Day 36: Cruisin the Harbour

Good morning last day of the study abroad trip! Today began about 8:30am with another great breakfast in the Wesley cafeteria. I met up with Anoop, Jay, and Reel, and we decided we would to head out for the 11:00am tour about 9:30am.

I finished breakfast a little after 9:00am and went back up to my room to finish getting ready for the day. The four of us headed out in the rain from Wesley right at 9:30am. We had to walk a block or so to get to a street with taxis. Anoop hailed the first open one that came by and we all climbed in. Initially we wanted to save a cab fare and take the train, but with all the rain a long walk to the train station would have been miserable. The taxi drive lasted about 20-30 minutes and we were dropped off right at the front door of the Ausgrid Learning Centre.

We were a tad early (It was only 10:22am) so we decided to walk down the street and find a cafe for a coffee. We walked to the end of the street, but no coffee shops were within sight so we headed back to the learning centre. It was still before 11:00am, but we decided to go ahead and check in with the receptionist where we received our visitor badges. The receptionist paged Aaron, who sent down his assistant, Ron, who would be taking us on the tour. Ron came down to greet us, but needed a few minutes to get ready to show us around. He took us to the Learning Centre cafe (ironically enough!) and Anoop, Reel, Jay, and I ordered a drink while we waited on Ron to return.

About 10 minutes later Ron came back and he sat down at the table to go over the building briefly before taking the tour. Here are some details of the Ausgrid Learning Centre:

• One of only two 6 Star Green Star Performance rated buildings in Australia
• It is a learning center for electrical journeymen and apprentices, contractors, and even the general public
• Built using mostly recycled rock, brick, steel, and clay (pavers).
• All wiring in the building is recycled wire.
• No paint was used as an interior finish to provide a better quality of indoor air/environment.
• No ceilings in any spaces, only baffles to mute sound. (Picture below)
• 150,000L rainwater water tank for toilets, fire, and watering the gardens
• Tri-generation system
• Solar Panel arrays to generate energy for hot water
• Ground heat rejection system that takes water 90m deep and brings it back up at exactly 22.5 degrees Celsius. This water is run through the concrete floor slabs at night to maintain the building temperature and during the day it is used in the A/C unit for refrigeration.
• Tri-generation system is 70% efficient, with the other 30% of the building's electrical needs supplied by the grid.
• Electric car park areas in the parking garage
• Efficiency Centre that teaches visitors how to be more energy efficient (shorter showers, turn off lights, energy saving light bulbs, use electricity during non-peak hours). This is part of a huge initiative the Learning Centre undertakes to educate the public about using and living around electricity.
• Glass windows are also louvers and open (via motion detectors in rooms) to allow the rooms to naturally ventilate instead of using A/C. Supplemental A/C is provided to rooms, but used as a back-up to the ventilation system.

Those are some quick facts Ron went over with us before taking us on the tour to see the building. The tour basically covered the points above, but I took plenty of pictures. Many parts of the building were more like a museum (particularly the Efficiency Centre) with old artifacts of the electrical industry in Australia and interactive displays. Here are a few shots of the features of the building:

The Ausgrid Learning Centre

Furniture made from hardwood of recycled telephone poles

Window louvers on facade of building

Cutaway sample of the water piping through floor slab

Diagram of the different systems of the building (sorry for the small image)

Old meters where you had to use money or a credit card to purchase electricty

Original Ford Model T electrician work vehicle

Original Ausgrid Uniform

My thermal image. The red means I'm still kickin'!

This display shows different types of light bulbs and their efficiencies and life. LED is the winner, on the right end.

Interactive display that allows you to increase or decrease the amount of light. The light line shows the light needed for certain tasks.

Ground Heat Rejection Pipes

Electric Car charging station

Solar PV System on the roof. (Ironic cloudy day)

Room with natural lighting (cloudy day) coming through the window louvers.

Close-up shot of the window louvers.

Roof Garden

Exterior walkway on 2nd floor that is sloped slightly to allow for rainwater recapture.

No ceilings, just baffles to muffle sound.

Top view of water running through slabs and A/C system

Work Stations for Students

Outside work stations.

I was thoroughly impressed by the sustainable innovations of the building. Ron showed us everything he could for over two hours and I think everyone enjoyed the tour. No doubt that this building will work perfectly as a case study for my thesis! Ron gave us business cards so we can contact him at a later date back in Auburn and we headed back to the front desk to turn in our visitor badges.

The receptionist called a cab for us and after a 15 minute wait the cab finally showed up. (He had trouble finding the place...) On the way back to the University of Sydney, Anoop and I stopped briefly to pick up a take away order for a kebab and coke. We jumped back in the cab and were dropped off a few minutes later at Wesley. Anoop and I ate in the cafeteria before parting ways back up to our rooms.

It was about 2:30pm when I got back to my room, so I gave Brittany a call and we were able to have our devo and talk for a good while. We finished talking just before 4:00pm and I proceeded to take a shower and relax before the evening's activities. Since tonight would be our last night as a group in Sydney, Anoop had booked a harbour cruise for the group. The cruise happened to also serve dinner, so I decided to dress up in a blazer and khaki pants for the occasion.

We met downstairs as a group at 5:30pm and Anoop told everyone to get to Darling Harbour by 6:30pm for the cruise. Some folks took taxis, but I rode a bus most of the way there because I had a bus pass. It took forever for the bus to get through downtown Sydney, but I eventually got off and walked over to Darling Harbour and arrived right at 6:30pm. It turned out not to be a huge rush, as the cruise didn't leave until 7:00pm, so we waited as a group along the harbor to board. Here's a look at our cruise boat:

Magistic Cruises

Just after 7:00pm we were allowed to board and we all filed in to the dining area and mingled around waiting for departure. We departed about 7:15pm and that is also when the buffet line opened. I walked up to the buffet and decided to be brave and try some new food. Dinner consisted of prawns, oysters, several pasta salads, Waldorf salad, and rice. I had never had a prawn (shrimp) prepared this way or an oyster, but they were pretty good. The second course was desert which consisted of a variety of small desert cakes. The final course was cheese, crackers, and grapes intended to go along with the wine folks were drinking, but I enjoyed the food with coke instead.

Dinner finished around 8:30pm at which time I headed up to the top deck to enjoy the setting sun and views of Sydney. It was really peaceful here and the scenery provided a nice time to reflect on our wonderful trip. I took some photos of the Harbour, too:

The Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge

Harbour Bridge with cruise ship sailing underneath

Sydney!

The Harbour Bridge at night!

The evening gradually came to a close as the ship brought us back to Darling Harbour and docked about 10:00pm. The evening had been nice and relaxing and we hung out as a group in the Harbour for awhile before heading back to Wesley. I got back to my room and I was pretty tired. Everyone else had to catch flights in the morning, but I would be heading across town to the Bayswater Hotel so I decided to put off packing til morning.

I have had a simply wonderful time studying abroad in Australia and New Zealand. The next two days will most likely drag as I am ready to come home now, but I plan to enjoy them in Sydney all the same. Hopefully groups of students from Auburn University will keep coming to Australia and New Zealand for many years. I have had a grand adventure Down Under and, thanks to this blog, I will remember it for years to come!