Like all big urban centers, Sydney is a glorious mix of old and new living side by side. Huge silver skyscapers are everywhere towering over wonderful 19th Century British colonial buildings that now often serve as museums or shopping areas. Also like most diverse urban centers -- there's a wonderful mix of business and residential throughout -- whole areas of the city have been restored over the last decade and wonderful colonial terrace houses are everywhere.
Sydney is a lot like London in many ways, with parks and green spaces dotted throughout ... the waterfront is filled with shops and living areas, and of course, the harbor is a bustling port with cruise ships, ferries, tall ships, private yachts and sailing vessels and the usual assortment of tourist-oriented water tours and taxis. Queen Victoria is everywhere since the City grew up, so to speak, under her rule.
David and I parked near Darling Harbour, which is around the bay away from the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, which remain out of site from this area. In spite of that, you get a sense of how huge the whole harbor is, as the Darling Harbour area is home to several key museums and wildlife expositions, the convention center, several malls, the Sydney Monorail and all of the historic tall ships.
Since water is plentiful on the coastal areas -- downtown Sydney is filled with fountains and water exhibits -- they have been cleverly designed to be accessible as play areas for children and adults -- and even though it was bit cool -- there were plenty of both kids and adults scampering through them, shoes thrown to the side for the moment (think Crown Fountain, Millennium Park, Chicago).
Water is a major part of life here in Sydney -- and indeed for all of Australia, since the vast majority of the 20+ million population lives on the coast (23,000 miles of it in total), you're just as likely to find two boats in a garage here as two cars. Boats and ferries make up a major part of the public transportation system in downtown Sydney -- and scheduled ferries stop throughout the entire harbor area moving hundreds of thousands of people, visitors and locals alike, around daily. Fortunately for Sydneysiders, public transportation is plentiful and timely -- the cost is reasonable and you can reach downtown Sydney from any of its almost 800 burbs by CityRail, which runs about 18 hours daily.
We spent Wednesday afternoon just walking and looking -- the downtown is so vast that like other major urban centers, you could spend a lifetime here and not see everything. After stopping for a late lunch at one of the cafes that line the Darling Harbour walkway, we hopped on one of the many ferries that stop all over the harbor and proceeded around the bay toward the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House -- the day was sunny but cool and breezy.
The harbor area reminds me quite a bit of San Francisco's Bay area -- it has that Northern California feel to it. Sydney, along with most of the coastal areas of Australia, is quite hilly and so the harbor sits within a cascading alcove of hills -- well protected -- a safe harbor if I ever saw one. The city indeed looks down to the harbor as it is built up the side of these surrounding hills -- you can especially see it on the north side of the harbor. As we moved through the harbor by ferry, stopping every so often to pick up and drop off passengers, I could just begin to see the edges of the Harbour Bridge which is, as Wikipedia confirms:
According to Guinness World Records, it is the widest long-span bridge in the world and is the largest steel arch bridge with the top of the bridge standing 134 metres above the harbour.Big is not the word for the Harbour Bridge -- it is colossal! It surprised me in its beauty and delicate grace -- it is a piece of art, as well as a world class piece of architecture. Read more about how it grabbed me in my "Happy New Year ... with Love" post.
As we passed under the bridge and rounded the bay, the Opera House came in to view. Make no mistake, it is an unusual structure, and perhaps, one of the most photographed in the world -- but it does not hit you the same way as the Harbour Bridge. You don't have that sense of awe that you expect after seeing it so many times in photographs. It's hard to get the same perspective on it when you see it from afar for the first time.
It was not until we actually walked up the steps and all around it that I felt that sense of creativity and wonder ... the roof by the way is made of ceramic tiles and concrete -- meticulously maintained, and obviously, a roofer's nightmare to upkeep. Because of its shape, you feel enveloped -- it gives you the same sense of "safe-harbor" that the harbor does.
From the Opera House, we treked over to the adjacent Royal Botanical Gardens and meandered through this quiet spot, which even at 4:00 pm was filled with people lounging around enjoying a beautiful, and thankfully, cool summer day. We wandered through the park eventually ending up in the adjacent business area and coming to the National Library.
Here, we were greeted by a statue of Matthew Flinders, who was the first explorer to navigate the entire Australian coastline, and his faithful cat Trim, who sailed the seven seas with his master and is duly celebrated with both a sculpture and a plaque commemorating his robust life at sea! Read about Matthew and Trim at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Flinders. Trim has quite a following and I was lucky to see his sculpture, which had been down recently for cleaning and restoration.
By the time we wandered around a bit more, it was time to go home -- we'd been at it about 5 hours and since Sydney is surprisingly hilly, this woman from the flatlands was pretty tired. We jumped on one of Sydney's buses and headed back to Darling Harbour, where we grabbed the car and headed home. David was really tired and so after we got out of the city and back onto the interstate, I offered to drive.
Now folks, as you recall from my first post this is a real experience -- but I'm the brave sort and David was game, so we changed seats and even though he had to do most of the moving of the stick, as it really is quite dreadful to shift with your left hand, I didn't do too bad. Well ... almost. Roundabouts -- we really don't have them in the US -- though some of the eastern states use them a bit and they are plentiful in the United Kingdom -- but here they are a pretty standard part of the roadway system-- I think this is how they keep you alert and polite here, as you really have to be on your toes and very neighborly to not end up in a road rage fist fight over the right of way in a roundabout.
I was going right along just fine until the first roundabout. Now remember folks, I'm driving on the left side here. David says, take a right at the roundabout ... so I pull over to the right lane and just about the time I'm going to take the right -- David say noooooooooo! Woke him right up! See you have to go left and around the roundabout to take a right and I was just going to go right and cut across to get back on the left side -- it made perfect sense to me.
Look it's not my fault that the Australians drive on the left -- blame Queen Victoria -- but somehow I recovered and made it around the left of the roundabout without killing myself or another driver -- David gained a few more grey hairs on that one and it definitely gave him some energy. We arrived home safely, though it's a bit hard to judge the left side of the car from the right driver's seat so I ended up just a little bit on the lawn and managed not to take out any trees or either of the cats. Sleepytime -- good night!
Now, I've only been here three days, it's Thursday -- and so I'm still catching up a bit on sleep and trying to get acclimated to being in the future now, so like God, on the 3rd and 4th days, I took a break to get into a more normal routine -- email and blogs.
But even better than that, we went to the movies -- watched Flushed Away with an ensemble cast of Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Jean Reno (as a French frog -- oooh la la mon cheri!!) and Ian McKellan! Yes, it's a Dreamworks animated film but very clever, as usual and I highly recommend it for the kid in each of us!
Back at home rather early, this was followed by Shrek! on DVD, which I had never seen but which was equally delightful -- Eddie Murphy as Donkey is too much and I can just see him doing that part in that snide, humorous way that he has! Oh, how nice to be a bit normal even if I am in the future ... now.
Friday was another day of emails and catching up the blog -- had intended to go into Sydney alone and explore but by the time I got finished doing everything it was so late that I thought it would be better to just run the errands that needed running so David and I headed off to the MALL!
What a mall -- about 5 floors of everything you could imagine. Beyond the US experience -- this mall has everything -- at least two grocery stores, in addition to the regular retail assortment that Americans are used to seeing in malls -- plus big box stores like Target and Big W (which I think is Walmart in disguise) -- plus fresh meat, fish, fruit, veggie and flower markets plus a couple of fresh bakeries, chemists/pharmacies -- more like a whole city than a mall. Plenty of entertainment, as well and a myriad of food courts and kiosks catering to every food craving on earth. Talk about being able to get everything done in one place -- this is what malls ought to be -- whether you're a millionaire or looking for the best bargains in town -- you can find it here.
I don't know if all the modern suburban malls in Australia are like this -- but this is definitely one lesson we can learn. In some ways -- it's a vast improvement in quality of life because the land that might have been used for all these different stores has been allocated to residential or green space use. The big box stores are a bit different -- no grocery or pharmacy items -- just clothes, electronics and home items -- helps keep the smaller stores in business. The prices are higher for things even though the AU dollar is in our favor I still paid about $8 US more for less quantity of the items I needed -- but I pretty much found all my favorite brands except Neutrogena Suncreen for Sensitive Skin -- they had all the tanning products but none of the sunscreens -- oh well -- can't win 'em all!
Friday night was David's night out with some of his mates and I stayed home and just had some quiet time to read, listen to CDs and think about my first few days in Australia. On the whole, so far it had been quite peaceful and relaxing -- it's a pretty laid back country though very progressive. It does take a few days to get used to the time change ... as I lay there thinking about my first 4 days ... the sandman called ... beddy-bye!
Saturday -- I'm blogging again, trying to catch up but also planning on a day in Sydney by myself. Since I usually travel by myself, the first thing I do is get out and walk the city so that I know my way around. As a single woman traveling alone -- I want to be able to take care of myself and as many of you who know me -- I have a GPS mind -- once I walk it, I know it forever, even if I don't go back to a place for years, the landmarks and major street are permanently imprinted. I'm staying out in the burbs and so haven't had the chance to do this yet with Sydney and Saturday was my day in town. David took me to the train station around 2 pm and put me on CityRail to downtown Sydney. I think he was bit nervous -- but I'm pretty independent and determined and so off I went to the big city.
I got off at Town Hall which is about 6 long blocks from the harbor -- right smack in the middle of the QVB -- Queen Victoria Building which is a stunning example of 19th Century British Colonial architecture.
You can take a stroll through it here: http://www.qvb.com.au/IPOH/QVB/me.get?SITE.home
I spent the better part of 2 hours in this magnificent building, which is joined to many of the other retail areas in this part of downtown, before heading out to walk the main thoroughfare of Sydney -- George Street.
Now George Street is the dividing line of downtown Sydney -- the 0/0 street -- like State Street in Chicago, Canal Street in New Orleans, the Champs Elysee in Paris, Piccadilly in London and 5th Avenue in New York. If you lose your way, just get back to George Street and you can pick up a bus, train or walk to the harbor and you're found again.
On this first excursion, I followed those 6 longs blocks to the harbor and found myself in The Rocks which is adjacent to the main ferry, bus and train station in Circular Quay (pronounced KEY not KAY as the French would pronounce it.) The area around the Quay is where everything is happening all the time -- it is ringed with the Opera House, the Botanical Gardens, The Rocks -- which is one of the oldest areas in Sydney. Besides having some of the first settlement buildings still intact, it is now filled with shops and residences -- all built up the side of a rocky hill -- with little winding streets and alcoves.
Because Sydney is built along the coastline -- the layout of the city follows the shoreline and so forget about the streets having a "grid" layout -- yes, there are plenty of main thoroughfares like George Street which run from the harbor-line straight through the city -- but the cross streets follow the shoreline -- which means abrupt steet endings, names changes, zig-zag throughways -- a lot like New Orleans and London. I went in to the Galleria Shopping Centre on George Street and came out on the backside near Globe Street, which isn't really a street at all, but a stepped throughway which leads down to George Street -- for a moment, I was completely turned around. Fortunately, the harbor is always north so it's hard to get lost -- but The Rocks is a maze of small alleys and stepped throughways -- it's easy to lose your bearings.
By this time, I had been downtown for about 5 hours and was starting to wear out -- I did mention that Sydney is hilly and the blocks are long -- since I had made my way to Circular Quay, I thought it was time to rest and watch the preparations going on for NYE and for the Sydney Festival, which goes on the entire month of January, check it out here: http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/. It culminates on January 26th with Australia Day commemorating the formal founding of the New South Wales Colony by Captain Arthur Phillip in 1788. You can learn about its history and what's planned for this year's celebration at: http://www.australiaday.com.au/studentresources/history.aspx.
Having watched the hustle and bustle of workers and visitors for about a half hour, I decided it was time to catch the train home -- it's about an hour trip and it was already almost 7:00 PM. I made my way to the train platform and sat down to call David and let him know I was soon to be on the way home -- I had just missed a train and so I had a 25 minute wait. When I looked at my cell phone I saw that I had 6 text messages -- who could be calling me on my Australian phone number?
Yes, T-Mobile does not work here even though I had the international calling feature turned on -- they just couldn't grab and keep a network signal so I broke down and bought an Aussie SIM card so I could at least send text messages and call David if need be -- besides it's much cheaper than using my T-Mobile international rates.
OK -- folks here's your travel tip: if you have an unlocked phone and are traveling internationally-- buy a local SIM card, it's cheaper, it works and nobody can call you unless you want them to -- now, don't say I didn't give you anything for Christmas!
So here I am on the train platform with all these text messages -- from David, of course -- he'd been calling since about 4:00 pm to tell me we had been invited to his sister, Vanessa's house for BBQ and bay watching with some neighbors and Phyllis and Arthur, Adam's parents. Terrific -- except now I had to catch a different train and from a different station since the train I needed didn't go through the station at Circular Quay -- it meant grabbing a train in the opposite direction I was going and getting to either Town Hall or Central.
No problem, I'm an experienced traveler and by now had figured out how to read the train signs and had figured out north from south and right from left -- which can be a problem in a country where everybody drives on the wrong side of the road and which carries over to walking on the streets and up and down stairs and escalators.
But I did catch the right train, made it to Town Hall, bought the ticket for the proper train to Vanessa's and headed off. Vanessa met me at the station and whisked me away to her home, while David had arrived just moments before us after having visited with his mom, Audrey, on the drive down to meet me at Vanessa's.
By the time we got there -- everyone else had eaten -- it was after 8:00 PM by the time I arrived from downtown -- sorry it was hard to hear the phone as the QVB was jam packed and noisy, and of course, it was buried at the bottom of my purse muffled by all the junk I was carrying.
Nevertheless, Vanessa grilled some fabulous hand-made sausages, served up some salad and coleslaw and fed the two stragglers. We toasted with some red wine and Vanessa's neighbor brought a mini-keg of Port which was just a delightful end to a lovely meal. We all sat on the deck until 10:30 pm -- enjoying the peace, quiet and beauty of Yowie Bay along with the wonderful company of family and friends.
It was a perfect way to end a busy day ... and so David and I set off for home arriving just before midnight. I was dead on my feet by that time and so it was sleepytime for me pretty quickly. Tomorrow is the big day -- New Year's Eve -- NYE -- and we've a big evening at the harbor planned ... off to dreamland in a land of dreams ... bon soir mes amis.
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