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A Sunny Sunday in Sydney I left Peter and Helen's house on Sunday morning (Peter even washed my windshield for me – what a guy!) and drove into Australia's largest city, Sydney, thus completing my two-month, 9,000-mile drive around the country. Although I'd spent my first few days in Australia on the periphery of Sydney, I didn't have a chance to check it out then because I was too busy getting ready for my upcoming drive around the country.
I was flying out of Sydney International Airport the next morning, so I had exactly one afternoon to see the city. I figured that would be enough time since, not being a real "city person," I didn't have high expectations for Sydney. My impression of Sydney from my brief visit there in February wasn't very favorable. It seemed to be a lot like Los Angeles: big, hot, sprawling, and smoggy.
After heading across the Harbor Bridge on Sunday morning, I drove smack dab into the middle of downtown Sydney. I was glad this was a Sunday and traffic was light because the street system in downtown Sydney is pretty convoluted, a holdover from the early settlement days. I quickly realized that Sydney, like Boston, isn't a good place to drive around if you don't know where you're going, and I definitely didn't. Melbourne was big, too, but at least the streets there were in a grid pattern and laid out logically.
I drove around downtown Sydney for about 20 minutes looking for a parking garage, too busy driving to glance at my map and figure out where the heck I was. Finally, though, I saw a sign for an underground garage at a place called the Queen Victoria Building. I was harried from the drive and not especially looking forward to exploring Sydney, but I figured I better or else I might regret it.
And I'm really glad I did.
I spent the next six hours walking through Sydney and discovered that it's an absolutely fascinating city. I could've spent weeks here. The most interesting part is Sydney's Old Town section, a district called "The Rocks." This area juts out into Sydney Harbor with lots of curving cobblestone streets and charming old brick buildings. From the Rocks, you can stroll across the 70-year old Harbor Bridge. If you're adventurous, you can walk up inside one of the bridge turrets for a great view of the city. And if you're REALLY adventurous and have 50 bucks (I'm not and I didn't) you can join a guided "Bridge Walk" and walk on TOP of the entire bridge from one side of Sydney Harbor to the other. You can do the same thing now, incidentally, on the long bridge in Auckland.
For legal reasons, I'm sure, they don't have these kind of bridge walks in the U.S., which is a shame because I'd imagine that walking on top of, say, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco would be pretty awesome. That's one of the major differences between the U.S. and Australia, by the way: lawsuits. Compared to America, Australia and New Zealand are not litigious countries at all. Folks in New Zealand and Australia take a lot more responsibility for their actions and, unlike a lot of Americans, don't go whining to a lawyer or judge every time something bad happens to them, which is a refreshing attitude.
Along with The Rocks and the harbor bridge, the newer sections of downtown Sydney are also quite interesting. I spent a half-hour wandering around the outside of the the fabled Sydney Opera House, one of the most famous icons of Australia, and thought that was pretty cool, too. After a few hours I decided that I really liked Sydney.
Above left: Sydney from above. Above center: Inside the AMP Tower where you can get a 360-degree view of Sydney. I don't know what AMP stands for – and neither did the AMP Tower tour guide! Above right: At Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens, with the AMP Tower in the background. The lion statue didn't know what AMP stands for, either. Completing the Loop Although the day was sunny and pleasant, for the first time during my visits to Australia and New Zealand, it was a little chilly and the sun lingered low on the horizon, all of which made me automatically think of – football season! But wait, this wasn't September, it was April. Oh that's right, I was in the southern hemisphere. It's funny how fall weather makes you think about football, even if it is April. With winter fast approaching here in Australia, this was a good time, I decided, to head back the U.S.
I walked back to the parking garage at dusk regretting having only a single afternoon to visit Sydney because, as I say, I could have spent a whole week there. I made one last stop that evening, at a street-side cafe to buy a "meat pie." In case you've never seen one, a meat pie is a small pie stuffed with meat, gravy, and potatoes, and completely enclosed in a flaky crust. Back in the U.S. they're called "pastys," (not to be confused with "pasties," which are what female strippers wear in certain intimate places – but not that I would know about that).
I'd seen meat pies advertised nearly everywhere I went in Australia during the past two months but, for some reason, I hadn't eaten one yet. The night before, Peter had told me about meat pies so I decided to try one and, actually, it was pretty darn good – better than a pasty (and much better than a pastie). So as I walked back to my car that evening, I decided that next time I visited the wonderful country of Australia, I would:
Above left: The Hyde Park water fountain on a Sydney Sunday afternoon. Above center: And, of course, the famous Sydney Opera House. Above right: Sydneysiders affectionately call the Harbor Bridge "The Coat Hanger" because, well, that's what it looks like. It was built in 1932 and links the south side of Sydney Harbor (left) with the north side (right).
Above left: Those little specks on top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge are people. For about US$50, you can climb across the top of the bridge. Above center: The Circular Quay and the Sydney waterfront. Above right: The Sydney Opera House from the Harbor Bridge.
Above left: Another shot of the Harbor Bridge and a few bridge climbers. Above right: These are among the few Aborigines I saw in the eastern cities of Australia. There are lots of Aborigines in the rural Outback but relatively few in the large urban areas of Australia. It's similar to the situation with Native Americans in the U.S., I suppose.
Above left: The circular quay on the Sydney waterfront. Above center: I got a meat pie here in the Queen Victoria Building on the way back to my car. I had a great time in Sydney and wish I could've spent more time here – and eaten more meat pies. Above right: Packing up in my tiny hotel room near the Sydney airport that evening, getting ready for my flight back to America the next morning. This was my last night in the wonderful country of Australia.
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