Built by George Snake Charmer Farah, reppin’ all the diverse races of Australia
Lovely Group at 3 Sisters in Katoomba
View from my room at Intercontinental
23 Stories up…From my room..harbor and Conservatory of Music
Blue Mountains
Aboriginal Cultural Center..They Told Their Story
A Ho Ho – Hop on, Hop off
What a day this turned out to be. No matter how many times I visit a destination, I always walk away with a richer, more in-depth, completely different experience than the last. This would be my last full day in Sydney and as much as I looked forward to moving on north to Port Douglas and the Great Barrier Reef; I hated to say goodbye to Sydney. The view from my room was nothing less than spectacular. Enough good cannot be said about the people; genuinely warm and most accommodating.
This was our day in the Blue Mountains and visit to the Waradah Cultural Center. Our group had a private session with 2 very knowledgeable Aboriginal young people who shared as they called it, “Their Story”. Time will not permit me to go into detail but it was most fascinating. There are so many Aboriginal groups across this country and they respect each other and their respective “Stories”. Everybody has their own story. They come from Mother Earth, will go back to Mother Earth and while here they do not take from the earth. They live by 3 principles: Love, Humility and Respect. Later several performed dances for us and explained the birth of the instrument, the Didgeridoo. Last month in Colombia one sister with Me announced, “When I get to Australia, I’m buying a didgeridoo” . True to her word she did as soon as we got here and shipped home that very expensive instrument.
At the tender age of 18, my boyfriend, an East Bay Dragon, then owner of one of the baddest choppers in the club; began my attraction to this beautiful piece of machinery. So when I saw this bad azz chopper on display at the Cultural Center, I wanted to know more. It turns out it was created by George “Snake Charmer” Farah. He is a rags to riches story if there ever was one. This bike has artwork on it created by a famous Aboriginal artist. It represents all races of Australia coming together. On it there is a boomerang, a didgeridoo and depicts Aboriginal life. George stayed in trouble growing up, got expelled from every school he went to, he was of European descent, didn’t fit in in his small hometown and had to fight daily, later did some years in prison for manufacturing drugs where he would dream about building bikes and began to sketch designs of bikes. Long story short: his first customized bike was called “The Blade” which represented the vicious knife attack he barely survived while in prison. It won more awards than I have time to mention . Then “Wet and Wild” which had 2 meanings: how girls get wet and wild and most importantly the tears shed by mothers whose sons get locked up. His secret technique that shows the water droplets in the custom paint is truly something to see. His brand slogan is: Dreams to Reality. Two thumbs up to the Snake Charmer.
We enjoyed a lovely lunch at the Boiler House restaurant and yes, after that mist were ready for a nap. We skipped the Botanical gardens here as most had already seen the one across from our hotel. We stopped at a cool little spot with picnic tables where over a hundred years ago they had a jail for the convict workers building the highway. Our driver brought out the bubbly, the orange juice and the champagne flutes for our farewell toast. This was an awesomely, amazing day!
KatTrax 