Sydney - the greatest city in the world

Sydney is everything I had hoped for, and more.  And by more, I mean more money.  This is one spendy city.  But despite the high cost of nearly everything, Brian and I have decided that it now ranks #1 as our favorite city in the world.

After all the rain we experienced in NZ, we were excited to get to a warm, dry, and in fact a  drought-stricken country.  Wouldn't you know that our first days here were cloudy and cold?  And our second day here there was a huge thunderstorm, it was raining so hard the locals just stood in doorways looking into the street in amazement.  The streets turned into rivers.  We're starting to think that perhaps we can hire out our services to bring rain to all drought-stricken areas of the world.  We manage to bring rain everywhere we travel.

Again, I can't say enough what a beautiful city Sydney is.  Our first morning here we walked from our hostel to the Opera  House, and it's something I'll never forget.  Our walk first took us through their Royal Botanic Gardens, a huge park full of tropical trees, cockatoos, fruit  bats, and flowers.  As strolled  around a corner, the Opera House and iconic Sydney Harbor bridge came into view.  I hate to sound cheesy, but it was breathtaking, astounding, heart-stopping, beyond words.  Once I finally caught my breath, I realized with mild disappointment that it was smaller than anticipated.  When we finally got up close to it, it looked much larger like I'd expected. 

We've kept very busy in our 5 days here.  We took the one hour Opera House tour (and saved $10 per person by booking the 9am early bird tour online).  We also visited the Sydney Aquarium, (saved 20% with our YHA discount) which was good but nothing near as great as the Monterey Aquarium in CA.  The final display at the aquarium was the best part, it's all about the Great Barrier Reef and has a huge display of sharks and fish with a seating area where you just sit, relax, listen to the music, and watch the fish.  One afternoon we walked on the Harbor bridge.  A popular activity here is called "Bridgeclimb" where you pay between $169-$250 to climb up on the very tippy-top of the bridge in special windsuits (no cameras allowed - you have to buy their overpriced photo CD at the end).  Brian and I opted for the $9 pylon climb, where you go up into the top of the pylon (nearly as tall as the  tippy-top of the bridge), and are free to take pictures to your hearts content.  While up there, I got a great picture of me and the Opera House, which is a sure winner for the Jake's Pizza t-shirt contest.  We also went to the top of the Sydney Tower (saved 20% with our YHA card) and enjoyed the views of the city and harbor.

Another of our activities was suggested to us by Bernie, Brian's Australian Chiropractor friend.  He told us to take a ferry to a place called Watson's Bay, and while there eat fish and chips at a restaurant called Doyle's.  We arrived at Watson's Bay an hour before Doyle's opened, so we killed the time by taking a very scenic walk around the area on cliffs overlooking the harbor and the South Pacific Ocean.  Our walk brought us by Lady Bay, which is the local nude beach.  Brian took off down the stairs leading to the beach, then suddenly came running back up towards me with a look of horror on his face - there were indeed nude people on the beach.  Very old, saggy, nude MEN.  At noon we got a table at Doyle's which was outside on the patio looking towards downtown Sydney.  It was absolutely lovely.  The waiter handed us menus, Brian opened his, and for the second time in one day I saw a look of horror on his face.  There were 4 kinds of fish and chips on the menu, and their prices ranged between $32-37!  We sat there in quiet shock for a few minutes.  Then Brian started cursing Bernie, thinking of all the ways he could get revenge from about 9,000 miles from  home.  In the end we decided to share an order, which was fine as the portion was generous (thank goodness, it darn well better be for $32) and it was absolutely delicious. 

Speaking of being 9,000 miles from home......  After lunch we wandered around killing time before our ferry back to Sydney.  I noticed a retired couple staring at us as we walked toward them.  Then the lady spoke "Mankato?  We're from Moorehead!".  I was wearing my Jake's pizza t-shirt and she saw the Mankato, MN address on it.  We spent quite some time chatting with them - turns out they were there on vacation visiting their daughter who is currently living in Sydney.  She works for Carlson Companies, and was transferred there for a 3-month work assignment.  How fun would that be? 

One last thought on Sydney, then I must attend to some laundry.  We have walked, and walked, and walked, then walked some more.  I'd say we're doing at least 5 miles per day.  We now realize how lazy we got by driving everywhere in Goldie. 

Anne

PS - if you are wondering where the pictures are, be patient.  They should be on shortly........