We were pleased to be in the air conditioned airport facility.
At the outset, I can do no less than suggest that Sydney is the most appealing city I have ever been to. It is the San Francisco of the Southern Hemisphere, but it displays more natural beauty and seems to have a more congenial collective attitude. We had no difficulty filling our five days in Sydney, without even leaving its perimeter! It all started with arrival at our hotel, the Cambridge, on Riley Street. After staying for a week in motels that one could accurately assert were less than five star lodgings, our twelfth floor balconied room in the Darlinghurst section of Sydney seemed no less than luxurious. Actually, by any standard it would be quite nice! And, as noted earlier, we have VK2BJ to thank for the correction from our original plan of a hotel somewhere out of the downtown area.
Our day had started early, but we were anxious to see the sights so we did what we always do when we arrive in a new city: we walked. The general direction we headed was toward the harbor, about 2 miles away. Our first stop was the Hyde Park Barracks, which was built as a dormitory for male convicts, later used to house the New South Wales Regiment. It now is a museum with rooms devoted to different aspects of life from the colonial period to modern times, including a room on women and how they made their way to Australia in the last century. By now we were losing steam, so we walked through lovely Hyde Park with its lovely trees, and prepared for our evening -- by taking a nap!
Our hotel was situated in the funky part of town, along Oxford Street and its many ethnic restaurants, and shops. We consulted the tourbook and chose a Balkan restaurant for dinner, which seemed just a bit less appealing than its description. The food wasn't bad, though not quite up to the green ants and kangaroo of the previous days. After dinner, we strolled for awhile along Oxford Street and enjoyed the displays of London-like shops, restaurants and 'interesting' people. We had started the day all too early and it was time to prepare for our first full day in Sydney. It was terrific being within walking distance of our hotel!
We started our first full day by heading toward the bay. We visited the Parliament Building and the State Library of New South Wales. The Library is a wonderful building with peripheral museum display wings. The special exhibit was paintings, mostly watercolors, by Conrad Martins, an artist who accompanied Charles Darwin on one of the voyages of the Beagle. They were excellent! (If you happen to have a Martins painting in the garage, be assured that it is worthless. In the interest of fellowship, however, I would offer one of my antique homebrew keyers in trade for it. No questions asked.) The Parliament Building has historic art displays as well and itself is a building well worth visiting. We then walked through a corner of the Botanical Garden, with its blooming roses, tropical plants and array of growth seemingly familiar but clearly unique to Australia. Next, we stopped at the Queen Victoria Building, which for decades housed the Municipal Library but is now a magnificent shopping complex, reminiscent of Washington's Georgetown Park but larger and more Victorian! It features cathedral ceilings, grand staircases, wrought iron balustrades and a one-ton clock that shows scenes from British history. With about 200 (expensive) shops it is not for the budget-conscious, but it is wonderful to visit, especially before Christmas when there are decorations and even an adorned pine tree on the main floor. Interestingly, the commercialism of the holiday season is not as loud or vexatious ('in your face') as we tend to see in shopping centers in the States. The media too are much more subdued about it all. The overall approach we found in Australia (and in New Zealand, later) was, in a word, civilized.
We found a pub across from Hyde Park, downstairs under a shopping arcade, that featured a 'special' meal for only five dollars. After paying entrance fees for most everywhere we were visiting, a bargain was welcome! There was a choice of weinerschnitzel, fish, meat and other main courses, plus vegetables and a beverage -- all for five dollars. It was generous in quantity and taste. At one point I went to the barman and asked for a glass of water. He responded with, 'mishgble er skfizatwsh?' I had no idea what he had said. Finally, after several efforts at it I understood. It was, 'middy or schooner?' I vaguely recollected reading something about these words and figured that a schooner was bigger than a middy, so I knowingly declared the schooner and promptly got a large glass of water. (Not bad for a Yank at his first visit to an Aussie bar, aye mate?)
After lunch we visited the Sydney Opera House, probably the best known attraction of Sydney. It was designed in 1957 by Danish architect Joern Utzon but not completed until 1973 due to a series of labor, construction and political problems. It was much more costly than anticipated, but was financed by a national lottery! The Opera House looks like an array of sails, fitting for a harbor setting. Utzon never returned to Australia to see the completion of the Opera House because of changes by subsequent architects, though his daughter reportedly lives in Sydney. The tour of the Opera House really is one of the 'musts' of a visit to Sydney. It has four performance halls, and remarkable workmanship inside and out. The next day was Nina's birthday, so I bought two tickets to see Hotspur, an Englishstyle situation comedy that apparently follows a sitcom that is quite popular in Australia. More about that later. In the afternoon, we shopped. Nina had promised some friends who had been to Australia that she would bring them pavlova (a pastry mix) and a particular designer towel set. I have no further comment on this shopping trip other than to report that I remained relatively civil. Finally, it was time to prepare for dinner, and what a special dinner it was!
We were picked up at our hotel by Barry, VK2BJ, and headed to his house north of Sydney, going through a tunnel (or was it over a bridge - I can't remember now) and visiting the sights near his QTH. The inlets that give Sydney its San Francisco-like appearance and which make it so beautiful extend beyond the city limits, so there are small yacht clubs, coves and parks that give the coastal suburbs not far from Barry's place exceptional appeal. We enjoyed a lovely meal with Barry and Margaret and family. Barry was judicious in choosing his QTH. His antennas are on a rocky knoll that slopes down in most directions, assuring low angle takeoff on all bands! It is now understandable why Barry has one of the better signals from VK! Later, we were joined for dessert by VK2AZU, Chris, who was great company and drove us all the way back to our hotel late that night. Once again we had completed an 18 hour day, and tomorrow would present a whole set of new sights and experiences.
The next day, Nina's birthday, we walked in a different direction than on earlier outings, into Darlinghurst, a trendy area in a state of gentrification. Our first stop was Sydney's Holocaust Museum, which contained a series of displays on the history of Jewish life in the city and settlement of Australia generally, as well as a multi-level remembrance of the Holocaust, exceptionally well done and effective. The docents were, in some cases, survivors of the death camps and offered young people first-hand reports of history.
Our next objective was just across the street: a bus stop. We learned that the bus travelled along routes into areas of the city we otherwise might not get to see. It was the least expensive tour of the trip! We wandered for 45 minutes through Darlinghurst, Kings Cross and Woolloomooloo, each neighborhood very different from the other. Were there more time it would have been interesting to get off the bus and meander the streets of some of these neighborhoods, some with concentrations of antique shops, cafes or restaurants, others with beautiful homes and lovely small gardens. The bus brought us close to Circular Quay, where Captain Arthur Phillip landed in 1788 with 1500 people (including 700 convicts) to settle the colony, which he named for Viscount Sydney. This was also where we would catch the ferry to Manly Beach. While we waited, there were all sorts of activities going on, including one man selling enormously detailed (and presumably expensive) model ships and others hawking their crafts.
The ride to Manly Beach was gorgeous -- a 35 minute display of the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, city landscapes, and Fort Denison (today a maritime tide observation station in the middle of Sydney Harbour, but formerly used as a punishment post and as a for to protect against possible Russian invasion). Manly is a beach area that feature an Oceanarium, the Manly Waterworks, a Fun Pier and, more important for us, a lovely esplanade with intriguing restaurants overlooking the beach, and souvenir shops. After an excellent lunch at the Rimini Fish Cafe, we walked along the beach. I spotted a public telephone and it occurred to me that this would be a good time to call Nina's mother in Florida so she could wish Nina a happy birthday. It was all so easy to do, thanks to plastic, and the connection was via undersea cable and digital, so it was like a local call! The 3 minutes turned out to cost about $9, a bit more than it would have in the reverse direction, but well worth it!
By the time we got back to our hotel from Manly Beach, it was time to go to the special restaurant I had selected for Nina's birthday, based in part on advertisements and recommendations of folks we had talked with. It was at the end of the pier at the Rocks, the Old Sydney area, looked directly out on the beautifully illuminated Opera House, and was reputed to be the best seafood restaurant in Sydney. Despite reservations we were seated in an uncomfortable corner less than 4 cm. from a very noisy table of 4 women who were dining on drinks. When we changed tables we were placed just outside the windbreak area and had to huddle in our jackets to remain comfortable. We hoped for great cuisine but what came was something far short of an epicurean delight! In any event, I was not pleased to pay premium prices at Doyles. It could have been worse, I told myself.
From there we walked to the Opera House to see Hotspur, the play I mentioned earlier. It was a great hit judging by the packed house, but I guess our senses of humor just didn't match the subject matter. I suspect the theme of the play required familiarity with the television series that everyone in Sydney knew so well. In any event, the theater itself was comfortable, and it was fun to be among theatergoers in Australia. By now we had the bus system down pretty well and grabbed the right one back to our hotel.
Our next day was filled with short visits to a variety of places noted in our tourguides. We wandered through lovely Darling Harbour, which covers the western dockside region bordering Chinatown. It used to be a seedy area but is now an enormous entertainment and cultural complex which is traversed by a monorail system that connects to the city center. We would return here later to meet VK2BPN for a drink. From Darling Harbour we walked through the town center, following the monorail route and visiting the abundant stores and taking in the sights. Nina, who is originally from Brooklyn, took delight at standing before the Brooklyn Hotel in downtown Sydney! We bought some gifts at David Jones, a quality department store, took a tour of the Great Synagogue, which is Orthodox and was constructed in the 1880's, and ate once again at that special $5 restaurant-cum-pub around the corner. The remainder of the afternoon was consumed by a walking tour through the area called the Rocks, which as noted before is the oldest part of the city. Now, it is totally redeveloped, no longer the rough, tough area of 'notorious taverns, prostitutes and nightly knifeplay where the infamous 'Sydney Ducks' reigned supreme and the garrison soldiers collected a few lifeless bodies every morning. |
