Sydney Walkabout - Night 41

I awoke from my air mattress in the dining room rather late and it was nearly 10:30 by the time Paolo and I had made our way into the city to meet the girls. The others were dead set on seeing the zoo; I was not, so we went our separate ways for the day. For me traveling in groups is difficult at best, so a day alone was much welcome.

The City from the Gardens

My walkabout began by heading north through the massive botanical gardens, which are larger than the town I grew up in. A great place for a walk, the gardens actually encourage tramping on the grass, not the concrete. At the very north end of the green is located the iconic Sydney Opera House. The usual frenzied atmosphere of the place was heightened as work crews were on hand to set up an outdoor stage for an upcoming performance of Australian Idol (just another example of the Aussies borrowing some of America’s worst culture phenomena). The opera house is every bit as beautiful as imagined, but it is strange to finally be standing at a place you have seen in pictures for years. I continued around Little Cove, up to Lady Macquerie’s Chair and back down the east side of the botanical gardens back to Hyde Park.

All my hiking had worked up quite an appetite so I headed to Pitt Street Mall for lunch. Pitt Street is a single block pedestrian mall in the heart of the city, that on a week day lunch hour was absolutely jammed with people. It reminded me slightly of walking through Times Square in New York, though not quite to that level of density, of course. In the food court there was nary a single open seat. Surprisingly, I find the din created by thousands of anonymous conversations (many in another language) very peaceful…almost like a waterfall or the tide crashing on the beach.

After lunch my circuitous path through the city took me down George Street and back up through Chinatown. Sydney wears its multi-cultural hat with pride and the Asian influences in the city are hard to miss, both in the demographics of the population and the face of its commercial districts. I continued up Sussex and then west to Darling Harbor and the Wharf. After a short break on the waterfront I walked back to George Street and turned left toward the area known as the Rocks, the oldest part of Sydney. From here are great views of the underside of the Harbour Bridge and, again, the Opera House. From the Rocks I climbed the Argyle Steps and began the long walk over the bridge. Though cold (as a stiff wind blew in on the harbor) the walk along the bridge is a must for a visitor to Sydney. The views are simply amazing.

Returning to Charlie’s around 6, I met his roommates, Matt, Alex, and Lucy for the first time. We went for a swim in their newly cleaned pool (the sofa and chairs had been removed from the last wild party they threw a few weeks back). After the girls showed up, we went out for Thai food in Crow’s Nest, a small neighborhood nearby. The food was decent, though not nearly as good as Bell Thai in Seattle.

What I Learned Today: I rarely feel overwhelmed when visiting man-made sights (such as the Opera House)…on the other hand, natural places, such as the Grand Canyon, Fraser Island, Mt. Rainier, etc., tend to deliver much more than expected.

written by

exumenius on November 20, 2007 from Sydney, Australia

from the travel blog: Kiwis and Kangaroos

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