Sydney is the largest city in Australia, one in five Australians live in Sydney. This east coast city is very cosmopolitan and is one of the top "liveable" cities of the world. Sydney enjoys several fabulous features, anyone of which would set it in a special class of cities but when combined they propel this city into a special class of its own. Sydney harbour is a very exciting focal point for the city. From Circular Quay in downtown Sydney the public fleet of passenger ferries can take you to many suburbs located on the shores of the harbour. The harbour bridge is an iconic structure which can be seen from many vantage points on the harbour. Sydney Opera House is recognized around the globe as the quintessential Sydney landmark. Lesser know attractions would include the Woolloomooloo pier and the Garden Island navy yard. The Sydney Botanic Gardens fronts onto the harbour as does the Taronga Zoo, the Prime Minister's residence and the Governor General's residence. The harbour is the heart of this magnificent city. There are many large public parks and multiple beautiful art museums. Within the city are several beautiful beaches such as Bondi and Manly that are suitable for swimming, surfing and sunbathing. There is an excellent assortment of public buses, trains and ferries that afford excellent access to the entire metropolitan area.
We rented an apartment in Potts Point which is a central neighbourhood very close to Circular Quay and the downtown core. The neighbourhood has many restaurants, bars and delis.......we didn't starve. When we first landed in Australia we spent 2 nights in Sydney and we have ended our holiday with another 8 nights. The highlights would include our visit to the Taronga zoo, seeing an opera at the opera house, traveling on every ferry that leaves from the Quay, walking across the harbour bridge, visiting several of the art galleries, spending many hours in the botanical garden...........and just hanging out in one of the worlds most liveable cities.
Reflecting back on the last 5 weeks in Australia it's hard to pick out my favourites. Obviously it is a vast country and we only saw a relatively small portion of it, but there are some obvious observations to be made. Australia has preserved more of their British background than Canada has, I found their accent to be close to their English roots as well as many mannerisms. Another striking feature is the preponderance of..........WASPs. While Australia considers itself a multicultural society........it's very waspy compared to Canada. Australia has an amazing collection of public buildings and infrastructure, their roads, airports and public transit is amazing. We traveled across Australia by air and the experience was so totally different than travel in North America it made me wonder how we ever got so screwed up. Their airports are all new, clean, big, convenient, well laid out, easy to navigate thru, uncrowded, and manned by friendly, helpful, good humoured employees. In North America we would be ecstatic to have just one from the above list. All of our flights were with Qantas. On every flight over 1 hour we were served a great hot meal, never charged to check baggage. The airplanes were new, clean, left on time, arrived on time.......what a treat.
Australia has a very strong resource based economy. They dig stuff out of the ground and ship it to China......same like home. Australia enjoys a relatively low unemployment rate at about 5% and a high standard of living. As a result it is a very expensive country to visit for North Americans. As a generality I would say that travel costs like meals, hotels etc. are 15-20% higher than in Canada.......before the currency exchange which is about 7%, so it isn't a bargain.
Australia is dominated by diversity........geography, animals, plants, birds.......people. The geographic separation has allowed each to develop in the unique Aussie way.
Post Script: We had a wonderful flight on Qantas to LAX, excellent wines and a beautiful evening meal and an equally good breakfast. We landed on time in LAX.............. that's where the fairy tale ended. LAX international terminal is an antiquated, poorly maintained junky piece of public infrastructure. The hike from the airplane to the bastions of Home Land Security in Ft. USA required you to pack a lunch. Once in line...... there were 20 of them, you needed to wait patiently for 50 minutes to be summoned up to the "keeper of the gate". The process for visitors to the USA in LAX now requires everyone to be finger printed, both hands and both thumbs as well as photographed. Imagine how streamlined this process is. From here you gather your luggage and make your way to the next block long line at customs. We were connecting to Calgary so we dropped our bags off at connecting flights and made our way to another dilapidated terminal and jumped into the security line. Looking at the big picture here there are some glaring disconnects. The airline industry in the USA, in their quest to cut service, have discovered a new revenue stream, they charge for all checked bags. Customers quickly picked up on this and now drag all their baggage on board.........thru security. Who really thinks that all that baggage is effectively checked. You can take liquids inboard as long as they are in a clear baggy? Back in the good ole USA (land of the free and home of the brave) you need to take off your shoes, belt, wrist watch, have someone check your boarding card 4 times before you actually get on the airplane, all this to insure safety. If I'm not mistaken with all these security measures in the USA.......isn't the USA the only place on the planet that has had any recent security issues? What surprises me is that everyone goes along with it, no one goes insane and..........LAX is a stark contrast to what we have been exposed to in our travels down under.