In order to get to Sydney we took a 14 hour train ride which rode through misty forests and flat cattle ranches and gave us a chance to see the countryside and smaller towns of the states of Queensland and New South Wales. We consulted with Google Maps before we arrived in Sydney to see how we were to get to our accomodation. It directed us to take a train (metro). However since it was later in the night the train kept switching tracks and after finally just giving up trying to figure it out, we shelled out for a cab. The first cab driver we approached just looked at us and laughed. Why did he do that? we thought. It was strange. Fortunately the second cab took us. It wasn’t until our second to last day that we found out exactly why he had laughed at us.
Our accomodation was a downtown hostel called Maze Backpackers (Can you imagine me in a hostel?! I couldn’t but it actually wasn’t that bad). Checking in and settling in for the night, we stayed in our private twin bunk-bed room eager for a night of rest and no more transportation. We found out that our hostel had a very strange layout/design. Set in a square and with numerous steps up and down in the hallways (instead of being flat) it was definitely a maze (hence the name) but this allowed for little sound to travel even when people had collected in groups/were socializing.
We won’t go in order of what we did in Sydney because that would require to much researching/organizing. Instead we’ll give you the highlights of our eight day stay. Our favorite was the Sydney Opera House. Stephanie especially liked it and would try taking photos of it everytime we came near it. The Opera House has such a fascinating and unique history which we discovered when we took a tour of the inside. The Opera House original plan was to have a 3 year construction time and would only cost $7 million. It ended up being 16 years and $102 million. The design they used for it was initially rejected due to it not following the contest design rules as well as the architect and engineers knowing no way of building the unique curves required of the roof. Engineering techniques were designed/discovered in building this magnificient building. The original designer/architect was kicked off the project after 14 years after a new government was elected that deemed him and his project as “wasteful”. He returned to his native Denmark never to see his masterpiece completed in its entirety. Its not only an architectural feat but an artistic one as well since it houses 6 venues including a grand symphony hall that houses a 10,000 pipe pipe organ (that took 3 years to tune), an opera theater with translation board, and many other theaters.
After our tour we decided to see a show especially since we received half-off discounts. We decided on a show called “La Soiree” in which the ticket lady could say about it was “it is a weird show. Just a strange show. But you’ll like it”. The show started at 10 PM. It turned out to be fantastic. A cabaret-esque circus it included a juggling Freddie Mercury impersonator, a contortionist known as Captain Frodo who could fit his entire body through a 10 in tennis racket, singing puppets in drag, and so much more. We had sat in the back row in case we wanted to leave early and instead became avid fans. It was so much fun and we continue to talk about to this day.
Sydney of course has its fair share of museums. One of these was the Australian Museum or what we’d call a natural history museum. They had fantastic hall of skeletons including a human skeleton riding a horse. But what I especially enjoyed was the gem collection. Australia is known for its mining of precious metals, gems, etc. It boasts the best opals in the world and this gem collection didn’t let us down. Decorated with opals, garnet, and others, I was impressed by the variety and size of the museum’s collection.
Speaking of opals, we have often seen these precious stones in jewelry stores which often attracts our eyes. On our first day in Sydney we decided to enter a pretty nice jewelry store which was pretty busy. We started chatting with the one available counter lady simply conversing about our trip, where we were from, what her life is like, etc. Then out of nowhere she invites us into the locked, ultra-private, high roller collection in the back. We clearly didn’t belong there and she knew we didn’t have the kind of money that this room was used to seeing but she took us back there nonetheless. There were gorgeous pieces. She showed us the necklace she wanted costing a cool $19,000 dollars and even showed us a decorative flip-flop made completely of opal which I especially enjoyed (the shoe-love that I am). She pointed out a $40,000 belt buckle that as she said “cowboys love this but I don’t know why.” It was a very neat experience and she was incredibly nice.
Along with this we visited the opal museum, not so much a museum but rather a small collection in a room. However we did get to see an opalized Pleiosaur, a marine dinosaur’s skeleton that had become opal instead of just a normal fossil. We of course looked at the beautiful opal jewelry they had for sale with Stephanie buying an opal necklace and I buying a pair of earrings.
Other activities included walking “The Domain” and Botantical Gardens, beautifully landscaped and open to the public for leisure and sporting activities. The Domain is the original buffer area between the Governor’s mansion (where the art gallery is housed) and the penal colony that was there long ago. Now it is used for football (“soccer”) games, laying out and general walkways through beautifully landscaped gardens. Another activity included riding the monorail which I had never seen or rode before. I had only ever seen it in the movies and while it was a new experience it wasn’t quite what I had expected. But now I can say I’ve ridden a monorail. During our time in Sydney Stephanie also walked across the Harbour Bridge, an iconic bridge that you often see in photographs with the Opera House since they are close together. She got some lovely photos of the Opera House from its higher vantage points known as the Pylon Lookout tower. She said the bridge felt very militaristic because there was barbed wire and security guards everywhere to keep people from committing suicide so while it was interesting to see it wasn’t quite a lovely, scenic walk across a bridge.
We took one day trip out to Katoomba, a 2 hour train ride from Sydney in order to see the Three Sisters and the Blue Mountains. Kind of a last minute side trip we really had no idea what to expect and instead we happened across one of the most scenic, epic vistas either one of us has ever seen. The Three Sisters is a unique rock formation (essentially 3 rock pinnacles) overlooking a vast valley which has Aboriginal lore ascribed to it. The valley was immense and we guessed it was almost as large as the Grand Canyon. It was so grand (and green!) and such a lovely sight that neither one of us could have predicted. Stephanie was even able to hike out to one of the Three Sisters rock pinnacles which had a 80 degree angle “Great Staircase” down onto the rockface. Returning to Sydney from Katoomba we finally discovered why the cab driver had laughed at us the night we first arrived. It turned out the train station to our hostel was a 5 minute walk maybe max of 3 blocks and we were asking for a taxi. Dumb tourists he must have thought. But hey he’s the one who missed out on the cab fare. :)
And these are the highlights we wanted to give of our venture to Sydney. Stephanie often said many times she could see herself living there and I had the same thought as well. Good transportation infrastructure and so many cafes, restaurants, shops, activities, etc. it is definitely a tourist haven. We’d highly recommend it to anyone. Go to Sydney!
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