Day 9: Introduction to Sydney 101

Ah Sydney, you’re a somewhat familiar face, with your Opera House and your Harbor Bridge. We sort of slept in and got a late start this morning but eventually we got out the door of our hotel, Napoleon on Kent. It’s called that because it’s on Kent Street and it’s short, squat, and lurks under the freeway, just like Napoleon.

We had our usual breakfast of champions in the hotel but wanted to get an early lunch before our afternoon activity. So we walked up to an area called the Rocks which is under the downtown approaches to the Harbor Bridge. This is the original Sydney settlement and it’s called the Rocks because the buildings and streets are built on terraces hewn out of the rock. Like I said, Sydney is hilly. We ended up at the Baker’s Oven where we both opted for a second breakfast. It was filling but not exactly tasty. Kirsten’s bacon was the best part of the meal. Oh and the two tropical birds that were hanging around looking for handouts. We walked around in the Rocks for a bit after eating and wandered through a little market that was going on before we walked around the inner harbor to the Sydney Opera House where we had tickets to today’s matinee performance. What did we see?

We saw the Sydney Symphony Orchestra perform the music of Star Trek (and 2001 and Transformers). It was incredibly nerdy and incredibly fun! And what better way to see the Opera House than to see a show there. Although technically we were in the concert hall and not the opera theater but what are ya gonna do?

The Opera House is beautiful and very small. It looks enormous on the outside but that’s all vertical space. The actual auditoriums are tiny. I was surprised that for the interior, the architecture has held up well and is not showing its age and overall, the place has been very well maintained. Interestingly, the shells on the outside lose their delicate appearance when viewed up close. They’re made of thick tiles overlaid on a very serious concrete structure.

After the show we walked around the downtown area a bit stopping in the two Victorian arcades they have here, the Strand, and the Queen Victoria Building which was the better of the two. We actually managed to do a little shopping while we were there too.

After we dropped off our loot at the hotel and changed clothes for the chilly evening temperatures, we headed out to Cockle Bay (or Darling Harbor – it seems to have two names) for a dinner at a Malaysian place with good reviews called Chinta Ria. It was pretty good, but we’re getting a bit tired of Asian food. We’re going to try to track down an Australian place tomorrow night although they’re surprisingly difficult to find.

After dinner we walked over the Harbor Bridge to Luna Park, which is the local amusement park. Along the way we saw that Sydneysiders seem to prefer the 80s miniskirt as the eveningwear of choice and are already pretty blasted at 8:30. Perhaps it’s the young drinking age, but holy underwear, I haven’t seen this many young drunks since tailgating in college. Anyway, Luna Park is located in North Sydney and we mistimed the walk and got there too late to actually ride anything but the lights were very pretty and we ended the evening watching some fireworks that were going off across the harbor at the Opera House. We’ll go back again tomorrow to ride the rides and this time we’ll take the train rather than do the long walk again.

Day 2: Melbourne Mosey

For the sake of convenience we’re saying that Day 2 starts when we landed at Melbourne.  We plodded through customs slowly but surely, without any problems, and caught the skybus into town.  The bus dropped us off at the Southern Cross railway station which was pretty cool.  From here we took the subway to our first hotel The Claremont Guest House out in the “suburb” of South Yarra.  It seems that in this part of the world they call the different neighborhoods suburbs.  I haven’t quite figured out where Melbourne proper ends and the American type suburbs begin. 

That’s the other thing, so far Melbourne seems to have a lot more in common with Toronto than London.  If it weren’t for the palm trees, the left hand driving, and the accents I would have thought I took a very long flight to Ontario.  Not that we’re complaining, we love Ontario.  It’s just that there has been no culture shock at all.  We’re quite at home here. . . except the left hand driving.

Anyhow, the hotel is quaint.  It’s very old and hostel-ey and the room is tiny with a hardwood floor, a bed and very little else.  The bathrooms are communal and we have to turn in the key when we leave.  But they serve breakfast and the location is pretty great.  The neighborhood seems pretty fun and the trains and trolleys, which they call trams, stop right outside.

We spent the afternoon wandering around the downtown area.  We had lunch at an Asian place called Krakatoa which was pretty good and had dinner at another Asian place called Chocolate Buddha which was even better.  It was situated in Federation Square which was a really cool urban space set right on the Yarra River bank.  We also saw a lot of other sights downtown such as St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the Melbourne Museum but did not get to go inside them due to closures or crowds.  We did have fun walking through the Victorian shopping arcades that criss-cross the downtown streets.  Some of them were very ornate and beautiful.

So far we really like Melbourne and are looking forward to the next day but for now we are back at the hotel ready to call it a night.

Pictures to follow tomorrow, we're too tired to do any more uploading!