EDINBURGH TATTOO – SYDNEY 2005

EDINBURGH TATTOO – SYDNEY 2005

After being an avid fan of the Edinburgh Tattoo for more years than I care to remember, when I read somewhere that it was coming to Sydney I asked Gwen if she fancied coming along for a long weekend and started looking up tickets, accommodation and air fares.  My ticket sat under a magnet on the fridge for something like four months!  I have a reputation for losing tickets so Gwen quizzed me every so often as to whether I’d accidentally thrown the fridge out!!!!

We decided to fly out on a Friday morning flight, arriving in Sydney about 6.30pm.  Now, there’s nothing much exciting about staying in the hotel room for a Friday evening so we booked a tour in a Cadillac hearse named Elvira!

 It takes eight passengers – and you DON’T have to all lie down in the back!  It’s been fitted out with seats like a limo.  Gwen and I sat in the front with the driver.  My feet wouldn’t even reach the firewall!  (No comments about duck’s disease, thank you….).  We are reliably informed that Elvira has her own ghost named Tom, who sits in the back behind the driver.  I don’t think he was talking to me though (or he’d stayed home that night).  It’s great fun driving around the streets, particularly going past restaurants with outside tables and at traffic lights.  Debbie, the driver suggested that we wave and generally act like lunatics on evening release.  Gwen and I found no difficulty in obliging her but the people in the back seemed to be very quiet.  Maybe they were getting into the act by pretending to be dead?  We were taken round all different parts of Sydney, including the ultra expensive areas overlooking the harbour and, of course, the hotel where Michael Hutchence died.  The highlight was the tour of a House of Bondage where Michael, had he gone there instead of his cupboard, might still be with us today!. 

I would definitely recommend Destiny Tours though (the people who do the hearse tours).  Not only was it a lot of fun, but they are very knowledgeable about the city in general.  They don’t just stick to the main streets but take you down back lanes and dingy alleys round Kings Cross also.  Driving down the main drag of the Cross with “Ghostbusters” blaring from a hearse is definitely a good way to end a Friday evening!

Saturday we decided to stay in the city as the Tattoo was on that evening.  We had planned on going to the Hunter Valley but public transport is such that we wouldn’t have made it back in time for the show.  We did the usual things…the monorail, a trip round the harbour, Darling Harbour, the AMP Tower. 

At one stage it looked like Gwen’s personal black cloud had found us.

I was really pleased I’d packed my rain gear!  It’s a well known fact that it ALWAYS rains when Gwen goes to any outdoor function.  I’ve have been the wettest I’ve ever been while still clothed on several occasions that she has come to a football match with me so I KNOW!

We did our good deed and stopped to help some obvious visitors to Sydney (well, we’d been there for at least 24 hours by that stage so we knew where we were going….don’t you just hate smart arses….).  They turned out to be from Perth also so we shared our taxi with them to the stadium.  Luckily, I’d found out by then that we WEREN’T going to Olympic Park but to Aussie Stadium.  It would have been really hard to explain standing around outside Olympic Park wondering why no one was there!

The Tattoo was really good.  Our seats, which were the cheapest, were by far the best seats.  We were up quite high (nose bleed section) and able to look down onto the arena.

I would have to say that it was unfortunate, to say the least, that, prior to the actual start of the programme, we were inflicted with something akin to an old time “Family Favourites”……..you know that sort of thing…….”and we have a cheerio from Elsie and Ecky who are celebrating 50 years of Ecky’s tartan underpants which he’s worn since they left Scotland in 1952 (we assume that Ecky is the wally in the 20^th row wearing a pair of underpants on his head and waving madly).  We were rounding up a lynch party but couldn’t decide whether to get the nitwit on the PA system or the wallies who sent in all the inane messages.  Actually, we were just annoyed because we couldn’t get on with “and now a cheerio from Galloping Gwen and Ramblin’ Rosie, fresh from their triumphant House of Bondage Tour……..” (that’s them folks, in row RR with the whips and studded leather collars….)

By the way, our seats were under cover – so, of course, it didn’t rain after all.  Never mind, she’s going to the Rod Stewart/Bryan Adams concert next week….it’ll rain THEN!

The plywood castle

 They’d built Edinburgh Castle at one end of the stadium.  It didn’t look that impressive in daylight, but was very effective at night with the flares going.

 The New Zealand Army band were, to my mind, one of the highlights of the evening.  They were really good and very humourous.  Their Haka, in full dress uniform, including white gloves, looked really great.  We both agreed that the Tattoo made the trip well worthwhile.  Way to go – if you can’t go to Scotland, wait for Scotland to come to you!

We stood up reluctantly for “God Save the Queen” (bloody foreigners) but cheered up immensely when they sang BOTH verses of “Advance Australia Fair”.

On Sunday, we left our bags at the station and took a train up to the Blue Mountains. It’s a two hour train ride from the city.

It’s very picturesque up there and worth the time to take it in. Once again, we did all the touristy things like the railway down the cliff, the cable car back up etc etc. Surprisingly, none of it was particularly expensive. We took the train back mid-afternoon and grabbed our bags and straight back out to the airport. Interestingly enough, it cost us $14 for a train journey to Katoomba and back (two hours each way) and $11 to go three stations to the airport! Makes ya wonder!!!!

The Tattoo was televised last night and we both took video of the show. Unfortunately, we couldn’t see ourselves on screen. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they cut us out so that the performers weren’t over-shadowed.

All in all, a great show and an even better weekend.