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Sydney is a gorgeous city. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. It really works out well for me that I have my own personal travel photographer that can capture images such as these.
For much of the city we've done the tourist thing. Botanical Gardens, Opera House, Circular Quay, Fish Market, Aquarium, Taronga Zoo, the Rocks, walks from Bondi to Bronte to Coogee. The beaches were stellar (although we haven't swam - yet), the attractions were touristy. To be honest, that's what I was really looking for.
Sydney is very similar to Toronto (better public transit system). Wide ranges of multiculturalism - albeit sectioned off from one another. Ranging from the obvious Chinatown to the more discreet Spanish Quarter. What I've seen of the Australian culture so far is fare, as in food. It's truly strange to see a culture so centralised around food and yet so fit. While walking around the city we were constantly accosted (read: made to feel guilty) by people of all ages jogging, and always a constant stream. This forces the question, does anyone in this city actually work?
My biggest challenge so far in this city has been to meet an actual Australian. It seems that they don't exist. It only happened on one night where I was able to get together with a true Australian friend of mine (who did an exchange at Queen's).
I don't know if we've been incredibly lucky this far, or that my preconceived notion of people around the world was completely wrong. I can only say that we have received nothing shy of the best hospitality I have ever experienced. From Vancouver to Sydney, the people that have put us up and fed us, to those that have taken us out (on what essentially are complete blind dates) to show us the Sydney night life, I can only say THANK YOU! And please come to Canada, so I/we can reciprocate what you have done for us.
We have come up to our next change of plans. We were able to book the Milford Track, which, similar to the Grand Canyon, is required to be done ahead of time (as in months). However, we were able to book a tramp for November 10, humbaby! The Milford Track is meant to be amongst the top 3 hikes in the world. We couldn't make it all the way there and not do it, given our outdoor passions. So it looks like we're headed to New Zealand to explore. We leave on Hallowe'en to fly into Christchurch on the South Island (scratch the idea of being a terrorist for a Hallowe'en costume). However, after some correspondence with friends in Melbourne, it turns out that now is the best time to see EVERYONE. So, I'm headed to Melbourne tomorrow for a week and Kev is staying in Sydney. So we'll meet in Christchurch on Hallowe'en.
Look out Melbourne, here I come!
previous travel blog entry
Snarf says:
All sounds sweet, although I hope 'book a tramp' means something different down under!