Sydney

Leaving Thailand (for now)

I left Samui with now only 2 bags, but some very heavy bags. I did not want to leave anything behind as I had not made any definitive plans what to do after Oz. So I had to take everything with me, especially my dive gear and related materials, e.g. some instructor manuals weighing over 2 kgs in total! Luckily, I had pre-booked some extra weight allowance on the flight from Phuket to Sydney with Jetstar, so only had to pay a bid extra at the check-in desk after flying from Samui to Phuket. But still, it was in total quite a bit of money for stuff I absolutely need to take with me. I was hoping to scan my documents as much as possible in Sydney and get rid of the paper manuals, as I was unable to do that on Samui.

The flight to Sydney was quite comfortable with very friendly staff on board, especially, considering the price I paid. Getting into Oz - yes they let me in! - was painless as well and quickly I made my way with the train to the hostal, the YHA @ Central station. Brenda, my friend from Amsterdam, had made reservations there earlier, so it was the most convenient - and not too expensive - thing to get a room there as well. I had reserved a bed over the internet in Thailand, so check was easy as well, as most of the Ozzies are too. I have been staying in a shared room with 3 other guys which was a bit getting used to, after having my own home back in Amsterdam and my rooms in Thailand. But we get along quite fine, with 2 other guys staying for a longer period as well. As it is a hostel, I am sleeping on a bunk beds, so that is funny of staying there as well, although I definitively would prefer more privacy, e.g. now I need to put everything in a safe locker all the time.

I had 2 days before Brenda would arrive in Sydney, so took some time to check out the city and get some chores done. Sydney is quite a nice city, although truly a large city. It is very funny to see all those office people running towards their jobs in suits and ties, some quite stressed out. Also, like many other locations, few people smile in the street and seemed to be focused on the superficial things in life, like buying loads of stuff and worried a lot how they look like. I am only guessing this from looking at people in the street, but I think that it won’t much differ down here from anywhere else in the world. I am glad that I am not currently in an office job, fighting for my career and be as such highly competitive and superficial in life. Well, I don’t know what the future beholds, so might need to return to a corporate life somewhere down the line, but for now, not in the near foreseeable future!

Sydney sights

Yes, I did see a lot of the typical Sydney sights, so here in random order:

Sydney Opera House; this exquisite building and Unesco world heritage site, is as beautiful as it looks on pictures. I took a tour of the inside on the 1st of April which revealed a lot more details on its conception and development and obviously shows the inside. The main concert hall is awesome and I decided to get tickets for a performance. It is the Sydney Symphony Orchestra performing together with Martin Balton , creating a fusion of classical music and authentic Aboriginal digiridoo sounds. That should be exciting! I am going to the concert with a Scottish girl I met today at the tour, as Brenda left yesterday for Amsterdam, snif, snif...

Harbour Bridge; I saw this landmark inside-out, from the Opera House, along the harbour, from the ferry, walked over it and did a bridge climb to the summit at 134 meters. This last part is an expensive tour, but very much worth it. We did it during the twilight hours, so were able to watch a beautiful sunset and see dusk fall over Sydney.
The Rocks; this area around the south-side of the Harbour Bridge is one of the old parts of Sydney. It is completely renovated - maybe a bit too much, as there are no ‘rough edges’ anymore - with some very nice views and nice bars and restaurants. Brenda and I had a very nice diner on our last night together in one of them.
Royal Botanical Gardens; this big park is located right next to the Opera House and is a beautiful location with nice plants and trees and lawns to lounge on in the warm sun. Apparently, it is also a very popular wedding locations as many parts of the park were reserved for wedding parties or newly weds running around the park for having pictures taken. The park also houses a large population of ‘flying dogs’ bats (?) which hunts all over the place for fruits to eat.
Queen Victoria Building; a grand-old shopping building with very nice architecture with a letter of Queen Elizabeth II on display, only to be opened in the year 2085.
Paddington Market; we went to this market on Saturday and is located outside of the city centre. It is a bit of an ‘alternative’ market with typical clothing, eco-products, tarrot card reading etc, a bit of a ‘Noordermarkt’ as Amsterdam people might know. Mainly aimed at women, so Brenda had a great time checking everything out, while I had a coffee and a typical Ozzie breakfast of raisin toast with butter.
Manly & Bondi beach; these beaches are located to the East and especially Bondi is quite known. It was very relaxing to stay there for a few hours and enjoy the sight - including Oz ‘fitties’. ;-)


On the Sunday I went to do a less typical Sydney tourist activity and went for diving. There are quite a number of dive sites around Sydney and I was very much interested in how the diving would be. My first impression is: COLD!!! Being used to water of 29 C and wearing a 3 mm long wetsuit, a local water temperature of only 21 C is very cold, despite the 5 mm long wetsuit I was wearing. I was already shivering after 5 minutes, but continued the dive and felt a bit less uncomfortable on the second dive. Obviously, Sydney is not a tropical region, so I was not expecting to see lots of choral and tropical fish.
The dive was great, seeing a leopard shark (quite unusual in the Sydney waters) and 2 reef nurse sharks. Also some other nice sea creatures were in the area, like a big blue grouper, slugs and a sea dragon which I had never seen before. After all, 2 very nice dives!

Salsa

I finally got to dance salsa again! It had been months since the last time I went dancing in Amsterdam, as there weren’t any venues to do that on Samui or Koh Tao. The salsa calendar on the internet stated two locations in Sydney. Not having been here before, I found it quite difficult to decide which one to go to. Luckily, when having diner, I overheard some people on another table talk about salsa, so I went over to them and asked there advice. It seemed that the one uptown was the best choice, and indeed it was. The Entertainment Bar (what’s in a name?) was big, very nice atmosphere, full of people, an excellent live band and beautiful women to dance with! After a bid of a rusty start, I got really back into it and had a great evening, meeting some nice people too! I am very glad I went and danced again to some great tunes with some great dancers as well - so another ‘tick in the box’, salsa dancing in Sydney!

Tomorrow I will fly off to Perth, Western Australia, and rent a car to drive down to the little town of Dunsborough, south of Perth. I will stay there with Nicole and her little family, so that should be really great to do!

See’ya, maties!