Scooting Worldwide: Sydney Scenery

I arrived on 2008 February 19--a sunny Friday morning--to Sydney, Australia. It was beautiful weather and I was happy--I was delighted to finally be in an English-as-a-first-language country. I could finally speak freely--without trying to find the simplest way to say things--and be understood. And I could listen easily and understand--without searching my entire (and limited) Spanish vocabulary, then my known greek/latin origin words and prefixes, then carefully scrutinizing body language to try to decipher 50% of the meaning of a sentence.

I took a bus to my hostel (The Blue Parrot) and away I went.

As it turns out, English is NOT the first language of the people of Australia--Austraa-yun is. And they don`t live in Australia--They live in Austray-uh. And while most other English-speaking nations are familiar with MY slang and accent (thank you, Beverly Hills 90210!), I am not necessarily familiar with others. So, I found myself unexpectedly saying, "excuse me" just as many times in Australia because I didn`t understand. So much for sharing a language!

I was in Australia to achieve a dream of mine: to dive on the Great Barrier reef. I also had a sub-dream that it`d be really cool to experience Mardi Gras somewhere really cool, like Rio, or Sydney. It wasn`t my strong intention to be in Sydney for Mardi Gras. In fact, I had planned to take a bus up the coast and see Australia`s Eastern Seaboard (See the Whitsundays, the glass-house mountains, Brisbane, etc).

It just so happened that Mardi Gras was happening in Sydney AND I was able to find a smoking deal on an airfare from Sydney to Cairns (where the diving is)--in fact, the bus trip up the coast would have taken three days and cost nearly THREE TIMES as much money. So it became a no-brainer--I would stay in Sydney long enough to see Mardi Gras, then fly to Cairns, go diving, then off to Japan!

While on the trip to Antarctica, I had the great fortune to meet Judy, a former flight attendant for Qantas, a lover of silliness, and a very smart lady. I called her from Sydney and she allowed me to stay at her place for a few days. Little did I know her house would be a modern-design two-story penthouse overlooking Olympic Park! It ROCKED! Judy was a great host! Along with relaxing on her deck and enjoying the view, she ferried me around town to run errands and see the sights. Our last morning together, I took her out to breakfast and this is a picture of a typical OZ brekky for her: (pork, egg, toast, hashbrown, grilled tomatoes), and I got "The Works" burger. And BOY was it good. Like a typical giant American burger but with pickled beet (the red ones that stain your shirt forever if you get drips on it!) and egg. Delicious! (Sydney, Australia)

Since Judy`s place was so close to the Olympic Park, I had a chance to explore and take a few photos. This fountain was really cool--I especially liked that a lady walked underneath it with her umbrella. Here she can be seen in the distance under the arch with a yellow umbrella (Olympic Park, Sydney, Australia)

It amused me that King`s Cross has a dandelion-fountain just like we do at Phoenix Civic Plaza. Then I found out that OURS is a copy (ouch!) More information here (Kings Cross, Sydney, Australia)

There is lots of modern architecture (drool, drool) in Sydney. This beautiful cable-stay bridge (Anzac) is one of the landmarks (Sydney, Australia)

Curvalicious residential waterfront high-rise buildings, accented by the monorail line (Sydney, Australia)

The view from Victoria Park toward the University of Sydney`s "Great Hall" (Sydney, Australia)

What? Old zebras can`t cross here? (Near the fish market, Sydney, Australia)

One of the typical touristy things to do in Sydney is to climb the harbour bridge. This picture shows the size of the ants (people) climbing the top of the bridge. It is expensive to climb ($172), then, if you want to see the sunrise or sunset, you get hit with a surcharge, THEN don`t you think you`d like to have a photo from the top? They`re betting you are! Because they won`t permit you to take your own camera, either! They have cameras at the top that take your photo, and then you get to pay ridiculous sums of money for it at the end. This is why I didn`t do it. And because I have bad knees :) (Sydney, Australia)

The view near the convention center out onto Darling Harbour. It was a lovely if a bit chilly afternoon, and musicians were playing on the sidewalk, the sky was blue, and couples were falling in love (Sydney, Australia)

During one of the many many many days of bad weather while I was in Sydney, I decided to go to the art museum. I liked this photo because the # is on my table. There`s a guy looking out at the dreary weather more distant, and then what he`s looking at is pictured below (Sydney, Australia)

Gorgeous, aren`t they? (Sydney, Australia)

Harry`s Cafe de Wheels is famous for this: a meat pie with a glob of mashed potatoes on top. There`s a glob of mashed peas on top of that. Then they put a scoop of gravey right in the middle. My American taste buds said, "a bit peppery, but overall bland, and it`s really just all the same texture together--not very interesting"... Note also the umbrella (another day of bad weather!) (Sydney, Australia)

These oddly proportioned beasties (Australian White Ibis) are ubiquitous--they are everywhere and just as obnoxious as pigeons in the US (Hyde Park, Sydney, Australia)

And then of course, there was Mardi Gras!

Baby`s first Mardi Gras! Mardi Gras used to be a lot more crass and lewd than it is today. The fact is, the Mardi Gras parade is a big event and lots of families come see it every year (Sydney, Australia)

I really liked this outfit--All ready to send off in the post! (Wrapped in bubble-wrap) (Sydney, Australia)

No Mardi Gras parade is complete without a herd of Britneys. Included are Insane-Asylum Britney ("I drove me Craaaaa-zy!"), "I like totally didn`t almost drop my baby-y`all"-Britney, Red-Jumpsuit-Britney, and Bald-wielding-an-umbrella Britney among others. The really good stuff you just can`t make up (Sydney, Australia)

During the parade, people in the front row stand. People behind them stand on 1 milk-crate. People behind that stand on two. After the parade is all over, there are HUGE NUMBERS of these milk crates all over the place. This drunken bloke thought it was good fun to stack them up... And about 10 seconds after I took this picture, he ran through them. (Sydney, Australia)