Day 68-69: Sydney – Basically Being Back Home
I finally left the disappointment that was Cairns, amid a
cool morning rainstorm. This is good evidence supporting my theory that I found
the Cairns weather fine (and therefore the cancellation of my tours doubly
disappointing) because I got up after the worst was over. Leaving Cairns ends
my final visit to a beach-type town, after already going to Phuket, Penang and
Goa. Cairns is the last one. From here on out, it is major cities. Not that I
have a problem with that, because it was fun to be in a place where you can
easily waste time without getting wet and getting sand stuck in your shoes. I
had an uneventful flight to Sydney where I was, shockingly, actually able to
get a good sleep. Of course, it was a two hour forty-five minute flight, so
it’s not like I was getting a full night’s sleep.
The Sydney airport is quite impressive. I guess it should
be, being the major entry-way into Australia, but those major gateways are
usually crowded and old (Heathrow). They actually had a sense to put a few
train stations in the airport. Of course, it costs 15.60 to go anywhere from
the airport (my stop was three stops in, but it is a flat fare when you leave
the airport). The train was quick, and the walk to my hostel was as quick, and
within 90 minutes from me landing, I was checking in and getting the free Wi-Fi
code. The room is small, but clean and the location is quite good, in
theoretical walking distance from downtown (about a 30-40 minute walk to the
Opera House), and five minutes from Central Station.
I had booked a dinner cruise around the Sydney Harbor, which
departs from King Street Wharf at 7:30, giving me about four hours to play
with. That whole area is the more interesting part of Sydney during the day, so
I took a cab earlier to Darling Harbor, which houses King Street Wharf to its
northern side. I took a quick tour of the area and then found my spot, the King
Street Brewhouse, a craft beer emporium in the heart of Kings Street Wharf.
Being a Thursday evening, it was reasonably crowded with the after-work crowd.
The place served craft beer from three different breweries, and they had a
‘tasting paddle’ giving four tastings. Since they had about 20 craft beers to
choose from, this shouldn’t have been a problem, but seemingly none of the
beers were available, and I was left getting my first two choices and then
about choice 6 and 10. Thankfully, the ones that were available were still
quite good, especially their Wood Duck Cream Ale, which was about as drinkable
as any beer ever.
I put on a decent buzz, which made my dinner cruise a lot
more enjoyable. The meal aboard the Sydney 2000 (the newest boat in the Captain
Cook company that did this cruise) was a 3-course set meal. I got Australian
Fried Prawn for an appetizer (entrée, in their terms), and then an Australian
Lamb Shank, which was cooked really well as the meat was just falling off the
bone, and then a ‘chocolate tower’ for dessert. I don’t know if what it was fit
the name ‘chocolate tower’ but it was still quite good. The whole meal service
was done after about 45 minutes of the two-and-a-half hour cruise, so it left a
lot of time to wander on the top-deck, an open air deck great for pictures and
just enjoying the calm wind. The view from the Sydney harbor is quite stunning,
especially when the boat rides past the Sydney Opera House and under the Sydney
Harbor Bridge. We reached back to shore around 10:00, at which point I
befriended a group of Russian youths (probably between 22-30 years of age), and
we went to a local bar to drink some of the night away. Despite their inherent
genetic advantages, I was able to hold my own. I returned back to the hostel
around 1:30 AM, ready for a busy day tomorrow.
Since there is no midday sun to escape, I can actually sleep
in and get a full day’s work of sightseeing in Sydney. I had booked two tours,
the first a lunch at the revolving restaurant at Sydney Tour, and the other was
a tour of the Sydney Opera House. The first was at 1:00 (good for a 90-minute
stay at the revolving buffet), and the other was at 3:00 (which gave me a good
30 minutes to get from one to the other). The lunch was at the Sydney Tower,
the large, CN Tower, type building in the heart of the CBD. Like the Menara KL,
or the Marina Bay Sands, the deal for a meal at the revolving restaurant is a
better value buy than just going to the observatory deck. I felt this when I
reserved my spot for lunch, and after seeing the lunch and eating it, I think
it even more.
Their buffet lunch had a really impressive spread. There was
a salad and seafood bar for appetizers, and about 12 main dish options, most
with different meats, and most presented in very different and appetizing ways.
They even had kangaroo! Now, some of these sounded and looked better than they
tasted, but overall, the meal was filling and combined with the sight from the
top of the tower, not a terrible deal at all. The view from the revolving
restaurant was perfect on a clear Sydney day. I got great pictures of the
harbor (only the view of the Opera House was slightly obstructed by a building
in front of it), the sporting area, the airport, the harbor bridge, and
everything in between.
I left around 2:15, and decided to walk to the opera house,
since it wasn’t too hot nor too far (about 2 km). Of course, I got slightly
lost, giving me some nervous moments as I wondered if I would make it in time
for the 3:00 tour. The area of Sydney near the Tower (who’s base is the
Westfield Mall) is quite nice, with pedestrian only streets filled with all the
action that I’m used to from New York. Further afield becomes very corporate
(again, not unfamiliar), but the area immediately before the Opera House is a
large park. The Opera House is quite a stunning figure, growing larger and
gleaming more heavily as I approached it. The tour started below the street, at
the base of the Opera House, where we met our funny but a little too zany tour
guide, Mark.
The tour covered all of the major stops, including one of
the two smaller theatres and both of the major concert halls (one opera/ballet,
one orchestra). Mark explained the different structural elements that were
added to make the acoustics perfect. The main feeling I got when walking
through the Opera House was how simple it was. Inside, there are no fancy
walls, paintings, ceilings. In fact, the inside looks very much like the
outside, but with walls and a ceiling. There is the same exposed concrete and
tile feel, the same minimalist design. It is only until you escape inside one
of the halls that you see the regality of the Opera House. The main two Halls
are designed pretty perfectly. We were lucky enough to be able to sit in on
live rehearsals, so I got to hear what those great acoustics actually
accomplish. When we left the tour, Mark told us about the opportunity to see a
show at the Opera House for half price. Of course, it was at one of the smaller
theatres, but I went for that opportunity.
After the tour ended, I had about an hour to kill before the
show (Shakespeare’s Henry IV), so I went on one of Sydney’s many walks, through
the botanical gardens. While I’m usually not a fan of such greenery when it isn’t
in my Mom’s backyard, the Gardens are neatly packed into the little inlet off
to the side of the Opera House, giving beautiful views of the Sydney Harbor.
Sydney truly is a beautiful city, one that reminds me a lot of San Francisco
with its Harbor area, or even Chicago (though I’m not really sure why). I
reached back just in time for the show, which I appreciated to the exact same
extent that I appreciated Shakespeare when I was in High School.
After the play ended around 6:30, I headed back to the
hostel taking the train from the Circular Quay Station, briefly debating
whether to first have a drink at the harborfront. Surprisingly, I decided
against it which goes against much of my behavior during this trip. I guess as
this trip nears its conclusion, I am starting to grow up. Of course, my actions
that night go a long way in disproving that theory. One of my cousins from the US
was in Australia on work, and was spending the weekend in Sydney. Because of
the trappings of a modern work environment, there was a better opportunity of
us meeting in our three overlapping days in Sydney than our seven in Melbourne.
I met in medias res for dinner inside the Westfield Mall,
which despite this being Friday Night was absolutely empty. We finished dinner
and left for our night out. Because there is a nonzero chance that his wife
reads this (and a far closer to the opposite of non zero chance that if she
does she will know who this is), I will be slightly discreet. We first went
back to the waterfront area that I had my Russian Experience the night before.
This time, we got a drink at the King Street Brewery, and then, saddened by the
fact that the place was no more crowded on a Friday than it was on a Thursday,
left for Cargo Bar, a semi-outdoor bar/club on the waterfront a few meters
down. The place was hopping, full with youths having a jolly good time. We had
a mixed experience with our first order of ‘Vodka’ and ‘Scotch’, but mainly
because the cute waitress (pretty standard in Australia) poured us some strange
label that was the same name for both. After, we decided to take control and
ask for a certain type, to better results.
The place was fun, and I continued to enjoy the fact that
Australians are generally nice people, extremely out-and-easy-going. We left
Cargo around 12:30, set for a little more adventure, so after a quick Google
Search, we headed off to Oxford Street, which is more centrally located. The
place was called the Oxford Art Gallery, and was thankfully both not an Art
Gallery, or the type of night spot that that name would suggest (some hipster,
artsy place). It was really a large underground establishment split into two
areas, one being a guest-list-only club and the other being a large bar with a
dance floor. It was more claustrophobic while more intimate than Cargo, a
change of pace that was welcome. We were both a little concerned that we had
left a perfectly good place in Cargo for a great unknown, but Oxford Art
Gallery proved to be quite good.
My only complaint was that they didn’t know what an ‘Irish
Car Bomb’ was. The other was that they seemingly stopped listening to music
around 2006, but it was interesting to listen to ‘Hollaback Girl’ and race back
in my mind to 2005, when my friends and I would say ‘The Shit is Bananas,
B-A-N-A-N-A-S’ way too much. Once again, the place was full of everything I
enjoy about the US, except for cheaper drinks. My cousin, being the adult,
decided to end the night (to give him credit, it was around 2:30 when we left –
so he wasn’t being too much of an adult), but not after stopping next door to
get some drunk eats, with both of us getting Doner Kebabs. Even the drunk food
is the same in Sydney.
I returned to my hotel around 3:00, too awake to go to
sleep, and did what I usually do and tried to sober up before hitting the hay.
It was around then that I thought about my first two days in Sydney. In one
sense, many parts of my time in Sydney were analogous to what I could do in
other cities in the US. But there is a sense is Australia that is different.
People are friendlier. People are nicer. Everyone’s a ‘mate’, everyone’s
looking to just have a good time. Maybe it is because I’m on vacation and
looking for the same thing, but Australia certainly seems like a place where
looking for a good time is a damn good way to live, and not that difficult to
find.
