Sydney

Sydney Opera House
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I have lapsed a little on my blog updates, sorry folks, but it doesn’t mean we aren’t still having adventures, they just haven’t recently been much more than the garden variety New City Exploring kind, and since Sydney is like just about any big city in the States, cleaner perhaps, it hasn’t put up much in the way of exotic adventure. We have been in Sydney for almost 7 days now, Couchsurfing at our new friend Davey’s house far outside of the center of town. The commute to the city is a small adventure in itself I guess, one has to walk through neatly managed wetlands and past a suburban mall to get to an arterial that blasts its way down a very scenic stretch of Aussie (pronounced Ozzie by the way) coastline. A bus is caught either for a 40 minute trip into the city, or you have the option of taking an alternate route to a ferry which sails through picturesque bays and abrupt and dramatic cliffs with houses situated precariously on top. A mini-adventure, that is to say a potential brush with death, was averted one night as we walked back from the bus and Magda stopped me from stumbling over the infamous Red Backed Spider, the second most dangerous spider in Australia. It looked to be making a web across the sidewalk to entrap Americans and other people foolish enough to walk, not drive.

The Opera and the Bridge
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Sydney Harbor is the most famous harbor is Australia and perhaps in the world. For good reason. Centered around “Circular Quay”, the sight of the original settlement, the harbor offers incredible views in all directions, most views include the famous Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. On a sunny day (most days) ferries bring in commuters from all parts of the harbor and its surrounding bays, the morning sun sparkling on the gentle rippling surface of the shark infested waters, the Opera House bathed in morning gold. The Bridge spans the Harbor like a welcome home banner. It wouldn’t be hard coming to work in Sydney. My Dad puts it rightly when he describes the city as “Seattle on Steroids”, though Sydney’s hills leave something to be desired in comparison and the mountains are AWOL. We spent most of our days walking through the area called The Rocks, which are the last remnants of  the early foundations of the city. Like Seattle, and much of America, these shreds of history are lovingly documented and preserved. Each historical building has a plaque describing the original purpose, the name of the occupants, etc. It puts the city in great historical context to read about the settlers and immigrants of this young country and see the buildings they made for themselves, reflections of home wrought of the sandstone of their adopted land. One small bungalow still sits relatively alone, looking very much like a tiny English hut hunkered down by the North Sea. Though it is now in a little quay-side park, its informative little plaque said that at one point it was a beach front cabin with sand at its front step. It is a reminder that Circular Quay used to be nothing more than a very pretty beach.

Bondi Beach, Shaped Like a Toenail
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Sydney is dotted with some of the most perfect beaches in the world within its limits. Cool crystal clear surf glows azure and honey as it rolls against kilometers of soft sand. The waves are generally big enough to surf, or to learn to surf though we haven’t braved them yet. On one of our first days we walked for two hours from Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach along cliff tops and through amazingly situated neighborhoods. At one point the trail skirts between the cliff edge and a cemetery that is located high up on multi-million dollar real estate, overlooking the Tasman Sea. When we reached Bondi, the most famous stretch of sand in Oz, we plunged in for a swim. One bit of excitement we got up to at Bondi was the end of Magda’s toenail saga. It is a drama that started in the Himalayas and ended at there in Bondi. During our trek of the Annapurna trail, Magda bashed her toe, probably on the front of her boot. It gradually turned blue and then died. After months of watching the drawn out demise of her poor toenail it finally, in Thailand, started to come off. It is as disturbing as it sounds to see a detaching big toenail. We kept it wrapped up like a toe mummy for many moons, wrapping and re-wrapping it to keep it well protected, and to fool ourselves into thinking it would get better. Finally, at Bondi, we made the mistake of asking a lifeguard for a new band-aid and he asked what for. We showed him Magda’s toe and after making a nasty face gave us a picture of his friend’s cut open leg to look at. I don’t know why he did that, but it made us put her toe it perspective. Then he declared he was going to operate. He didn’t ask, he just boiled some scissors and before we could leg it (toe it) out of the life-guard hut, he had cut Magda’s toenail free. It was gross.

The Artist signing a poster of his work
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We visited many museums all of which were impressive. We visited the Gallery of New South Wales where the “Archibald Prize” entries are currently being considered. This is a national portrait contest of living or dead artists of Australian descent. One of the many conditions of the prize is that the subject had to be present during the painting of the portrait. The favorite for the prize is probably Vincent Fantauzzo’s portrait of his friend Heath Ledger, painted just before Ledger’s untimely death in NYC a month or so ago. We attended a public discussion with the artist and were impressed with his charm and forthrightness. He was very honest about his feelings of becoming famous just at the time of his famous friend’s accidental death. One of the many sad stories he told was of trying to send Ledger an email of the finished piece the night he died, only to have the email bounce back. In the crowd were several of Heath Ledger’s friends from school who were obviously still very upset, but had come in support of Fantauzzo and indeed the portrait itself. Here’s a look at it, for now anyway: http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/

Chimps
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Another museum we visited was the Australian Museum, a slightly natty version of the City Museum of Melbourne. They had a fine collection of Monkey portraits hanging in one exhibit, always fun. And as usual in Australian museums it seems, they have a huge collection of Dinosaur bones and models which they’ve artfully constructed to look as menacing as possible. Part of the theatrical effect is, of course, achieved with simulated lightning. It seems this cheap thrill is a standard no matter what museum one visits down under, God help Heath Ledger’s portrait if it should ever be added to a permanent collection here.

Inside the Opera
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On our final full day in Sydney we woke up early at took a tour of the Opera House, led by an eccentric guide who appeared to be on the edge of mania. The inside of the Opera House is possibly as interesting as the outside. Though designed in the 70s, the interiors look modern and sleek, with granite and wood textures and sweeping views of the harbor. Exposed to view are some of the concrete struts that make up the curving sails of the building, making for interesting textures and a look at the incredible engineering that went in to the construction of the place.

Inside the Opera
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We had two meetups with the Sydney Couchsurfing community and now have a small group of acquaintances in town. None of them have surpassed Davey for his hospitality though, hosting us and another surfer named Lorenzo for many days. After having had such warm hospitality in Melbourne, we couldn’t have expected to be so lucky in Sydney. But we have been. Tomorrow we pack up for New Zealand, temporarily leaving the land of Oz. Today marks the end of our seventh month traveling and getting to New Zealand, much less Australia, at one point felt like it was years ahead of us. But here we are. I think Australia is making us soft though, Asia is a glimmer over our horizon again and we are shaping up to be ripe tomatoes for our return there.