Advertisement
Published: September 29th 2005
Edit Blog Post
Hey, we're back already. We thought that since we'd been spending the last five days exploring downtown Sydney, the city merited its own blog entry. The place is fantastic (though a tad expensive). It reminds us so much of Vancouver: clean, nice newer architecture, that "urban feel", and of course, the rain. The weather for the last few days has been a photographer's (Sarah's) nightmare. This morning when we woke up, we looked out the window and saw sunny, blue skies. By the time we'd showered and dressed and got outside, it became extremely windy and then decided to POUR down rain. At least it caught all the Aussies by surprise too, so we didn't look like wet idiots. So we fled back inside the hostel for a few moments, paid our rent, and came outside to windy but sunny skies again! Weird.
We've been walking so much the last few days that our feet are constantly sore, but it's been worth it. Our travels along the tourist circuit here in the downtown have been full of interesting things: we've been to the Hyde Park barracks to see an exhibit of the first settlers (convicts) of Australia, took a great
Opera House front
Is there a dress code? double decker sightseeing bus around the city, hit the "serene" Chinese garden (read: noisy construction), been to see the new IMAX movie called "Fighter Pilot" (Nick loved this one), walked through many interesting neighbourhoods including the red light district, and just today went to the maritime museum where we were able to enter a decommissioned submarine and tour an older destroyer.
There's just so much to spend your money on here! (Don't worry, they're always very helpful with this)
At the barracks (convict) museum, there descriptions of the lives of many of the first convicts from all over England and Ireland. The idea of transporting convicts to Australia to relieve the packed jails in England was adopted within 10-15 years of the mapping of the Australian coastline...they didn't waste any time. Some of the offenses that warranted transportation were as light as thieving some shoes or a piece of bread. Interestingly, they'd been doing the same thing, sending convicts to the North American colonies (US and Canada) until some upstarts in 1776 threw tea overboard and made a scene. There was also a database of convict names and cities of origin to look through, and Nick was convinced
Great way to see the city
Can you feel the wind in your hair? that there must be a Melville in there somewhere, but alas, nothing. "Those Melvilles get away with everything".
The double-decker bus trip was something we'd always regarded as a little cheesy, but in this instance it really was the best way to see the city for the first time. Nick was adamant that we had to take the double-decker bus as opposed to the Greyhound style bus, because he desperately wanted to sit on top and "feel the wind in his hair, like a dog" (Sarah). It was great to get the 24-hour ticket and tour the complete narrated circuit, which only takes about an hour and a half, then decide which areas looked like the best to visit. Once we'd decided, we have since been walking all over the city to these areas, and tiring ourselves out in the process.
If you google Sydney for maps you'll see the Darling Harbour area, which is where a whole complex of tourist sites are located, including the IMAX, Chinese garden, maritime museum, and the aquarium. Not much to tell about the IMAX, they're the same around the world really...but if you get a chance, Nick recommends Fighter Pilot. The
The Vampire and Onslow
I think this is bigger than the whole Canadian fleet. (Ahem, just kidding Bruce) Chinese garden was funded in part by the Chinese government in 1988 as a gift to the Aussies for their bicentennary. It reminds us a lot of Dr. Sun Yat Sen's garden in Vancouver, with a nice big, Koi-filled lake in the centre and a serene walkway around it. The serenity was periodically annihilated by the rhythmic sounds of a pneumatic drill as they completed renovations on parts of it. As a result our yin was a little off kilter though we managed to salvage our yang. Whew.
Today, we visited the maritime museum in the morning, so Nick could finally go into the submarine he'd been salivating over for two or three days as we walked by it. One ticket allowed us to get into both the Vampire (Australian navy destroyer) and the Onslow (navy sub). The sub was, like the country of Ecuador, made for us. Our size didn't hamper us as much as some of the other taller tourists. But the "please watch your head and feet while walking through the bulkheads" was a little daunting for Nick. It was fascinating to see just how economical people can be with their space! The on-board information guides
stationed at different locations within the sub had actually served on subs, and so could tell interesting stories or answer questions regarding life on board. Nick couldn't help but constantly picture in his mind the movie "Das Boot". After the Galapagos trip, we were glad we weren't serving on a sub, because they mentioned that when surfaced the sub didn't just rock back and forth, it CORKSCREWED. Not too sure what that feels like, but it probably sends everyone to the nearest "head".
Sarah particularly enjoyed walking around the destroyer, because she kept picturing her uncle Bruce in the captain's chair. The destroyer was originally commissioned in 1959, and so had that Second World War feel to it wherever you walked....we're pretty sure the equipment we saw (especially the computers) looks a little different on newer ships. But it was still very cool!
This afternoon we finally had some blue sky so Sarah made us run all the way down to the waterfront to take pictures of the Opera House (of which we already had 10 pictures, but none apparently with the perfect backdrop). It is a fascinating building, even up close. So many different angles and views from
the foot of the building looking up definitely keep you busy for a while as you walk around. Sarah made sure to watch where she was walking (ie no open manholes) before proceeding to take pictures this time.
On the way back to our hostel from the Opera House we stopped off at the Botanical Garden, but there wasn't much to see at this time of year apparently. In the tropical greenhouses, Nick was a little put off by the water constantly spraying throughout (his glasses quickly became wet, foggy and useless)....thank god we didn't go to the Amazon!
So after all that, we're quickly running out of tourist destinations here in the downtown, so we're thinking of taking the train up to Brisbane in a few days. First of course, we still have to call around about farmstays, since our initial emails of a couple of days ago haven't yet been answered.
And so our trip in Australia thus far remains as changeable as the weather in Sydney.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.12s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 11; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0981s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Brian
non-member comment
So Jealous
Hey Nick and Sarah! I'm glad to be hearing your stories so often. I must admit to being jealous, especially of your time in Oz. Don't forget to enjoy a XXXX or six for me when you go north! Miss ya here in Vancouver!