Sydney

Here is the link with the pictures of Sydney: http://www.flickr.com/gp/16718975@N00/4gV5pq

After traveling more than 28 hours, we finally arrived in Sydney at 6 AM two days after we left. The flights were not that bad…basically two long overnight flights with a pleasant stopover in Bangkok. We were able to sleep on both flights. Actually the time flew by. In fact, I think the flight schedule helped us minimize the effects of jet lag, from which we did not suffer much at all.

Sydney is an amazing and very beautiful city! It is a very green city. Besides the several immense parks (Hyde Park, Royal Botanical Gardens, Centennial Park, Moore Park, etc), there are numerous smaller parks. It seems that any open space, no matter how small, is made into some type of park…it suffices to just put a bench, a tree, and some grass in an empty lot or at a street corner. The parks are all well maintained. One very curious thing: there are no signs saying “Do not walk on the grass” or “Keep off the grass”, but rather there are signs telling you to do the opposite: “Please walk on the grass”! Adding to the really green image of Sydney is that every street is tree-lined!

The highlight of the city is its fabulous harbor! This must be the most beautiful gorgeous harbor in the world. It is huge, from the ocean to the Opera house, is more than 15km. Taking a ferry in the harbor, gives you the impression you are in an Alpine lake, due to all the hills, trees, and houses on the banks. The harbor’s coastline is jagged, with countless bays and coves, which just adds to the charm of the harbor. These coves and bays are filled with sailing boats and yachts. The eastern suburbs are very hilly (quite a bit like San Francisco) and are home to the rich and wealthy. You can easily understand why they chose to live here when you see the impressive views they have! This must be the first harbor I’ve seen, where you do not see any heavy industry at all. Either the petrochemical, industrial facilities, and container terminals are well hidden in an obscure cove or they are completely not present. In any case the absence of industry just makes the harbor feel more natural.

Of course the jewel of the city is the Opera House. It is one impressive building in an amazing location. The name is a misnomer…in fact the major hall is the multipurpose concert hall. The opera is in a smaller theater in this huge performing arts complex. We’ve seen the Opera House several times and have toured the complex. There was a small exhibition on the international competition for the design, which took place 50 years ago. It is a godsend that this controversial design won. The runner-up designs look terrible and had they been built probably would have been subject to demolition by now.

Our hotel is in a district called Surry Hills. Lonely Planet describes it as a working class neighborhood that has seen lot of rough times and is currently undergoing a quick gentrification. It is very true…you see some rundown homes next to designer furniture boutiques, trendy cafes, etc. This area is being gentrified; due to it’s bordering with upscale Paddington…so the Yuppies are buying the rundown homes at bargain prices. The homes are bizarre in design…but all have wrought iron porches on the upper floor. This area is also a melting pot of different immigrant groups, predominately Turkish, Indian, and Thai, which makes it a good area to go out to eat, with plenty of inexpensive good restaurants. We’ve had good Indian, Thai, and awesome wood-oven pizza. In the neighborhood was also a great breakfast café…everything organic and freshly made with awesome coffee. The kids discovered and got addicted to the juice bars.

We’ve seen quite a bit of Sydney using the Sydney Explorer and Bondi Explorer. We also took the ferry to Manly. We went swimming …in famous Bondi beach and in Manly. Both places have nice powerful surf with warm water.

Now we’re off to Brisbane to go to Buderim on the Sunshine Coast for our home swap.