Items
Tag is exactly
Sydney
-
2021-10
HIST30060: Long Distance friendships
Throughout the past three years, I've spent much time going back and forth between Sydney and Melbourne (largely unrelated to COVID). I went through a fantastic period where I managed to avoid lockdowns in both states (not on purpose, I promise!), but then I ended up doing both Delta lockdowns in Melbourne and then in Sydney (karma). I've never been more grateful for zoom and facetime so I could keep in touch with my friends no matter where I was. -
2020-03-31
HIST30060 Lockdown #1: Activities and Alcohol
On 31 March 2022, the first lockdown was initiated in both Melbourne and Sydney. I was in Sydney at the time, having arrived a few days prior from Melbourne as border restrictions were starting to be introduced. I am slightly ashamed to say, now, that I really enjoyed this first lockdown. I hadn't lived at home since 2018, and it was a unique experience to enjoy time together that wouldn't have normally happened. We've always been pretty close, but the lockdown forced an intimacy that we'd never had before (it helped that my teenage brother was required to be at home and boredom had driven him to start having conversations with us again). I think mum and dad were consciously trying to keep lockdown interesting, and soon a weekly cocktail night (with a required lounge formal dress code), bi-weekly painting lessons via zoom and daily yoga with mum, nightly music sessions with dad, lego competitions with the old dusty lego sets, and weekend family walks were introduced. I had never done so much exercise in my life, and yet I had never consumed as much alcohol, either. Even when I lived in a flatshare as an eighteen-year-old. Alcohol quickly became a problem for me, one that I have yet to fully address although I have started to cut down. The taste of wine became associated with fun times with the people I loved, so of course, I loved it. And when the lockdown eventually lifted, I returned to Melbourne nearly friendless (having left before I got the chance to settle in and with little opportunity to meet new people), a cheap bottle of pinot grigio and I became good - if slightly toxic - friends. -
2020-03-22
HIST30060: A Trip to the Zoo
I started at Melbourne University in March 2022, moving all the way from Sydney and knowing no one in Melbourne. I quickly made a group of friends at college, but things were still a bit new and awkward - we were in that stage of a new friendship where you are past small talk but not quite at deep and meaningful. Regardless, we decided to take a trip to Melbourne Zoo on the 22nd of March. It was a great day: the sun was shining and the animals were beautiful. We were joking around and it seemed like we were at the start of a really exciting and close friendship. In the early afternoon, I got a phone call from mum. News had been trickling in over the past month of COVID cases and deaths in Australia, but we still weren't entirely sure how seriously to take the disease, and we were clueless about how it would change our lives. On the phone, mum asked if I had been reading the news. Of course I hadn't. She told me that all non-essential services would be shut down, and that it was likely going to get more strict as the week went on. "I think you should come home. Uni will be online anyway." The next day, I was on a plane back to Sydney, after only having spent 22 days at college. Never fear, though, I was sure it'd all be over soon. -
2020-03
Riding the Covid Wave from Quito to Sydney
The pandemic was declared as I was en route to Ecuador. I was trapped in a strict lockdown isolated from any other travellers. My book describes my reactions and rescue. As a doctor I was not surprised that a pandemic was occurring as I knew that epidemiologists always say it is not an if but rather a when. -
2021-02-02
Exotic Pets and Reptile Gain Popularity in Australia
According to the article, Australia is experiencing an increase in exotic pet popularity during the pandemic. With people having more time and resources, the demand for pets, in general, is on the rise. The fear of reptiles exhibited by Generation X is not there in younger generations, so demand for these cool and unusual creatures is on the rise. -
2020-04
Family facetime
At the start of lockdown it became clear that my family would not be able to see each other for a while. Most of my family lives in Sydney, some of us live in Melbourne, regional Victoria and Canada. In response, my sister initiated a Coffey Family FaceTime every night at 6:30pm with whoever was available. However, this meant teaching my grandmothers how to use Facebook and how to start a call. More than 8 months later and both my grandmothers still can’t turn their video on without direction and also can’t start Facebook calls. This call kept us together when we felt far away. Celebrating father’s day and birthdays and anniversaries on FaceTime made some moments more memorable and some feel more lonely. Face timing each other was fun until there was a family dinner in Sydney and you couldn’t leave the state. However, there were fun moments, stirring up my parents dogs by yelling “walkies” or “dindins” and then leaving the call, FaceTiming on empty trams and using the weird face effects to confuse my grandmother about who’s camera was whose. The call gave structure to the days spent inside and caused me to talk to my grandmothers and extended family more about the current world events. HIST30060 -
2020-08
Puzzles at home
I was very fortunate to have been able to stay at home in Sydney this year, remotely attending my university in Melbourne via zoom classes and pre-recorded lectures. While I was grateful for this form of continuity I desperately missed Melbourne and the friends I’d made there. Spending days slowly working on this puzzle was both a way to pass the increasing amount of time I spent at home as well as way to feel a little more connected to the city I was missing. -
2020-09-19
Jewish Melbourne: 'Everyone wants to hear the shofar': ringing in Jewish new year in locked-down Melbourne
article published in Guardian Australia, written by Elias Visontay, documenting Rosh Hashanah in Melbourne under lockdown -
2020-07-20
Drinking fountain with safety instructions in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
A drinking fountain (bubbler) on Macquarie Street in the central business district of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia with government-issued safety instructions. -
2020-07-02
Social distancing measures on a train in Sydney, Australia
A photograph demonstrating how public transport authorities have attempted to mitigate the risk of passengers contracting COVID-19. -
2020-06-06
Scenes of the Crowds as They Protested in June 2020
These are aerial shots of the crowds in some of the cities where the Black Lives Matters protests were held. The crowds were unprecedented and the footage of them are dramatic. -
2020-04-16
Pedestrian crossings on Macquarie St, Sydney automated to discourage transmission of COVID-19.
This photograph shows measures taken by a local authority to slow the spread of the virus. -
2020-04-06
Guarding the Travelodge
Police and Military personnel guard the Travelodge Hotel in Surry Hills, NSW, Australia. At the start of the lockdown due to COVID19, travellers returning to Australia were subject to mandatory quarantine for 14 days and were assigned hotels. They were isolated in rooms and police and army personnel guarded the premises around the clock. -
2020-03-23
Banking information
Banks experiencing high volume of calls re financial hardship