Dave's first impressions of Sydney, Australia

After a full 14-plus hour on the plane, including one hour on the tarmac in Vancouver fixing the brakes of the aircraft, I and my fellow passengers landed in Sydney all tuckered out. I was tired out even though I had slept on the plane. Somehow that sleep is not satisfactory.

Going through customs and immigration was no chore.  On exiting the airport, I bought a Opal Pass (putting on $50) which allows you to board either the bus or the subway and even the ferry until the $50 is used up. At that point you have to recharge it (top-it-up). I found the subways the best way to get around, even with my suitcase and travel bag. These Opal cards are great as can used everywhere in Australia.

At this point I am going to complement my brother Jock who gave me two good pieces of advice for my travels. First when I was going to France he said..."why not enrol in a French course so that you won't be alone all day in the two months you are away". That was good advice as I enjoyed my time with the young folks at the college. The second piece of advise was to leave one bag (containing my tuxedo which will only be used on the cruise on my way back) with the concierge in Sydney as I will be returning to Sydney to board a cruise ship after completing my tour to Western and Northern Australia. Hopefully the second piece of advice works out and the travel bag is there for me on my return. We'll have to wait and see.

My first impressions of Sydney are good. The people seem to be friendly but talk differently from us (what else is new). Like back home, there are still some homeless people sleeping on the streets. Many of the store clerks and cafe help are Orientals. Also, among the tourists, again many are Orientals. It reminds me of VanKong or HongCouver as we on Vancouver Island call BC's largest city. I have only seen a few Muslim women so far, so there may not be too many of them.  The people here all seem to be very fit as I have only seen one obese woman and I think she was a tourist. The reason (I would guess) is that the Australians are very active in sports and the cost of food here is expensive. (I blew $400 on eating in two days.)

On the last night in Sydney, I made reservations to the dining room on top of the building called Australia Square, except the building is round. The dining room was on the 45th floor and rotates so that one could see the extent of the city. The dinner was costly but what the hell...how many times will I be holidaying in Sydney?

The weather on arrival Sunday morning was great but later on in the afternoon it rained. Again on Monday, when I toured the water front and opera house, it rained cats and dogs forcing me to buy an umbrella. As an aside, the cheapest place to buy an umbrella is in Burlington Ontario ($3.50), Sydney ($7.50) and Monaco (30 euros).

Yes, I toured the water front and what a well designed area it is! The Opera House is a gem. What a design! It took 16 years to build. The guided tour was well worth it, I even bought the souvenir with my photo taken in the Opera House. This was a tourist come on but I bought it anyhow. The Opera House Complex is actually two venues: a concert hall (holding 2000 seats) and the opera house (holding 1500 seats).

What I can't understand was, people actually paid money to climb up over the top span of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in driving rain. Even on a good day, I would not spend the energy or money to climb the span of that bridge (it's too high), but maybe some people have more energy and money than I. You would think they would have a jitney to shuttle folks up the span. They would make more money if they did and even guys like me would take the trip.

I can't say enough about the way Sydney has created (I would say) the best harbour front of any that I have seen. Vancouver has a nice harbour front and it is blessed with having the North Shore Mountains in the background. Sydney has gone all out to make their water front people friendly with many walkways and places to sit and watch as well as many outdoor cafes and shops. Besides the water front, Sydney's commercial and shopping area is also people friendly with pedestrian only streets as well as many mini-parks in these areas. They have kept the façades of the buildings built in the 1800s and built multi-storied buildings behind these 1800s building façades. This gives the city a certain homey character (not glitzy).

The Taronga Zoo was visited on my third day in Sydney. One gets to the zoo by a people only ferry from the docks near the Opera House. It's a 20 minute ride across towards the north-east. On embarking the ferry, one takes a gondola car to the top of the hill as the zoo is built on a gently sloping side hill. Those who feel squeamish about gondolas can take a bus to the top of the hill. On leaving the gondola, the walk around the zoo is mostly down hill. The zoo covers about 500 metres in each direction. One side of the zoo is dedicated to Australian birds and animals while the other section covers animals from other pasts of the world.

I covered a lot of ground walking to see as much of the zoo that I could but I finally had to stop as I was both hungry and thirsty; so I ordered a plate of fish and chips and a beer. (Good fish and chips and good beer at a reasonable cost of $20 Australian dollars!) When one buys something in Australia, the price includes the tax and everything is rounded out to even dollars... no odds cents extra. (This kiosk at the zoo was the first place that I found where the food and drink were reasonably priced.)

Finally, on day four, I must check out of my hotel and take the subway to Central Station to board the Indian Pacific to Adelaide.