Sydney
“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.”
— George Moore
Yeah, I know… too many pictures of me here. Hell, I was proud and amazed that I had made it to the end of my journey alive. I was pretty excited leaving the Blue Mountains for Sydney, but also a little sad. Sydney was where I would return my rental car, and it meant my Australian adventure was nearing its end. I had one final week in the city before heading home to Canada.
There are a tremendous number of photographs here of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge. I apologize for this. I had recently emptied my digital camera memory cards, so naturally I felt obligated to fill them all up again. I couldn’t have asked for better weather, and there would be no more campgrounds or six-person hostel dorms. I had booked myself into a downtown hotel for the week. I decided to pay extra and go out in style.
Most things you’ve seen countless times in photographs and films seem a little smaller when you finally see them in person. The Sydney Opera House was the opposite. It was bigger and far more impressive than I had imagined. I spent most of my first day wandering around the Opera House, Sydney Harbour and the nearby Royal Botanic Garden, and it didn’t take long to fall in love with the city. Sydney’s clean, multicultural feel reminded me a lot of home in Toronto.
As I wandered around the harbour, there always seemed to be something weird and wonderful going on. One photograph shows a live bird riding around on a remote-control car and collecting paper money from surprised onlookers. Nearby was a model boat carved from gum tree wood, along with one of the living statues performing around the harbour. After taking a whack of pictures, I headed back to the hotel. The next day I would venture into The Rocks and walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
“Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don’t have film.”
— Frank Zappa
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is one of the great landmarks of the city. Look closely at some of the photographs and you can see people making their way along the upper arch on the BridgeClimb. I thought long and hard about doing the BridgeClimb myself, but at the time it cost about $160 AU and I couldn’t take my own camera. They would take a picture of you, of course, but you had to pay extra for that too. I decided I’d rather walk across the bridge for free.
On the way I passed through The Rocks, the historic neighbourhood beside Sydney Harbour and one of the oldest areas of European settlement in the city. It was a really cool place — full of musicians, street performers and plenty of places to get great grub. Freshly roasted corn on the cob. Yummy. Then some guys came out wearing space suits and started insulting everyone. This was my kind of place.
As I crossed the Harbour Bridge and looked back towards the Opera House, it dawned on me — as it had several times during this adventure — just how far away from home I really was. I wasn’t sure I could get much farther from Toronto without heading to Tasmania. At one point I was stopped and asked to take a photograph of a group of elderly German visitors. When they asked where I was from and I said Toronto, Canada, their eyes lit up. They had recently visited Toronto and really liked the city.
I smiled as we parted and looked out over Sydney thinking that I could quite happily spend the rest of my life here. Come to think of it, I had been saying that — both to myself and out loud — throughout most of my Oz adventure. I took a slew of photographs from the other side of the bridge and then hurried back to The Rocks to hang out with a few tall, cool ones.
“I know I will be loosened from the bonds…”
— The Waterboys
I finally decided to ease up on the camera and spend some time simply exploring downtown Sydney. There was a wonderful statue of Queen Victoria. She looked tough. I covered a lot of ground that day, including a visit to Chinatown for some great dim sum. It was just like home. Sydney’s trains, streets and busy downtown neighbourhoods only reinforced how comfortable I felt in the city.
I also tried to see a rugby match, but the season was over. As consolation, I bought myself an authentic Australian rules football. Pretty cool, eh?
As the trip came to an end, I wrote one final journal entry. I’ve left it here in its original spirit:
As I wind down my final days in Australia, I reflect on all the wonderful things I have seen and done. So, like the rolling credits at the end of a movie, I would like to give my thanks to:
The extremely warm, friendly, and humorous people of OZ… You guys rock!!
Queensland sunshine and endless beaches.
All the venomous and toothy Aussie wildlife for not ending my trip and my life prematurely.
All the friendly fellow travellers I met throughout my stay in Australia.
And most of all my lovely wife, for understanding my need for an adventure… and an adventure is what I got… BIG TIME!!
— Smite
