Off to Sydney!

March 18, 2010


We are off to Sydney on the last leg of our OZ journey. The Cyclone that has been dogging us to the north seems to have changed course and will miss us but is bringing lots of stormy weather with it. The take-off gives us one last spectacular glimpse of the rainforest and beaches then we wing our way south. Sydney is sunny and beautiful but a very convoluted city to navigate. Because it is a port city and was built pell-mell by convicts that basically had to cut their own roads and quarry their own stone for shelter the roads go every which way. The Aussies then seem to have added raised freeways on top of all this so getting around on foot is a challenge and driving is a nightmare! The city is serviced by all manner of public transit: ferries, water taxi, cabs, three different metro busses, light rail, heavy rail and a raised monorail that really only does a circuit of the city centre. As far as I can tell none of these systems talk to each other and we may need to buy several kinds of pass to get around. Everything a tourist would like to you is central and along the harbours however central covers many kilometers as Sydney is big. Sydney is in the territory of New South Wales which was what the colony was originally called was founded. Central Sydney is broken up into four districts: The Rocks and Circular Quay which is the oldest part of Sydney, The city Centre and Darling Harbour which is where we are staying, The Royal Botanic Gardens and The Domain (self-explanatory) and Kings Cross/Darlinghurst/Paddington a dense inner-city residential area where the Victorian homes are mingled with cafes and bars, the gay village and the red light district – very desirable property apparently.



We headed out for supper in Chinatown which is right next door to us. It literally feels like you are in a bustling Chinese city. There are people everywhere and shopkeepers and restaurateurs are all trying to convince you they had the best bargain. We settled on a place that hand-made dumplings to satisfy Connor’s cravings then went to a local food court that was a mad house for Chow-Mien. Dozens of closet sized kitchens turn out Chinese, Thai and Korean food and you mill around trying to snap up the first available table until they ring the bell that your food is ready. Delicious and exciting, but far from fine dining. We headed towards Cockle Bay to see the night life and as we approached the Sydney Entertainment Centre we passed all manner of people dressed to the nines in sequins and outlandish costumes partying – it seems Lady Gaga was in town for two nights only. We toured the bay area which is where many museums, gardens and beautiful fountains are located and somehow ended up in front of the world’s largest IMAX theatre. Well we just had to go see Avatar again in 3D and it was even better than the first time. Exhausted we navigated the maze of streets home for midnight.