This all comes to you as I sit on my couch in my new apartment, looking out at the view of the Opera House and the Sydney skyline that I still don’t believe I have. This is only the 3rd morning I’ve spent in the 6th place that I’ve lived in during the last month so to say the least, I’m still adjusting. But in just one week in a totally new country I think I’ve managed to learn a lot. So for those of you who want to know about life in Sydney, here are some random observations from my first little walkabout.
What the guide books don’t say:
To begin with, there are hills, lots and lots of hills in Sydney. Perhaps this observation didn’t make it into the guide books because the CBD (Central Business District) and more touristy areas of Sydney tend to be a bit less hilly than the North shore and other outlying suburbs, but there is still no lack of ups and downs in these areas. So, if you would like to walk around Sydney, which is actually quite doable, be prepared for a thigh burning calf crushing workout. It’s not surprising how many people you see out for runs of a regular basis, you have to be in good shape to get anywhere in this city.
The birds are everywhere. This is no city for ornithophobia, but for someone who was once charmed by the starlings that would occasionally land on my fire escape, this is a very pleasant change. And there is no lack of variety either. There are myna birds and noisy miners (which are different, but barely) and magpies in the streets, white gulls by the shore, ibises in the parks and the occasional stately looking kookaburra. The sulphur-crested cockatoos are friendly and very curious, but also shriek like Taradactyls (or what I would imagine a Taradactyl sounds like). There are tiny green parrots that dart around in pairs, and the rainbow lorikeets are the celebrities of the city, attracting and seemingly enjoying, much attention. There is even a large black bird (I have yet to figure out what it is) that makes a sound like an alley cat recovering from a hangover. And the only thing that you might find unpleasant about them (other than the understandable fear of being pooped upon) is the fact that they all seem to go a little nuts around sunset and sunrise. Light sleepers beware. The rumble of a nearby train is nothing compared to pips and squawks in the trees right outside your window. And the skies still don’t go quiet after sunset because that’s when the bats come out. The size of these large fruit bats is a tad intimidating at first, but once you’ve taken a stroll through the Botanic Gardens and walked amongst the trees where hundreds gather to sleep, filling the air with screeches as they fight for branch space, and producing the noxious smell of bat urine, the few you see in the air at night seem as common as starlight.
The CBD is just like Manhattan, midtown or the financial district specifically. So for those of you die hard New Yorkers who feel you couldn’t possibly live any other way, you would probably be quite happy there. Business, money, style, media, tourism and traffic all travel (often uphill) at a frenetic pace through the heart of the city. But, unlike NYC where leafy suburbs are a long subway ride away or even across state lines, 10 minutes on a train, ferry, or even on foot will get you away from the beating heart and into an area where the air smells like trees and you hear more birds than traffic.
They put beets on the burgers, and corn in the sushi. Iced coffee and iced mocha means there is a scoop of ice cream in it. Perhaps the guide books I read had mentioned that, but I forgot. Luckily it was a pleasant surprise when I discovered it.
When the weather report says there is a 40% chance of rain, that means it will rain 40% of the day . . . at totally unpredictable intervals . . . even when it’s sunny out. And the temperature will bounce back and forth between the high and the low rather than slowly climbing and slowly dropping again. In the fall/early winter, wear layers and be prepared to strip and then replace them regularly.
There are interesting little corners of the city and hidden treasures everywhere. Look around and you will find harbor side walks, lots of public parks and gardens, historic buildings and beautiful lookouts almost everywhere you go.
The spiders (even the ones that won’t kill you) are gigantic. I highly recommend keeping your hands in front of you when walking through dense trees. You DO NOT want one of those webs getting tangled across your face.
For anyone who has ever gone through the hassle of renting an apartment in Manhattan, imagine the complete opposite of that and you get renting an apartment in Sydney. Laws regarding tenant and landlord relations are regulated, leases are standardized, owners always pay the brokers fee (which is pretty much nothing compared to the going rate in NYC) and all you have to do is show up and look like you are reliable and can pay the rent, and they will hand you the keys.
Fees galore. Banks, cell phones, internet and almost everything that can have fees and surcharges for your amount of usage attached to it, will. Sydney life is monitored in 30 sec intervals and gigabytes.
Australian TV:
I have yet to experience a great deal of it, because if you don’t have cable that means you only have 5 channels, but I have made at least a few observations. Syndicated TV shows that stopped running in the states years ago are still on all the time out here, like That 70′s Show and 3rd Rock from the Sun. But just like in the states, The Simpson’s, Friends and Family Guy never stop running. The best shows come on late (times I have yet to be able to stay up until, since my internal clock is still adjusting) And the shows that masquerade as morning TV shows are actually shameless promotional spots. Sure every morning TV show in the states features someone selling a book or new CD, but these shows contain constant “interviews” with people who are there to talk about the latest wave in home workouts or garden hoses. And either acting casual is something they don’t believe in, or market testing showed that the cheesiest way to promote a product is also the most successful.
Public Transportation:
Is great. The trains, ferries and buses are always on time. They are pretty clean and uncrowded (although I have yet to commute so that review might change) and it takes very little time to get to most destinations near the heart of the city. The only thing you can’t know perfectly is the bus routes, which don’t tell you where to stops are and you can’t always figure out which side of the street to get them on. So I assume that most everybody knows their local routes the best, and forgets the rest of them.
The Taronga Zoo:
I would call it one the the friendliest zoos I’ve ever been too. The zoo animals are as unintimidated by humans as the city’s birds. In each aviary, birds zoom around your head and walk calmly across the path in front of you. And in a special display which contains (I can only assume) some of the calmest Kangaroos and Wallabies in Sydney, they stop to sniff at peoples shoes and cameras, before hoping off to go about their business. I particularly enjoyed the Australian Nightlife display, which contains more nocturnal animals than I even knew existed, each with complicated and hard to remember names. I’ll learn it all eventually. But the best part was the bird show. You’ve probably all seen bird shows that have large raptors flying back and forth between trainers dispersed across the audience, but only at the Taronga zoo have I seen them follow queues and set flight paths as well as interact with the audience. But perhaps the coolest part is that they let them do what they do best, fly. The largest birds get to fly free our over the harbor, following the wind to great distance above the audience. After all, isn’t embracing the wild what Australia is all about?