If you're going to do Sydney, you've gotta go do it big. So that's what Dan and I did this past weekend.
[Pictures can be made a little larger by clicking on them.]
We arrived on our bus from Canberra midday. (What's between Canberra and Sydney? Sheep. And some olives.) Our hostel was around the corner from the bus/train station, so we dropped some stuff off there and caught the train to Circular Quay, and when we pulled up I let out two “Holy shit”s: the first for the Opera House and the second for the bridge. It’s the reaction I wanted to have but wasn’t sure I would have – but I found myself genuinely excited and amazed to have Sydney’s icons in my view. When we got off the train, we walked up to the Rocks area and found an Italian place where we were immediately seated and ordered pizza. It wasn't bad. I liked the atmosphere better than the food though. The waiter harassed me for not finishing the last few bites of my pizza. We then weaved our way through the streets and up some stairs to find the place for the Bridge Climb.
Dan’s afraid of heights, so he kept mentioning that we didn’t have to go - riiiiight. We found the place and inside he kept commenting on how no one looked happy – everyone who was about to climb and everyone who came down had sour expressions, according to him. I told him he was just seeing it that way to match his own schema of fear. We looked around the gift shop – and the thing that made me most nervous were the stuffed animal bears wearing the climb suits! How ridiculous…
When we went to sign release forms and get strapped up, it really became fun. The people who work there make jokes, about drinking on the bridge, about needing parachutes, about all sorts of dangerous and ridiculous things – I thought it was funny; Dan thought maybe the forced humor was more nerve-wracking. We were suited with a jump suit, wind pants, and attached a hat, handkerchief, fleece and rain jacket to our belts. We did a practice walk over some ladders and walkway inside, while our guide, Dean, learned all our names. There was a guy from Austria in our group of 12, but other than that, I think everyone was Australian, which semi-surprised me. We strapped on our radios (so we could could hear Dean) and headed out.
To get onto the bridge, you have to walk down the street to an unmarked door. The weirdest part was actually getting up onto the bridge because you have to squeeze through some small spaces and step in some places obviously not designed as walkways.
But once we got up on the actual bridge, everything was fine… we climb up to traffic level, which was quite a thrill, and then on top of the side of the bridge… but from there you can only look over the edge. It’s just metal straight below you, so you don’t feel in danger, not like you’re going to fall. You're holding onto railings and attached to a wire the whole time. We didn’t walk too fast, trying to take it all in. I was still amazed to look over and see the opera house, which Dean mentioned is NOT listed in the new 7 wonders of the world, much to Sydney's dismay.
Doing the sunset/twilight climb was the best idea ever… because you see something different every time your turn your head. And we LUCKED OUT with the weather. It had been cloudy until the end of lunch, and most of the clouds had passed by the time we were on the bridge. Just a few lined the sky for the sun to light them up. As we climbed up the bridge, the sun was lowering, shining it’s light on the city’s buildings and then on the opera house. It was gorgeous, gave me chills. The sun hit the horizon and turned the sky a brilliant orange and pink just as we hit the peak of the bridge. A group picture (the included, free one) was taken and then we had more pictures taken and each of us crossed the center of the bridge to the other side. That was the scariest part, because you could look down and see the traffic rushing beneath you, and the wind picked up a bit. We stared at the sunset from the other side then. As day turned to night, we walked down as slowly as possible to enjoy the view. Sydney stretches on as far as the eye can see, with the lights of the buildings lighting up the darkness as the sun sets behind the Blue Mountains. Dean told us about the bridge being built… with no scaffolding or support, something like 16 of 500-some men died building it. The two halves were built separately, held in place by cables until they were lowered together… I can’t imagine what kind of cables those were. He also told us about the only proposal rejection he’s seen on the bridge: the unmarried parents of a teenager, the mom said, “we’ll talk about it when we get off the bridge.”
Needless to say we didn’t want to get off the bridge. We climbed down, ducking below street level just as a railcar went by and shook everything. When we got down, I pointed out to Dan that everyone’s expressions were really due to the sadness of leaving the bridge… because it was sad to leave that beautiful view behind! I wanted to stay up there longer, even though we probably were up there around 2 hours. When we went inside, Dan made sure to smile at everyone getting ready to go, give them the thumbs up, or tell them it was great.
We didn't bother to look at our overpriced individual pictures because we changed and hurried over to the opera house. Here’s the thing about walking up to the opera house… I couldn't believe I was doing it. My breathing changed, and I was just in awe. I couldn’t believe I was there. I told Dan, looking at the bridge, “I was just climbing on the bridge and felt fine, now I walk up to this building, and I’m freaking out!” We got our tickets for Verdi’s “Il Trovatore.” Student tickets $50. The hall was one of the smaller ones, but our seats were amazing. Row P, but right in the center. And seats near us were empty so we were able to move so that no one was directly in front of us. I was a little scared, as the last opera I saw was Faust with Katie when we were in the back row and almost fell asleep. I thought I might be in trouble because the seats were comfortable too.
Luckily, the opera was amazing… the story was good, and I could actually follow it. The performances and the staging and even the set were great. And I really liked the music, quite powerful, and I knew some of it. During intermission, we went out on the back balcony for a minute, to stare over at the bridge.
The funny thing is, they don’t dim the lights to signal you to get to your seats… they have a very obnoxious dinging instead. It’s weird.
Also, the inside of the building is weird… where we bought the tickets reminded me of being in the metro because it’s all concrete… and inside the lobbies, you very distinctly make out the shape of the building. If it weren’t the Sydney Opera House, it would be too unusual, and not quite beautiful.
The night ended with ice cream and a walk around Circular Quay and totally crashing. In that state between wake and sleep, I actually started dreaming about what I could see from on top of the bridge.
The next morning we ended up literally running for the train to the Blue Mountains. We paid for a train + bus explorer pass to Katoomba (awesome name). It was a little over 2 hours there. The day was looking cloudy and making us a little nervous. I was amazed that civilization didn’t really stop at any point from Sydney to the mountains (unlike between Sydney and Canberra). When we arrived in Katoomba, a cute town, we decided to take the bus in an hour. We stopped in a gourmet cupcake shop, and then found a small café to eat in. It was so busy and so small that people would turn away because all the tables were full. Dan got a ‘big breakfast’ and I got a beef pie with mashed potatoes and mushy peas… quite Australian. And really really good.
We went through several plans for the day: 2 hour hike into the valley. 1 hour hike across the cliff. Dan wanted to make it back to Sydney for Othello, so I thought we could at least try. We decided on the 1 hour walk from Scenic World to Echo Point, but when we got there, Dan decided we should do the valley first (or canyon. Blue Mountains are more a canyon than mountains). He was speeding down the paths and stairs and I yelled to ask him what he was running for. "I'm running to Othello!" Luckily, my stupid knee and its aching convinced him to slow down.
They call this area rainforest, but we couldn't figure out what exactly qualifies something as a rainforest. There's rainforest in northern Australia, but here? We saw parrots (or crimson rosellas rather) and a waterfall and lots of ferns and passed the "world's steepest railway." After about an hour, we realized we couldn't hike to Echo Point and still make it to Othello. We made a pointless dash for the bus, not realizing how far into the forest we were and how many steps we'd have to climb. Pointing out our energy levels and state of health (we, like everyone on campus, are suffering from winter colds), I convinced him that we would enjoy it more here taking it easy and missing Othello. He was a saddened Shakespeare fan, but agreed.
We hiked back up and took the next bus to the lookout at Echo Point. What a spectacular view. The Three Sisters rock formation was more impressive from up close. You could look off and see layers upon layers of blue mountains (I think all distant mountains look blue, but this is apparenlty due to sun shining on eucalyptus oil in the air). From one lookout, you were hanging over the edge. We walked to the bridge that leads to the first of the "sisters" but it wasn't too impressive. We did see some bigger, green parrots though.
We left from the town of Leura, which a lady in Katoomba said was very nice, but we couldn't tell from the one block of mostly closed shops (because almost everything in Australia closes around 5:00).
Back in Sydney, we walked through Chinatown to Darling Harbour and had a good dinner in a line of restaurants that all have tables on the sidewalk/patio area looking over the water. Don't worry - there were heat lamps! I tried octopus for the first time and it was AMAZING. We also got sticky date pudding to satisfy Dan's mom who had been harrassing him about not trying it since he'd been in Australia.
The next day was great as well. We walked through the city till we reached Hyde Park and saw the ANZAC War Memorial. Walking from the there leads into the Domain ("a place for people") and right into the Botanic Gardens. The gardens were pretty (obviously) but it was the wildlife that got me. All sorts of colorful birds, ones with long beaks (ibis?), and cockatoos - tons of cockatoos! (What I've realized that all birds in Australia make really obnoxious noises.) Some squawking led my eyes up to the trees… and there were several bats hanging from the tree above us. I looked around – ALL of the trees around me were filled with bats, and not little bats – BIG BATS. Maybe a 100 of them. (Note to Sugar Ray fans: "Can you eat the fruit bats?") We also discovered some huge spiders when a tour guide pointed them out to some other people. The best was when I went to look for a bathroom: I walked down the path, and all of a sudden a possum ran out in front of me! I didn’t realize what it was at first. It looked at me before scurrying past me and up the path. I took some pictures of it, and while I was distracted by a cockatoo it disappeared. I went into the bathroom, and when I was washing my hands, I turned to find out the possum had snuck up behind me! It had me cornered really and sat up to smell the air. Then it smelled my shoe while I whipped out my camera and then I followed it out of the bathroom.
Our walk continued around Mrs Macquaries Point and then over to the opera house again. I checked out the vendors' tables there and really enjoyed talking to a jewelry maker from London about how she makes her jewelry and the meanings behind all of it. I'm upset now however because it appears that the ring I bought is only sterling silver... with brass underneath. Gypped!
The afternoon ended walking around Circular Quay again. Some guys played didgeridoos as they tried to sell their CD. We had fish and chips on a bench overlooking the water while seagulls tried to steal our food.
Really, I loved Sydney and didn't want to leave.
And actually, the girls just called me and a whole bunch of us are going to Sydney THIS weekend!
PS- I've eaten half a jar of Nutella (that chocolate hazelnut spread that's popular everywhere but the US) in one day. This isn't good. Anyone want to pay for my gym membership? ;)
