Australia is already a world leader in dementia research, treatment and care.
Julie Bishop
It's not a country of articulate people, sophisticated people. There's too little subtlety. Men and women don't enjoy each other very much in Australia. I don't find very many men sexy in Australia. Of course, I'm married and out of it, but still.
Judy Davis
Australia diary
Sydney
Outlying Sydney
Blue Mountains
A tale of two beaches
Hunter Valley
The Sydney harbor area is about as photogenic a place as imaginable, bustling with watercraft and surrounded by parks and urban skylines.
Sydney, 12.04.05
Good on ya: It is a gorgeous city, reminiscent of Seattle in late summer, full of bays and hills and interesting urban neighborhoods. In the summer it gets very hot, one of five days there was stifling - locals guessed it almost hit 40 degrees celsius, which would be well over 100. Shorelines are the most pleasant places to be, and Sydney has loads of them - and makes good use of them - along the various bays and inlets as well as the Pacific coastline a half-hour ferry ride to the east. The bustle of ferry traffic in the Sydney area is impressive, with tourist - and commuter-laden boats leaving the city's main terminal, Circular Quay adjacent to the Sydney Opera House, every few seconds.
Operatic encore: The world-famous Sydney Opera House is situated on a prominent point in the main harbor, which makes it not only picturesque but visible from a surprising number of vantage points around the city. It is one of those distinctive structures like, say, the Taj Mahal or the Empire State Building, that is instantly recognizable from a distance and gets more interesting the closer one gets. It has a textured surface that shimmers in the sun and small details that only become apparent up close. Too bad, everyone agrees, its acoustics aren't as good.
Possum update II: It made front-page news in the Sunday edition of the Sydney newspaper. A blind item related how an irate resident sought to berate his neighbor about a noisy late-night party. Crossing the street, he reportedly encountered a squashed possum and, unwisely, flung it at the partying neighbor. Assault charges are expected. Possums are serious business in Australia.
Double takes are appropriate when seeing large bats sleeping in the trees during a stroll through the botanical gardens in downtown Sydney then being confronted by a striking Aborigine bat sculpture in the adjacent New South Wales Museum. Sadly, the Aborigine art is some of the most interesting work in the museum yet it is relegated to the seldom visited sub basement.
Speaking in (different) tongues: Having gotten comfortable with the abundance of Maori names throughout New Zealand, it takes some adjustment in moving on to Australia, where lots of things bear Aborigine names. Maori names are full of A's and U's. Aborigine names use the letter O with a vengeance. The finest example was my initial foray through Sydney's downtown neighborhoods. The first one I happened upon was Woolloomooloo. It goes Mississippi one better, eh mate?
Harry's Cafe de Wheels on the waterfront in Woolloomooloo is a fawning re-creation of a '50s American burger joint. Frank Sinatra ate at the joint.
Hold the kitchen sink: Hamburgers come with the works Down Under; you don't have it your way. It is not unusual to order one and be presented with an object five to six inches tall. The typical burger will be garnished with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, bacon, slabs of cucumber, beets (yes, beets) and, just for good measure, a fried egg.
Government House is the official residence of the governor-general of Australia, yet the last two people to take that job have declined to live there. A shady canopy in Hyde Park, one of several parks that dot the downtown area.
A nod to Britain: Being a very modern city full of sky scrapers, Sydney doesn't have a lot of really old-looking stuff. A free tour of Government House, official residence of the governor-generals of Australia, provides a quick fix to those craving a taste of the city's English heritage. The ostentatious complex is a big slice of pomp - full of chandeliers, ballrooms and stuffy portraits - dropped into the middle of a city that otherwise looks disturbingly like Seattle.
Is it Sydney or Seattle? The monorail glides past
the harbor area. At right, the spires of a decidedly
British-looking church loom over Hyde Park.
Outlying Sydney, 12.06.05
The Sydney Olympic complex has the same eery abandoned quality of other former Olympic sites. Facilities built to accommodate tens of thousands of sports participants and enthusiasts today are roamed by maintenance workers and occasional tourists.
Losing it: Having watched my weeklong subway/bus/ferry pass blow overboard while riding a ferry on the second day of using the pass, I abandoned my tour of the city sights and decided to branch out and see the outlying areas of Sydney (since it was going to cost me extra cash anyway). The ultramodern Olympic village that played host to the 2000 games is in the western suburbs, while the Blue Mountains are a two-hour train ride to the northwestern hinterlands.
Aussies show a devotion to graffiti that rivals the sidewalk artists of Europe. Virtually every relatively flat surface on either side of every train station in the country is richly decorated with dizzyingly complex linear tableaus of spray-painted artistry. A relatively traditional example outside a station on the northern outskirts of Sydney depicts various forms of aviation, sensibly including flying saucers, as if we need another verification of their existence. Meanwhile, a pair of Aborigine recording artists hawk their wares in an impromptu performance under a broiling sun in Sydney as a city train rattles past above them.
Not hooked: Prostitution is legal in Australia, yet it is a revelation for visitors to see tough (and sometimes bedraggled) hookers in fishnet stockings and glittery clothing prominently on display in otherwise upscale neighborhoods among fruit markets, jewelry stores and internet cafes.
Ready and swilling: Australian beers are mostly a disappointment. Fosters, the most famous export from Down Under, is seldom seen and generally disliked by locals, while a variety of other offerings - Toohey's New, Hahn's Light, Carlton, XXXX Gold, St. James - present all the insubstantial qualities of Coors. As a result, Aussie beer drinkers gravitate toward Victoria Bitter and XXXX Bitter, medium-bodied brews, and Toohey's Old, a porter.
A good way to see the Sydney Olympic complex is by rented bike. In the background is Telstra Stadium, which is still used for concerts and sporting events. The sprawling facilities are showing signs of neglect otherwise, with weeds growing through the acres of paved surfaces. Telstra is Australia's equivalent of Bell Telephone before the monoply's breakup, dominating all areas of telecommunications.
Blue Mountains, 12.07.05
The Blue Mountains northwest of Sydney are considered the Grand Canyon of Australia. They have distinctive rock formations like The Three Sisters, above, and predictable gatherings of Asian tourists pointing cameras at each other in front of the distinctive rock formations.
Long winded: The Blue Mountains are a two-hour train ride northwest of Sydney. The name is somewhat misleading in that the mountains are really nothing more than a series of hills through which a broad, impressive valley winds. The valley serves as a catchment for periodic rains and supplies water to the Sydney area. Because of the valley's steep cliffs, winds reach frightening levels at times, probably 50 to 60 mph at times while I was there.
Put a cork in it: Now I understand why Australians are associated with those silly bush hats that sometimes have corks dangling from strings around their flat brims. Whenever the winds weren't howling in the Blue Mountains, clouds of irritating flies would descend on unsuspecting tourists. They seem to have a knack for dancing in front of the eyes, landing on the nose for a peek up a nostril and maddeningly alighting on the upper cheek exacting where one would reflexively wipe away a tear. The corks obviously keep the flying pests from getting too close.
Cockatoos and parrots live in the wild and cheerfully accept free handouts in the Blue Mountains in support of tourism. To get that authentic primordial look, one of the outdoor Blue Mountains bathrooms adopted a cavelike appearance reminiscent Jellystone camping sites in the United States. Fred and Barney would be proud.
Taking care of business: Australians seem to be a much more businesslike people than New Zealanders. The hustle and bustle in Sydney is very similar to large American cities. Men and women in business suits carrying brief cases are much more prevalent. The latest fashion lurch appears to be white shirts with colorful windowpane pinstripe patterns. They are everywhere.
Just not cricket: Virtually any pub in Australia with a television has it tuned to cricket being played somewhere in the world. The patrons uniformly ignore the coverage, and while they apparently understand what is happening on the screen, they are loathe to try to explain it to the residents of those few countries that don't have cricket ("Confusing ain't it, mate?"). That leaves visitors hungry for any type of televised information from other parts of the world to stare baffled at a sport that is impossible to decipher (Overs? Wickets? Bowlers? Ringers?) while they sit among enthusiasts who pay no attention to the likes of Pakistan trouncing the United Arab Emirates while machine-gun toting guards patrol the walls around the pitch.
A solo American stretches out in the empty upper deck of an English-style double-decker bus as it rocks in gale-force winds at a scenic overlook in the Blue Mountains. The same weather system pushed temperatures in Sydney, two hours away, to over 100 degrees.
A tale of two beaches, 01.10.06
With its pounding surf, scantily clad or fully disrobed sun worshippers, dramatic cliffs and funky adjacent commercial areas, Bondi Beach, east of Sydney, has it all. Even its own film festival - the Flickerfest. Of course, it also has its requisite number of strange street people.
Home again: Sydney is such a comfortable urban environment that even visitors feel like a return to the city is akin to a homecoming. Summer heat requires much beach time. Bondi and Manly beaches east of Sydney present similar but distinct salt-spray-coated experiences.
Sunset at Manly Beach is a surfers' paradise. Boards abound as the waves pile up. The Sydney skyline is always dramatic from Manly, but especially at sunset.
Aerosol artistry: The spray-painted sophistication on display at Bondi Beach turns out to be a public service message.
Hunter Valley, 10.11.06
An outing to the famed Hunter Valley vineyards north of Sydney afforded a chance to visit the city's most famous reptile garden, home to Eric, a legendary 18-foot crocodile. Old crocodiles lose their territory and become rogues, wandering into urban landscapes, where their crikey qualities aren't appreciated. Consigned to enforced retirement, Eric was offered a chance to mate with two females. One bit off one of his hind legs. He returned the favor by killing her. Mating opportunities are no longer on the agenda.
Get on the bus: Another day, another bus tour. This one to the Hunter Valley, home of Lindemann's vineyards, the 800-pound gorilla of Australian wineries. The driver was a cosmic dude named Steve with natty dreads and a decided get-away-from-it-all attitude. During 200 miles of rambling monologue, he catalogued every possible daytrip to scenic beaches and remote camp spots outside the Sydney metro area.
Aren't they cute? Emus, kangaroos, goofy-looking birds and koalas roam the grounds of suburban Sydney's reptile park. Less cuddly are the lizards and spiders on view as well, a disturbing number of them poisonous. The platapus, another one of god's animal kingdom jokes, was a no-show. It must have been his day off.
It's only natural: Sydney is built on a superb bay, but the surrounding terrain is very old rock largely incapable of growing anything but scraggly trees and bushes. So the city declared all its outlying lands parks. The big one north of the city is so impenetrable that it was only discovered in recent decades to contain hundreds of chasms and a prehistoric tree long thought to be extinct.
Cast adrift with Asians in Australia's grape-growing region.
Copyright Gary Olson 2010
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