First stop - Sydney
Trip Start
Mar 01, 2007
1
2
24
Trip End
Mar 30, 2007
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Friday, March 2, 2007
We arrived at about 5pm Sydney time. Getting into the city from the airport was a breeze, using the train, and we knew that leaving should likewise be easy. The public transport system seems good - lots of buses. Also trains and monorail. The fares are not inexpensive, and we're sure there is plenty of tax support for the systems.
After checking into our hotel, we walked half (no kidding) the streets in the central business district (CBD). Beautiful sunny weather - like Honolulu, but not as rainy. We saw the base of the Sydney arch bridge, the opera house, the ferry quay, walked past town hall and St. Andrews cathedral - smaller and more closed-in than we expected. Friday night in the CBD belongs to the young. Dozens of street bars each packed with at least 100 people in all stages of dress - business suits to shorts.
We had dinner at about 10:30 according to our bodies at a little upstairs second floor northern Spanish restaurant. Just as we sat down two girls started to dance right in front of our table. They were in costume doing flamenco dances and were obviously very accomplished. Walt enjoyed it immensely - it came with the modest price of dinner. Even more amazing, we managed to make it back to the hotel despite being dead on our feet. The time difference is 3 hours, so what was Honolulu time 1:30am Friday was 10:30pm Friday evening. Got to come back to spend more time in Sydney.
DAY 3 - March 3rd Saturday
We both awoke at about 3am, as our internal clocks are still on Honolulu time. - went back to sleep several times and finally gave in to the fact that we were awake and headed out to search for breakfast.
What a changed scene down town. Deserted, but as spotlessly clean as when we arrived. Walking to the quay, we were both struck by the quietness of Sydney on a Saturday morning. The business district was empty. As we walked we were able to enjoy the architecture. There are some beautiful old ornate buildings. Many of red and golden sandstone. Many of the streets are quite narrow. We wouldn't want to drive here. Of course, they drive on the opposite side from the US and Canada and they also speed. However, you don't see drivers running red lights as they do at home and pedestrians seem to have a chance. We ended up at Circular Quay, where the ferries depart. After breakfast, we caught a ferry to the zoo.
Walt was wearing his best old floppy Aussie style work hat, and a passenger asked if the ferry only stopped at the zoo. Having never been there before, or even on a Sydney ferry, he authoritatively assured him that it did. The harbor is spectacular - one of the world's largest with many small white sand beaches. Expensive buildings share the shoreline with wilderness. Many, many sail boats on the water. Toranga zoo is well done with natural settings and well cared for animals. In the zoo we saw two dingos. They were introduced by Asian fishermen centuries ago. Unlike our cattle dog, which is supposed to have some dingo heritage, it was not spotted, but sandy colored and spot free.
The zoo was popular with both locals and tourists. A young middle eastern man in a turban even proposed during the bird show. His young lady was "randomly" chosen to hold up a coin for a bird to retrieve. When the bird returned to her he gave her a ring and when she looked down her companion was on bended knee making his proposal. We couldn't hear her response. Quite a show! We spent most of the day at the zoo, then rode the sky-tram back down to the ferry landing back to circular quay.
After our return from the zoo, we walked through the Royal Botanical Park and along the harbor. We walked form the Circular Quay to just across from the naval yard and pas a swimming pool built out over the harbor. The Royal Botanical Gardens contained numerous trees with dozens of flying fox bats hanging in them. A few would fly to change trees, and all of them kept one wing in slight motion to fan themselves. They were roosting in direct sunlight. There were 5 or 6 weddings taking place under the trees. At first I thought they might be pagans, but all were in formal wear. The bats showed more sense. Walt thinks he is developing a blister on the sole of his foot.
We are impressed with the cleanliness of the city and the environmental awareness. The signs in the parks asked people to walk on the grass, keep their dogs leashed, and clean up after them. There are recycling bins everywhere. While one expects environmentalism to be a part of a zoo, it is surprising to find it in a park. Many of the trees and plants are familiar. The variety of birds is much greater and there are some good sized ones with very long bills. Several big old and grand trees were surrounded by low fences with signs warning people away. One of the trees was hollow and the limbs in danger of falling, but rather than simply cutting it down, they warned people not to go under it. They must have much greater respect here and a society less likely to file law suits. We saw people enjoying wine and beer openly. In fact, beer was sold in the park. Walt attributes this to a criminal past rather than a puritan past.
We feel we must return to Sydney some day as we really don't have much time here.
DAY 4 - March 4th Sunday
When we came out this morning to go to St. Andrew's cathedral to ring, the city was awash in litter. St. George street was ankle deep in some areas, broken glass and empty beer bottles, fast food containers, articles of clothing and young drunks. Street after street. Alice and I obviously missed one hell of a party. People were still in the streets on their way home. We found out later that we had slept through the world famous gay and lesbian Mardi Gras. It is attended by over 300,000 each year. Since it was the second Sunday in Lent, Alice wasn't sure what the gay & lesbian community was doing having a Mardi Gras this late in the season. After breakfast, we stopped at a downtown supermarket and bought some fresh soft succulent dates, the nicest we ever had - from America! We also found some wonderful ginger nut biscuits (cookies).
We arrived early at the cathedral and found the outside benches occupied by homeless people still asleep. Much like home. We caught the last part of a sermon by a seminary student and some homophobic prayers by the resident priest. St. Andrew's Sydney is 180 degrees from St. Andrew's Honolulu. The priest prayed that the gays and lesbians be led from their sinful ways and said they were condemned by the Bible. We almost walked out, but stayed to ring the bells. After the service Alice re-educated one of the younger priests before we went up to ring. It was during this conversation that we learned that the mess was due to the Mardi Gras. There were no bell-ringers in attendance at the service.
We rang on 6, 10 and 12 bells. Minor methods and call changes were all we participated in. The bells sound and handle very much like Victoria's. We rang with Margaret, Andy (her son and co-ringing master), Billy, John, Lexi, Jimmy (11yrs and the youngest), Jeremy, Emily and Judy. Afterwards we all went out for coffee, which is their usual routine. None of the ringers are members of the congregation. We said goodbye and headed for the ferries.
We bought a day pass for the ferries, which was also good for the buses and trains. We headed for Manly at the northern end of the harbor. We talked with a local fellow and his uncle visiting from eastern Canada. He gave us a little insight into the local concerns. After this trip, we toured the Sydney opera house and had a late lunch.
The opera house is actually a performing arts center. The smaller of the two main venues is for the opera and the larger for the symphony. The opera portion is going to be rebuilt to allow for better seating and staging. The son of the original designer (who has never seen the finished building) is directing the redesign of the opera hall. The symphony concert hall had some students rehearsing a school program, but we could tell that there doesn't seem to be a bad seat in the house. The acoustics were excellent. The Danish designer who won the original competition is now 80 and left after a mis-understanding/disagreement with the officials. The building was estimated to cost 7 million and ended up costing 112 million!
Our next ferry trip was to Parramatta on the extreme other end of the harbor. This portion of the harbor had been dredged to extend ferry service to this large suburb. Back to the hotel to freshen up and get ready for our evening harbor lights tour. By the time we arrived at the dock, the last ferry had left, but we were able to take the Manly trip again, which also showed the harbor lights, a huge orange full moon, plus a lightening show as the weather changed from hot and humid to rainy. People on the ferries are friendly, either visitors or local residents willing to talk to strangers about their city. After we got off the ferry, street musicians playing pan pipes and guitar were performing on the quay. We stayed quite a while listening. They were so good, we even contributed. We missed all the rain, but it fell during the night. Time to move on to better weather elsewhere.
DAY 5 - March 5th Monday
At the airport, Walt's passport when scanned didn't bring up a visa. Threats of $5000 fines and deportation occupied our thoughts as we waited for immigration to discover that there was in fact a visa which apparently hadn't been posted to their system. Even the Aussie's got more government than they need.
At security in Sydney, Alice was selected for some intense random screening. The inspector was born in Baltimore Md. When he heard that we were from Hawaii, he mentioned that he had a friend on Maui. He said that the friend was a priest in a church with no roof. We knew that this was an Episcopal church and asked his friend's name. Alice was able to inform him that Murray Fitch, his friend had just retired! Oh, Alice made it through the inspection and was able to continue her exploration of this small world.
