins was not welcome. So we jostled our way back up to the top end right by the train and ferry terminal. 

This year they had closed off the road just outside of the whole area and so people could spread out and walk along the roads and the pavements. Last year it was a hazard trail to walk through 10 deep people crowd on the pavements and cars trying to creep along the road. If you did not hold on to the person with you, you could get swallowed up by this pulsating monster. But today, even with the rain and the cold and it being the last Sunday for the light show, the only place you actually locked horns with the tide of humanity was around the ferry terminals when each ferry arrived. 

Since we had very little for lunch, we decided that the waiting time should be best spent having dinner. The whole of the quay area is lined with restaurants and each one had a long queue outside. Everyone had the same thought, sit outside and dine while watching the light show. So we made a beeline for the fish and chips shop there which is very good. There is a big crowd in front and one tries to figure, where exactly is the queue, if there is one? Here you have to order and pay first and they give you a number. Then people just stand crowding around the front waiting for their number to be called. If you are not careful you might be left standing in the same place as people do not even look embarrassed when caught jumping the queue. Indeed this gentleman I tapped just pretended to look bewildered as if queue was an alien concept.

My husband got talking to the chap standing next to him about this strange paying and waiting concept as in UK you pay and get the food at the same time, most likely as everything is cooked. While here each order is cooked once placed and so you have to wait for the piping hot chips. It turned out he was also an immigrant from UK, and actually from just up the road from us! One also had to have keen hearing as the man called out the number and you had to hear it over the din. There is no seating there but we were lucky to find a pillar with no one leaning against it and enjoyed our piping hot food. Once the tummy was full and the big plus of rain stopping we were set to enjoy the Vivid Sydney Show.

 

Bush Walking around Lake Parramatta

It was nice and sunny after a good few cold, wet and dreary days. It is winter now and so the need to have the sun out is important as the dark and cold makes me feel like a sad ice lolly. When the sun is out, it is time to go out and warm up, walk in the park and sit along the river. I had been hearing from my friend that she often goes for a walk along the Lake Parramatta. My husband and I have often talked of checking it out.

 Lake Parramatta

The lake is in North Parramatta and not very far from the Parramatta Park, as we saw on the map. We worked out the route while having lunch, on the back veranda, soaking in the sun. It got pretty hot and the jumper was quickly removed. The lunch was meagre but tasty. I had a vada and my husband had a samosa with nice chai. While it was warm in the sun, the breeze was cold and so donned thinner jumper, jeans and my walking shoes to set off for that walk. Lake Parramatta is situated 2 km from the city centre and has a large bushland and a reserve around it. It is a Y-shaped lake and the bush is fairly dense around it.

“The reserve is now recognised as one of the most significant and beautiful bushland remnants in Western Sydney. Surveys undertaken in 1990 and 2001 identified 67 species of native birds, 12 species of reptile, 5 frog species and 13 native species of mammal, plus several exotic species of birds and mammals, as well as wild flowers, living in the reserve.” (http://www.discoverparramatta.com/places/parklands/lake_parramatta) 

The Lake Parramatta Reserve has got 3 bush walking trails and as I read the brochure and saw the map it looked good. I must say I am an idiot – you know how sometimes you read and think you have read it correctly or indeed even remembered it accurately – for when reading about the trails I got it slightly wrong. The She-Oak track is an easy 1550 m one, the Banksia track is 2450m of moderate walk while the longest Lakeside track is 4200m also of a moderate variety, due to uneven surfaces. Now can you guess what misreading I did? Oh yes! Kind of mixed up the first and the last one and found that out the hard way.

We found the reserve easily and wandered hopefully into the car park. But I forgot that here at weekends all parks are full and parking is not easy unless it is early morning. In Parramatta Park there is a lot of parking along the whole circular path in side but here there was a proper car park at the entrance and it was full in the early afternoon with people not only walking in the bush but also having picnics, boating on the lake and just enjoying lunch in the restaurant. So we had to turn around and go back up the road which dips under the highway and comes out by some residential area.

 

Totems at the entrance to the Lakeside

As we started walking back into the reserve, at the entrance of the road are 3 lovely totem poles and the central one has a big lizard sculpture. When walking down the slope I commented that this is going to be the bit that will be most difficult after the walk. Little did I realise they were prophetic ones. As we came to the car park, the restaurant is on the right and by the grass outside there was a bunch of those sulphur crested cockatoo hoons making a racket. We noticed some seating areas for people to have picnics and a path going past it. My husband said, lets go from here and so we wandered down to the dam which is at this end of the lake. This is the knob end of the Y and from here you think well the lake is not that big. Why does one forget what one knows and has read about the lake and is ready to believe what the eye sees?

The view from across the Dam

The dam is not very big and of course you are not allowed to walk across the rim as that privilege was for the few cormorants occupying it. There was a small arrow indicating that you need to go down to walk across this end of the lake. This is the ‘uneven’ track identified in the brochure. It is just rocks and stepping up and in between them and the roots and saplings and grasses. I complained to my husband that this was supposed to be an easy walk and who thinks this was easy? I was going to find it hard but then maybe this was just to cross the dam area. Stumbled through the trail and across a small crossing of stepping stones set in the stream that was trickling by. I must say the guy who was running over from the other end just nimbly leapt over only half of them while we gave way to him. Then, we crossed gingerly, stepping on each one. If that guy had turned to see us he would have laughed a lot.

Dam across the lake

 Cormorants sunning themselves

The trail continued as uneven as anything and it was important to look at the ground. I was so annoyed at not being able to look around at the views and the trees as I was so busy looking at where I placed each step. It would not do to fall and hurt myself as there was no other way out. You had to go forward after a certain point as you knew the trail you had walked so far was not an easy one. But after a while we decided that it would be good to just stop and look at the surroundings, otherwise it was not going to be an enjoyable experience.

 

 The other end from the dam

We came across many flowers and trees that we had not seen before as this reserve does have many rare flora and fauna. I do not know if it was afternoon that we did not see many birds but did hear them. There was the cackle of the kookaburra and one that sounds like a squeaky wheel (which we always hear in the Blue Mountains). Having reached the opposite side of the dam we had a small sit down on the rocks and took in the tranquillity of the lake and the bush and open skies. At this point, I am thinking it looks like just around the corner and we will be on the way way…… see the illusions of the sight dims the knowledge in the brain. 

 Some colour around

But as we rounded the corner, reality hit as now we were proceeding along the long arm of the Y.  The water way was narrow and you can see the other side. And seeing people walking I think it should not be long to get there. The path was really narrow and full of rocks and pebbles and the ever present roots. Also it seems that some trees had either blown over in high winds or been cut down as there were logs about. One uprooted trees was on its side and the big trunk was left to rot and provide home for insects. The root system exposed stood taller than me. Awestruck! 

We kept meeting people who were doing the trail from the other end and so kept stopping and letting them by or were being let go by them. One can learn about other cultures a lot at such times. I will not identify the cultures but am sure you can take a guess. Some people would nod and smile, some would say thank you as they passed, and in fact the whole group of about 5 – 6 people individually thanked us for giving way to them. Another couple said hello as they passed by. One man with his dog went howdy. One couple actually held their dogs back and stood in front to make sure we did not annoy each other. Two men just walked past talking with not so much as a glance to say thanks for letting us by or even slowing down to see if we did give way. Then there was a group of kids being herded through the bush. The kids were funny, as they were carrying sticks and telling each other to talk loudly to keep the snakes away. Later on one family with young kids was passing by, the older one demanding water while the younger one was moaning about why they could not go slowly and as pretty much within a km of the walk starting.

The Y arm seemed very long and the body was water got narrower and at the bend there were a lot of lily pads. This area also had very long grasses. There were one or two, I presume, Banksias which has evenly serrated long leaves and short dome shaped cones. This end of the walk is actually a rain forest. Considering the amount I was sweating it did feel like that too. The crossing of the creek at the end was again by stepping stones. I think over all it would not be a good idea to come when it is raining as the trail would be muddy and most likely have running rivulets along the paths and these stepping stone crossing would most definitely be under water. Once on the other side of the lake the trail became more of a track to begin (some bits were sandy and shored by planks to form wide steps) and right towards the last kilometre (when we had wandered accidently on to first the Banksia and then She-Oak tracks) it was like a broken road. Oh yes I got told that there was a lot of bedrock about here. The main stone was sandstone and strangely here there was conglomerate too!

 That Banksia I wrote about!

Down this end, the fencing could be seen, as we walked along the sides around the She-Oak track. On the other side of the fence were many small single shoots (maybe saplings) which were covered by black plastic cones. The ground was damp and you could hear the tree frogs having a sing song. The walk had definitely been more than I had bargained for and at this point I was thinking if I could do this a couple more times I might be able to take on the ‘moderate’ track sometimes. It does my heart good to know that I actually did the moderate walk about ¾ of this bush walk. I do feel sorry for the little tots who ever being dragged along by the parents but also heartened to think that unlike some kids I know these would not be strangers to nature. The car park was a welcome site. Just at the end there are a few plaques about the plants and their relationship with the indigenous people.

Yes, that last hill to get to the car was a slow one to be conquered. The legs were achy and heavy but not painful as I might have expected though the sciatica did make itself felt for the rest of the evening and at bed time. Now knowing I had been able to do the moderate walk in something like 2 hours and did not need a week to recover I will definitely attempt it again. Maybe I will see different flowers and spot a bird or two, or glimpse lizards and snakes?

Anaemia joins the Journey of UCTD

I have been so very very lazy in doing the next instalment of my Journey of UCTD. Well this time the delay was not due to ill health but because I was a little better and was catching up on chores and also spend a few hours on a beach. It was so nice to feel the warmth of the late autumn sun with wide blue skies and rolling waves. I had heard about Curl Curl beach from a friend so we decided to visit the place and also the nearby Dee Why beach. Of course one cannot go to the beach and not walk at the edge of the water, wet our feet and have hot hot chips, even if it meant resting for the next day or so.

Well the weather has turned wintery now and am desperately trying to keep warm. So time has come to continue writing. What shall I tackle next? I want to talk about the specific drugs as a separate single blog so maybe I should continue with other symptoms. Oh yes! Just like vitamin D deficiency was identified by chance so was the lowered Hb (haemoglobin). Normally I have an Hb of 12 and suddenly it was down to 9. I was feeling tired and run down, getting breathless with walking any distance and of course the stairs in the house needed girding of the loins to use. But I had not paid any specific attention as by now I was not even able to distinguish symptoms from different issues. Anyway why would I get anaemic?

Well if I had bothered to look a little more closely at the side effects literature for ibuprofen I would have seen that it can lead to anaemia. Of course my GP wants to give me oral iron tablets. I pointed out that my stomach cannot handle the usual iron pills. I get sever gripping pain, sinking feeling and nausea within minutes of taking the tablet. So it was decided that I should have some liquid iron preparation. Now I cannot remember the brand name of the first one I tried. 2 teaspoons every day was the prescribed dose and I found that after taking it for 2 days my stomach started hurting. I took a 1 teaspoon a day and even so it was not a nice experience.

Went back to the GP and complained so I was given another brand to try. This one was even worse. It felt as if I was drinking paint stripper……. I could feel the mucous membrane burn as the liquid touched it. So went back to the GP as there was no way I could take this preparation. I even suggested that injections would be better. But for some reason only known to himself, he refused that and said just take the earlier prescribed liquid iron preparation as and when I could. I am not sure how helpful a teaspoon every couple of days would do to raise the iron levels. The drip feed raised the Hb to 10.5. Oh yea I had 5 vitamin B injections just in case the iron was not being absorbed.

When I came to Australia and settled into life here, my new rheumatologist got the whole blood panel done and found that my Hb was lower than my normal but the ferritin stores were much depleted. (I do not think my ferritin levels were checked in UK) Again the same conversation re oral iron prescriptions….. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. This time I refused to even try any oral medication. He said well it will have to be injection and they are painful. They can cause staining of the skin around the injection site. I said that will be minor discomfort compared to the agony of drinking acid.

So I had 10 X 5 ml injections over a period of year and brought back the levels to normal. Now it gets regularly monitored to make sure the levels do not deplete. There was some concern that the problem lack of iron could be due to poor intake and or poor absorption of it in the small intestine. The Gut men just wanted to go on a fishing expedition in my lower GIT and I said no way. This was in UK and I asked how it was supposed to go up if I am not able to take the medication. How can they even begin to suspect a problem in that case? Well the other one they mumbled about was … oh you might have a GI bleed….. I firmly refused saying give me the medication and if the levels do not rise I will agree to further investigation. Thankfully with the injections the story took a positive turn for this aspect.