Slick Sydney

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After landing at Sydney airport we made our way into town by train, heading for Martin’s Place where we had agreed to meet a friend Linda. We met Linda in India whilst on our Tibetan Massage Course and she had kindly offered us her place to stay for a few days, thus avoiding the extortionate prices and often unfriendly atmosphere of a city backpackers. Martin’s Place is right in the middle of the central business district and with corporate suits surrounding us as people rushed home on a Thursday night we looked very conspicuous with our shorts, flip-flops and backpacks. It was another stark contrast with the laid back westcoast life we had got used to over the weeks and reminded us of the working world we had left behind.

Whilst not working as a PA, Linda studies Tibetan Philosophy and was taking part in a Tibetan candlelit vigil at Martin’s place that night to support the local Tibetan community campaigning for the release of the disappeared Panchen Lama (second-highest-ranking lama after the Dalai Lama) who was allegedly abducted by the Chinese government in 1995. After a couple of candles we headed by bus to Linda’s place in Glebe and we spent the evening catching up. It was Linda’s Dad’s 60th at the weekend so Linda had to leave and arrange things the next morning, telling us to make ourselves at home.

We went walkabout, heading toward the city for what turned out to be a long day on our feet. One of the first landmarks we passed was the main library where Captain Flinders’ intrepid cat Trim is immortalized. We knew about the cat and Flinders’ circumnavigation of Australia from the book “Flinders’ Cat” - a good read if you come across it, mixing history with the recovery of a modern day alcoholic lawyer…. After that we walked through the Botanic gardens with its fruit bats and down to the water’s edge and the Opera house and the Harbour Bridge. Then it was back through ‘The Rocks’, Darling Harbour and a slow walk home via the supermarket. Enjoying having a kitchen to cook in and the luxury of a sofa we settled down to watch ‘Supersize me’ and felt suitably bad about all the burgers that we had eaten in Beijing.

On Saturday we met up with another fellow Indian traveler Joseph and his girlfriend Anika. Both ex-university students, they knew their way around town and showed us the more cultural sights, rather than the usual tourist spots. First stop was Glebe Market a bustling little place full of arty crafts and clothes. Lexa was overjoyed to find some secondhand jeans for $10 and be able to wear something other than those travelling essentials, her nerdy convertible walking trousers! It was also a great place for buying gifts and novelty items for the home but for us backpackers a place to look and remember what it was like to have money. Then it was through the Uni grounds, a quick look at some of the winners from a recent press photo competition and onto the studenty area of Newtown, where Geoff managed to compete on the fashion stakes and find some jeans in a charity shop!

After relaxing in the local park with the papers and a pie, Joseph drove us to Bondi for a walk along the beach and an extremely cheap beer in the RSL (Returned/Retired Servicemans League) that had a fantastic view over the beach. That evening we were treated to an amazing slap-up meal at a French restaurant called Sel et Poivre, a wonderful treat for two travelers used to cheap pasta and potatoes! A few beers later in a bar downtown we were feeling quite sophisticated in our newly acquired clothes and it felt more like being back home than anything we had experienced since we left in July, about 9 months earlier.

The next day Linda returned home and we went down to the markets near Darling Harbour and spent a few hours lazing in the sun, before enjoying a meal together back in Glebe and readying ourselves for a very early start the next morning for our flight to New Zealand...

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