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One of the things I've been really excited to see in Sydney is Powerhouse Museum, which is their design museum. While I tend to dislike flat art, I like stuff (sculpture, objects, how they work, etc), and I've been keen on this particular thingy. And then today I was reading the Sydney Morning Herald and found out the Lord of the Rings exhibit some of my friends in other cities have seen is going to be there when I am there. So keen and happy. http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/ You can even go to the exhibit on weekend evenings and wander about with a glass of wine. Drunk hobbity things!

Also, I've found two restaurants in Darlinghurst I'm just mad to try, and one is even cheap. Also psyched about checking out the pubs that all argue about whether they are the oldest one in Sydney (and they all have excellent, ridiculous names right out of the age of sail (you know Lord Nelson this and Lord Nelson that)).

And the Australian National Maritime Museum has two exhibits that should amuse me to no end -- "sailor style" which, yes, is about sailor uniforms in art, film and design and a thing about clocks and timepieces and stuff. Muahahahaa.

The magical intersection of my obsessions seems to be in full force yet again.

There's so much stuff I want to do, I'm going to have to startmaking a list and trying to figure out how to fit everything in, what with being busy every day from 10 - 5.

It's beginning to dawn on me what an incredible orgy of geekery this trip is going to be. Boats, horses, costumes, Lord of the Rings, acting -- just, woah... dude. /keanu off.

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Let me just admit my jealousy that you will see the Lord of the Rings exhibit.

Travel Safely.

You'll love both Powerhouse and Maritime. I *think* the Museum of Contemporary Art also has non-flat artworks - double-check on that, though, I haven't been there in quite a few years.

If you like animals and wildlife stuff, skip the zoo and go to Koala Park or Featherdale Wildlife Park, where the animals are less enclosed (ie, paddocks and other semi-open, mostly-accessible enclosures rather than cages) and you can mingle with them. There's also Butterfly Farm at Galston and Forest Of Tranquility at Ourimbah. Some of these are longer trips and you kind of need a car for them, but they're the sort of thing Zach and I like, so feel free to ask me and we'll go and you can tag along.

Brilliant. I'm totally creeped out by butterflies, but the others are a very real possibility. Right now, I'm having to be very loose about my plans because I don't know how much outside of claroom time my class is going to demand, but once that gets figured out, I shall get in touch.

You must also check out "The Hero of Waterloo" pub in The Rocks which also claims to be one of the oldest. It's definitely always been one of my favourites, and up on a very quiet street right behind the Harbour Bridge - also good to check out the beautiful old terrace houses there too.

This pub even has an old tunnel leading into the Harbour where they used to drag drunk guys onto boats for easy labour, so I heard. The pub has all the info on it.

Ah ye! That was the name of the other one. Brilliant.

I wanted to as you something else, because I can't actually get a sense of it from anything I've read. King' Cross -- sleezy and boring? sleezy and interesting or fake sleezy for the tourists? (a la NYC' Time Square these days). I tend to be drawn to the leezy and interesting category and really annoyed with the other two, and every guide boo I read seems hedging about the whole topic in one direction or another.

Ah, definitely not fake sleazy for the tourists. Kings Cross is fun, with cool places amongst its back streets. Please note: back streets. Try Barons on Roslyn Street - absolutely gorgeous boho type of bar. Also Venice Beach on Bayswater Road is a lovely place to eat - great ambience. The main street of Kings Cross is a little gross, but I always feel safe walking around there. Cheesy bars and strip joints, but genuine and interesting! You'll see heaps of bikies and prostitutes, but it's all fine - def. nothing fake about it.

Thank you. I feel like such a dork asking some of these questions, but living here I always have to deal with idiot tourists and I'm trying hard not to be one in turn. It actually reminds me a little of when I went to New Orleans, which is filled with fae sleeze, but is also a real fascinating place.

No worries - just ask away! I have always wanted to go to New Orleans, and Las Vegas for that matter, but I'd imagine Vegas would be the epitome of fake sleaze.

As before, the only place I'd recommend staying away from is the Cinema and Game Arcade stretch of George Street (the main st). Really tacky, and an embarrassment to Sydneysiders like me if New Yorkers like you see it!

Lol. Okay.

I've only been to Vegas once -- and while the sleeze is really fake unless you explore things you really shouldn't be... it's so sincere, and that's sort of fun. That said there's a casino with a New York theme which I loathe. I stayed in the Luxor and that was cool, and I got a big kick out of the Star Trek ride at one of the other casinos. The only thing that sucked was I was there for a week on business, and it's just too damn long. Won a couple hundred bucks though.

Which reminds me... I know you all have casinos -- what's the demographic like -- here everyone goes to Vegas, but the other stuff on the east coast like Atlantic city and all is just old people and it's really depressing.