Friday

I mentioned yesterday about our group bonding / monorail riding festivities planned for today - I am sad to report that things were quite busy at work, and as a result we were unable to go out for the morning.  Instead, I spent the morning at my computer being super corporate-y churning out a few things for a deadline next week.

The afternoon was spent out in Darlinghurst on the last round of site documentation - the culmination of the documentation that I have spent the last four months on.  There was a lot of ground to cover today, and along the way I got to see a lot of really cool things, highlighted by the old Darlinghurst Gaol (how they spell jail in Australia).  First opened in 1841, the gaol became South Sydney Technical College in 1921.  Since 1995 it has been the National Art School.  They have reused the 150 year old cell blocks quite nicely, and it is a fascinating complex to explore a bit.

The original bathhouse and chapel at the centre of the gaol.

Cellblock turned theatre - a really cool space.

Plaque commemorating the Gaol's conversion to the Technical College.

Forbes Street gate at Darlinghurst Gaol.

From the Gaol, we continued our survey work into some tiny, winding lanes of Darlinghurst - it was like stepping back into old Sydney.

A laneway in Darlinghurst.

After two and a half hours of trekking up and down the huge hills of Darlinghurst and Paddington, we were nearing Town Hall to close our journey.  On the walk through Hyde Park we ran into another planner heading out to do a site visit to check up on some heritage stuff.  We ended up joining him and wound up traversing the Darlinghurst hills again; today was quite a workout.  On the walk to the property, I was informed a building we passed belonged to Russell Crowe as a sort of office / recording studio space.

Russell Crowe's building.

By the time we got back to the office, it was almost 4:00.  I wrapped up some loose ends for the week and headed over to Wynyard to meet Amanda at her office.  They just moved a few weeks back from an older building at Circular Quay, and the new office is super swanky.  After some brief introductions we went for a quick drink across the street with a few of her officemates before catching a train back to Sydenham.

Tonight was spent having a quiet evening with Candice and Kylie over a Thai dinner.  Things broke up quite early as they are off very early in the morning on a trip for the weekend.  Oh, and also some haircuts.

Kylie with sharp objects in her hands - scary.

My plans for the weekend include a fair bit of sleep and some studying for my exam on Wednesday.