sights of Sydney city, beaches, and suburbs

Another cool day down-under, only about 22 degrees, overcast and very windy. Everybody here is starting to apologize for the ‘bad’ weather, not knowing that we are quite happy with these moderate temperatures. We found a free internet cafe around the corner, family owned and operated “Caffetinis” run by Italians who make a mean old “long black one” and very tasty Turkish sandwiches. Updated our blog, added more pictures and checked our e-mails, undisturbed by other patrons or the staff.

The plan for today was a conference provided sightseeing bus tour through Sydney and surroundings. Promptly at 1 pm we were picked up by driver Brent in a very comfortable Mercedes Sprint. On we went to pick up the only other guests, a mother and son from Coventry, England. We drove through the inner city, along Circular Quay and out into the oldest part of Sydney, called ‘the Rocks’.

"Rock on car on the rocks"
  -  courtesy to Sietan

Sydney was built by the English convicts out of readily available sandstone, and many old buildings have been preserved or brought back to old glory. Many famous old pubs are still around from the earliest times and most popular with the inhabitants as well as tourists from all over the world. Brent gave us a good insight into the history of Sydney and Australia, spiked with many interesting stories about people and country. We drove through Woolloomooloo (say that fast 3 times and then spell it!!) where Russell Crowe (the actor) lives in a renovated shipyard building on the upper 2 floors with sweeping views and direct water access!! Take that for 28 millions!

On we went out to the famous Sydney beaches, most well known of all being Bondi Beach, where the modern life saving movement started around 1906 by 4 sailors who saved many lives over the following years and implemented a life saving protocol that’s now being used all over the world. The surf on most beaches around Sydney is quite big, and many young folks use it for surf boarding. Many beaches have shark nets at the end of each bay, not always successfully preventing shark attacks …
Brent ‘let us out’ of the bus here and there to take pictures and walk around popular areas. We were told about a pub that offered free meals on Thursday nights (heavy drinking is expected) and the gay area of Oxford Street where the pride parade happens every year. A little food shack in the harbour named “Harry’s” has been in service since 1945 and offers late night snacks and famous meat pies to sailors, tourists and late night revellers alike. It is still a shack and an institution in Sydney. VIP's who have frequented "Harry's" over the years were Frank Sinatra and Elton John, who btw has married his German born first wife Marianne here in a quaint and lovely church overlooking Sydney in the early seventies ...

After about 4 hours of sightseeing our tour came to an end – we dropped of the Brits and were delivered to our hotel safe and sound by Brent who had done a marvellous job informing us about Sydney and Australia alike in a very humorous manner.

An observation we made while walking about Sydney: Not only do Australians DRIVE on the left side, they also WALK there. We found that out the hard way, by way of constantly bumping into people or trying to avoid doing this...

Back at the hotel we needed a breather before heading out to dinner and installed ourselves on our lovely airy balcony. Laptops on laps we discovered that the internet worked perfectly fine outside the room without the hotel's password and daily payment of $10!!! Unfortunately there wasn't any table or chair outside. I (Bettina) came up with the most splendid idea, if I may say so myself, to make our internet sessions a bit more comfortable: Erecting the ironing board outside and placing our computers on it made for the perfect little office space where one could also deposit a cup of coffee or a beer... Check the pics for this excellent invention!

After another fabulous Chinese dinner at the neighbouring restaurant we went for Sigi's conference registration at the UTS (University of Technology, Sydney) only a block away from our hotel. Arriving there we were surprised by offerings of glasses of champagne and platters of hors d'oevres passed around by catering staff. The registration went fast and smooth. Sigi got a nice red shoulder bag with all the important conference materials inside and a dog tag with this name on it to wear during the next 3 days. We mixed and mingled with all the other academics, organizers and students and had a good ol' time enjoying the breeze on the roof terrace with great views all around.


Last but not least: Sigi's keen eye spied the yacht WILD OATS - winner once or twice of the Sydney-Hobart race! Here it is:

"Winner 2005 Wild Oats XI ... 2012 Wild Oats XI brushes aside challengers in Sydney to Hobart lead-up ...14-nautical mile race - a traditional Sydney-to-Hobart race lead up event.."

and now to the old and famous ...

Monday morning in Sydney – busy, noisy, hustling and bustling as any big city of the world. We were woken by traffic and construction noise on our street, the Bulwara Road.  After breakfast in the hotel we made our way to the Central Train Station of Sydney on foot in search of the FREE #555 shuttle bus that should take us to

the ‘Circular Quay’,
the Sydney Opera House,
the famous Harbour Bridge and
the Sydney Botanic Garden.

That was the plan. On our way to ‘Grand Central’ we looked for and found the university building where Sigi will be presenting his paper on Friday. Walking to the station we were surprised to cross many little parks with lots of green space, shade providing trees and the ever present ibises. Very nice, in the middle of a big city.

We promptly found the #555 and were whisked in the grass green bus through the inner city with its huge skyscrapers to the ‘Circular Quay’. Immediately upon disembarking we were taken by the sight of the harbour, its famous bridge and the sails of the Opera House. What a view!

 

Many pictures and walkabouts later we went through the back gate into the Botanical Garden, took the red Cho Cho train and got a first impression of the great gardens by way of extensive explanations of our guide Lorna.  We decided to see specific areas again and walked there on foot, having a picnic lunch in between on one of the many benches with a great view of the harbour. I was most impressed by the herb garden that put one almost into a trance with all the intense smells. I took pictures while Sigi took a nap on a bench…

We took the last bus back to the station and walked ‘home’ to rest for a bit before heading out for dinner 2 houses down from the ‘Aspire Hotel’ for a Chinese meal. After dinner we took the monorail and went to Darling Harbour, where we got out and walked around when night fell and all the lights and Christmas decorations came on.

where do the Aussies keep their darlings?

at the docks: Darling Harbour. 

even in the Southern Hemisphere ...

... they are preparing for Christmas,







like painting glas bowls,















nice, ain't they?









and getting pictures taken with Santa (just in case he won't show up at Christmas Eve)











- don't the Aussies have chimneys?

day 2 in Sydney

Sunday, Dec. 9th:

We felt totally refreshed after 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep!! Breakfast around the corner with a "large black coffee" (that's the name and and 'make' - it wakes up the dead and flight wary...) and 'Turkish bread' with our omelette. The city beckoned, so off we went to hit the monorail with "Paddy's Station" not far from our hotel. Around and around we went, 3 times in fact to get a good overview of the sights and finish our conversation with a lovely woman and her son Alexander (5)... Finally we got off at the City Station and went straight to the "Queen Victoria Building" (a kind of antique mall) which harbours endless shops, cafes and restaurants as well as grand Victorian architecture. The lay-out is very cleverly done: Shops are on the left of the walkways and cafe tables and chairs on the right at the railing. That way patrons have the full view of the mall in all directions and stories. In the middle they had placed a huge Christmas tree with real Swarowsky cristalls as decoration. Impressive!

Naturally we walked all around until Sigi went to strike on me and refused to go any further. Lunch was had at one of the many cafes with another "large black one" and a sandwich.

On we went to the Chinese Garden. What a great oasis in the middle of all the hustle and bustle of this big city and right in the middle of it. A very far cry from our Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden in Vancouver, I have to say. At the end of our stroll through the lovely garden we sat down in the Chinese Tea House and had a pot of delicious Jasmine tea which we enjoyed on the terrace with a great view of the "Dragon Wall", weeping willows, breeding ibises and water lillies on the various ponds.

Dinner is still in the works - we have to decide where to go...

first day in Sydney, Australia

Saturday, Dec. 8th:

Here we are - upside down 'downunder' with a lost day to boot (we 'mislaid' Friday the 7th of December) and very very far away from any other meaningful country! Yet, it is surprisingly 'normal' here except for the weather which is quite hot and steamy for us "Northern Lights". First impressions about country and people: Excellent! Sydney is very cosmopolitan and multicultural, has tons of friendly open-minded people who are easy and fast to talk to, whether it's in the store, info booth or the monorail.

One thing though that blew our minds: We had no clue that the Aussies are even more anal than the Americans about things that tourists might bring into the country. Basically nothing is allowed that has the faintest connection to being 'natural', i.e. fruits, veggies, foods in general, herbs, medicines, even the ones you have to take in order to stay alive. All will be scrutinized. Worst of all - nobody can leave the airplane and has to stay seated until an official goes around the length of the plane with a puny aerosol spray bottle (that has to be shaken here and there) and sprays into the overhead bins to "kill all foreign bugs, fungi, viruses etc."... Nobody knows what's in that spray and if and how it works. It was RIDICULOUS to say the least.

After arriving yesterday super punctually at Kingsford Airport (kudos to Air Canada) we got a taxi to the "Aspire Hotel", took a quick nap and went out for a stroll around Darling Harbour with its tons of stores and restaurants. The preparations for a big firework that night at 9 o'clock were in the works and masses of people were already congregating in the vicinity. We ate dinner at one of the many restaurants at the harbour seawalk with a great view of the impressive surroundings.

Luckily our hotel is in walking distance to downtown and the harbour, so we can walk or take public transit.

We had planned to go back to the fireworks last night but once at the hotel we crashed on our bed and fell asleep. We did get to see some of the fireworks though from our hotel balcony and therefore didn't feel too badly about not having gone back to the city.

arrived down under ...

... and found out: It's true - everything is upside down.



o.k., turn us back: 
more: 

more:  

YES, that's it!