We had a marvelous 2 and 1/2 days in Sydney. Friday evening we braved the torrential rain and wind to eat at a nearby hamburger joint...real hamburgers, made from—we are sure—cows, something we had been dreaming of for weeks. We are still luxuriating in drinking actual tap water, brushing our teeth in it, not wondering what the next toilet will be like.... And we also are enjoying shopping, being able to evince interest in something without being assaulted by the shopkeeper, his minions and family members, extended relatives, touts, assorted hangers-on, passers-by, et al., all extolling its virtues, its low asking price (generally three times what they'll settle for). But I digress.
Our Saturday was entirely on foot in “downtown” Sydney. The Y Hotel is just west of Hyde Park, and so we set forth through the gorgeous park, noting the huge ficus trees, Norfolk Island pines, and others, statues, fountains, and people on family outings. Also museums, government houses, the Cathedral, and more. Hyde Park took us into The Domain, another park. There we visited the Art Museum of New South Wales, then continued on our way past the Domain and into our major goal for the day, the Royal Botanical Garden.
Sydney is a city of 3 or so million ranged around a long narrow harbor, filled with coves, inlets, harborettes, beaches, cliffs, and so on. There are huge CBDs on both sides of the main harbor, beautiful homes, condos and the rest lining the hills from shore to ridge-top all around. The Royal Botanical Garden is a large affair, many acres, set on a finger of land jutting into the harbor, just east of the main CBD. Judging from the size of the trees, the Garden has been there for a while. We spent a couple hours marveling at species new to us and at familiar species in larger sizes and shapes than we'd ever seen before. The ficuses in particular are huge, a few spreading hundreds of feet across, with large aerial roots that become trunks. Then there were the cacti and succulents. And bamboos, and palms. And camellias. And a fernery with the largest tree ferns I have yet seen. And also fruit bats (grey-headed flying foxes...about the size of a large chicken). And on and on, a tropical plant lover's paradise. We had a light lunch at the Garden's restaurant, then continued to the harbor and Mrs. Macquarrie's Chair, a cliff over-looking the harbor. The center of Sydney harbor is a familiar site—the tall arch of the 1932 bridge, the Opera, the skyscrapers. One takes all this in from the cliffs.
(Aesthetic note: although the Sydney Opera is one of the world's great and distinctive architectural pieces—perhaps on anybody's top 10 list—I personally find it repulsive, qua opera house. Viewing it from different angles (e.g., the harbor ferry) only makes it worse. It reminds me of the Lotus Temple in Delhi).
From the Gardens we crossed to the Circular Quay, headquarters for the harbor ferry system, a beautiful shopping and restaurant area on the water. Next we walked on to the Rocks, the old city, not much gentrified, very atmospheric and proud of its history. We walked back to the Y mostly along George Street, the main drag, fine shops and hotels, stopping for dinner at a small restaurant where Vicki had a salad (also avoided in Asia) and I had fish and chips (fish with no bones!).
On Sunday we bought day-tripper tickets—a pass for all buses, metros, trains, and ferries in the city— $12USD per person. Sydney has it public transportation act together. The metro alone is more extensive than any US city's I know of, except NYC. We took the double-decker metro from the Y's nearby Museum station back to Circular Quay. From there we returned to the Rocks, strolled its wonderful market (it is the only artsy-craftsy market we have ever seen that has NO CRAP; only neat, imaginative, interesting stuff, most of it affordable), and stimulated the local economy. After a scones snack, we boarded the east-bound ferry, taking in the harbor scenery, many stops, the aforementioned coves and inlets, each with a marina and beach, all the way to Watson's Bay. Here we debarked and walked across the Gap, a few hundred feet, to the top of the cliffs overlooking Sydney harbor's narrow entrance, and, The Pacific. The views of the cliffs, the rocks below, the sea, sailboats evidently racing in the distance, were superb. I had not before seen the Pacific, well, the Tasman Sea perhaps, from this particular angle. It was impressive. We walked along the cliffs some distance, then back through the town to the wharf.
One of the Sydney harbor traditions, we were told, was taking the ferry to Watson's Bay and then having a meal at Doyles', a fairly legendary (and very large and popular) seafood restaurant on the water. We had been promising ourselves a real steak (CBA) for some months and had determined that Australia would be the place for it. The menu at Doyles' is almost entirely seafood—but Vicki had the one non-seafood item, a filet (and shared a few bites) while I had the seafood sampler. The surf and turf aspect thus required I sample both red and white Australian wines. The sauvignon blanc was excellent; the shiraz OK.
We re-barked and rode the ferry back west through the harbor, stopping at Luna Park, McMahon St., and Balmain East, a residential area, where we got off and strolled (and scavenged) a bit. Back on the ferry we rode to Darling Harbor, on the other side of the main CBD, and walked nearly its length of shops, restaurants, pubs, museums, the IMAX, and more. Sundown (note alpenglow on the buildings around Darling Harbor) found us taking the last ferry back to Circular Quay, then the metro back to the Y. Two wonderful tourist days.
I am still wondering what the downside of Sydney is. Cruising the harbor as we did, there was no evidence of ugliness. Even the old wharfs have been gentrified, converted to condos, etc. Surely there are poor neighborhoods and poor people. They are not easy for the casual tourist to find, however. Vicki observed that the downside, so far as we are concerned, is the cost of everything. 2U$D for a coke, at 7-11. 3$ for coffee anywhere. Our hotel room, at the YWCA, FCS, was our steepest such yet.
Monday we packed, breakfasted (the Y has great granola), metro'd back to the Rocks to pick up a few purchase items we liked, and then re-visited both the Royal Botanical Garden and the art museum, especially the contemporary Melanesian section. We walked back along the south side of Hyde Park, affording me the opportunity to visit the Cathedral. I now am reading Pillars of the Earth. Plus I really like visiting churches where you don't have to take your shoes off.
Australia. We seriously considered extending our stay here. In our earlier planning, we had decided to short-shrift Australia. New Zealand is more compact, more interesting to us. Australia is vast (and expensive), and the interesting bits, to us, are spread all over a continent. But we are already compiling a list of places to which we might like to return: China, especially western China, the Everest region (the Chinese side), Thailand. And now Australia. When we come back, perhaps we'll rent or buy a camper, and stay a while.
Our Saturday was entirely on foot in “downtown” Sydney. The Y Hotel is just west of Hyde Park, and so we set forth through the gorgeous park, noting the huge ficus trees, Norfolk Island pines, and others, statues, fountains, and people on family outings. Also museums, government houses, the Cathedral, and more. Hyde Park took us into The Domain, another park. There we visited the Art Museum of New South Wales, then continued on our way past the Domain and into our major goal for the day, the Royal Botanical Garden.
Sydney is a city of 3 or so million ranged around a long narrow harbor, filled with coves, inlets, harborettes, beaches, cliffs, and so on. There are huge CBDs on both sides of the main harbor, beautiful homes, condos and the rest lining the hills from shore to ridge-top all around. The Royal Botanical Garden is a large affair, many acres, set on a finger of land jutting into the harbor, just east of the main CBD. Judging from the size of the trees, the Garden has been there for a while. We spent a couple hours marveling at species new to us and at familiar species in larger sizes and shapes than we'd ever seen before. The ficuses in particular are huge, a few spreading hundreds of feet across, with large aerial roots that become trunks. Then there were the cacti and succulents. And bamboos, and palms. And camellias. And a fernery with the largest tree ferns I have yet seen. And also fruit bats (grey-headed flying foxes...about the size of a large chicken). And on and on, a tropical plant lover's paradise. We had a light lunch at the Garden's restaurant, then continued to the harbor and Mrs. Macquarrie's Chair, a cliff over-looking the harbor. The center of Sydney harbor is a familiar site—the tall arch of the 1932 bridge, the Opera, the skyscrapers. One takes all this in from the cliffs.
(Aesthetic note: although the Sydney Opera is one of the world's great and distinctive architectural pieces—perhaps on anybody's top 10 list—I personally find it repulsive, qua opera house. Viewing it from different angles (e.g., the harbor ferry) only makes it worse. It reminds me of the Lotus Temple in Delhi).
From the Gardens we crossed to the Circular Quay, headquarters for the harbor ferry system, a beautiful shopping and restaurant area on the water. Next we walked on to the Rocks, the old city, not much gentrified, very atmospheric and proud of its history. We walked back to the Y mostly along George Street, the main drag, fine shops and hotels, stopping for dinner at a small restaurant where Vicki had a salad (also avoided in Asia) and I had fish and chips (fish with no bones!).
On Sunday we bought day-tripper tickets—a pass for all buses, metros, trains, and ferries in the city— $12USD per person. Sydney has it public transportation act together. The metro alone is more extensive than any US city's I know of, except NYC. We took the double-decker metro from the Y's nearby Museum station back to Circular Quay. From there we returned to the Rocks, strolled its wonderful market (it is the only artsy-craftsy market we have ever seen that has NO CRAP; only neat, imaginative, interesting stuff, most of it affordable), and stimulated the local economy. After a scones snack, we boarded the east-bound ferry, taking in the harbor scenery, many stops, the aforementioned coves and inlets, each with a marina and beach, all the way to Watson's Bay. Here we debarked and walked across the Gap, a few hundred feet, to the top of the cliffs overlooking Sydney harbor's narrow entrance, and, The Pacific. The views of the cliffs, the rocks below, the sea, sailboats evidently racing in the distance, were superb. I had not before seen the Pacific, well, the Tasman Sea perhaps, from this particular angle. It was impressive. We walked along the cliffs some distance, then back through the town to the wharf.
One of the Sydney harbor traditions, we were told, was taking the ferry to Watson's Bay and then having a meal at Doyles', a fairly legendary (and very large and popular) seafood restaurant on the water. We had been promising ourselves a real steak (CBA) for some months and had determined that Australia would be the place for it. The menu at Doyles' is almost entirely seafood—but Vicki had the one non-seafood item, a filet (and shared a few bites) while I had the seafood sampler. The surf and turf aspect thus required I sample both red and white Australian wines. The sauvignon blanc was excellent; the shiraz OK.
We re-barked and rode the ferry back west through the harbor, stopping at Luna Park, McMahon St., and Balmain East, a residential area, where we got off and strolled (and scavenged) a bit. Back on the ferry we rode to Darling Harbor, on the other side of the main CBD, and walked nearly its length of shops, restaurants, pubs, museums, the IMAX, and more. Sundown (note alpenglow on the buildings around Darling Harbor) found us taking the last ferry back to Circular Quay, then the metro back to the Y. Two wonderful tourist days.
I am still wondering what the downside of Sydney is. Cruising the harbor as we did, there was no evidence of ugliness. Even the old wharfs have been gentrified, converted to condos, etc. Surely there are poor neighborhoods and poor people. They are not easy for the casual tourist to find, however. Vicki observed that the downside, so far as we are concerned, is the cost of everything. 2U$D for a coke, at 7-11. 3$ for coffee anywhere. Our hotel room, at the YWCA, FCS, was our steepest such yet.
Monday we packed, breakfasted (the Y has great granola), metro'd back to the Rocks to pick up a few purchase items we liked, and then re-visited both the Royal Botanical Garden and the art museum, especially the contemporary Melanesian section. We walked back along the south side of Hyde Park, affording me the opportunity to visit the Cathedral. I now am reading Pillars of the Earth. Plus I really like visiting churches where you don't have to take your shoes off.
Australia. We seriously considered extending our stay here. In our earlier planning, we had decided to short-shrift Australia. New Zealand is more compact, more interesting to us. Australia is vast (and expensive), and the interesting bits, to us, are spread all over a continent. But we are already compiling a list of places to which we might like to return: China, especially western China, the Everest region (the Chinese side), Thailand. And now Australia. When we come back, perhaps we'll rent or buy a camper, and stay a while.
Vicki adds:
December 14—Sydney
We really enjoyed our last days in Bangkok—a very livable city, but too many shopping opportunities. The amount of clothing for sale boggles the imagination—even in a city of 12 million plus tourists, I don't see how they could ever sell half of it.
We had an overnight flight to Sydney and Mark and I each had a row to ourselves. I have been reading Myer's Twilight series and so didn't get much sleep, but I got a lot read. I've finished all four now and I can see why they have been so popular. My ebook has been on the fritz so that has been a disappointment. Hopefully, I can get it working again in New Zealand.
Sydney has been expensive but wonderful. Everything here is about double what costs were in Bangkok. Hotel with breakfast—Bk $46. Syd--$100. Coke $1 vs. $2 etc. However, still much less expensive than a US or European city. Also, many things here are free. We are staying in the YWCA Hotel which is very close in. Yesterday we walked to the harbor and back without too much travail. Sydney has a huge park right on the harbor next to the Opera House. Part of it is the Royal Botanical Garden and also the Art Museum. Both were free and we barely saw 10% of each. Today we bought an all day transport pass and took the metro to the Quay (pronounced key) and then two different ferries around the harbor to other areas. Only $12 each. We had scones and tea at The Rocks (oldest settled area) and visited the weekend market. Fabulous booths of unusual handicrafts. I picked out my two Christmas gifts and a gift for Rebecca. I could have bought dozens of different things.
I am sure Mark will elaborate in his blog on the rest of our day. Australia is definitely on our “return again” list. It would be a great place to rent a camper and travel around for a couple of months. Tomorrow afternoon we are off to Auckland.
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