First Day in Sydney

The plane arrived in Sydney at 6:30 am, which is an hour ahead of Palau time. I made it through baggage claim, immigration, and customs without any problems. I stopped at the ATM to get Australian dollars and then walked to the train station. When I arrived I was informed the train wasn't working, but I could take a free bus to central Sydney. I heartily agreed as it saved it me the $12 train fare. The bus took us directly to Sydney Central train station where I got off to find my accommodations at the Sydney Central Youth Hostel. I have never stayed at a hostel before, but this trip seemed like a good time to stay at hostels as they are well regarded in Australia. I like to think I don't need the frills that I had at my hotel in Marriott and all I need is a place to crash at night, staying at the hostel will be a good test of that theory.

I arrived at around eight, but I couldn't check in until noon, so I had breakfast at their restaurant and then stored my bags in their public lockers. I set out to explore the area that would be home for the next five days. The first thing about Sydney that I had to adjust to was the cold. I knew by picking this time to travel it would be winter and nine months on a tropical island would weaken my defenses against the cold. But, I figured it would be in the 50's with some lows in the 40's and I would be able to handle it. I had no idea how much my blood had thinned and the impact of the cold would have on my system. It was about 45 out plus an occasional drizzle making everything seem colder. The first thing I did was to find a market and buy a winter hat and gloves. That helped and when the day gradually grew warmer I felt better, but I now realize I'll be spending my vacation bundled up. I'll adapt, it is all part of the experience,

I wandered around more to the Darling Harbour area where there are museums. I'll be back to tour them later, but today was about getting my bearings. I was able to cover a good distance on foot before looping around back to the hostel. I rescued my bag and checked into the hostel. My room is a four bed room on the eighth floor. There are two bunk beds, a large cabinet divided into four lockers, a couple chairs, and not much else. The bathrooms are down the hall and are decent. It is like living in the dorms back in college again, appropriate because most of the people I have seen are college age, except for the random older person. I currently have only one roommate, a Englishman on holiday who has been cordial. After unpacking a bit, I headed out to explore more of Sydney.

I walked to the neighboring central train station and got on a cityrail train north to Circular Quay. Sydney is defined by its Harbour and the focal point of the Harbour is the large U-shaped area of Harbour Bridge-Circular Quay-Royal Botanical Gardens. Circular Quay (pronounced "key") is the bottom of the U and is large bustling ferry dock and port area. Besides the constantly departing ferries there is a large shopping area. I walked through and stopped for a lunch of grilled fish and chips that I ate sitting by the dock. The seagulls were very pushy coming right up to me and at one point when I mistakenly dropped a small fish of fish they were on it before I even had time to kick it away. Once I finished my lunch, I walked up to Bennelong Point. Bennelong was an aborigine who helped the original British settlers of Sydney. The settlers thanked Bennelong for his help with alcohol and to little surprise Bennelong died of alcoholism. Today, Bennelong Point is home to the world famous Sydney Opera House. It is something that I have seen in so many photographs that when finally seeing it in person it looks extremely familiar. It is only up close walking around it and seeing angles that pictures never capture that it starts to come to life. I climbed the great steps and walked into the main entrance area to the ticket booth. I bought a ticket to a performance of Rossini's opera "Barber of Seville" on Tuesday night. I then walked around the outside of the house. "Opera House" is really a misnomer because it really is a performance complex with an opera house, an equally large concert hall and a few smaller theaters. The outside is impressive and I am looking forward to seeing the inside on Tuesday.

Bordering the Opera House is the entrance to the Royal Botanical Gardens, a large city park. I walked in and sat on a bench and relaxed for a bit. I took a few pictures of the Opera House with the Harbour Bridge in the background and walked around the large half circular park. The park had beautiful large old fig trees and lots of other smaller trees. There were benches everywhere and even on a cool and blustery day there were people out enjoying the park. I walked all the way around to Mrs Macquaries Point, named after the wife of the the Royal Governor in the early 19th century who took Sydney from a convict colony and started Sydney on its path to being the world class city it is today. Mrs Macquaries, whose name was Elizabeth but was not included in the naming, loved the point named after her and had her husband develop it as a park including the famous chair named after her. Although neither was constructed when Mrs Macquaries liked to visit, today it offers brilliant views of the Opera House with the Harbour Bridge in the background. I took pictures and soaked in the view and dodged a few raindrops.

I walked back through the park past the Opera House around through Circular Quay to reach the Rocks, the oldest area of Sydney near the the south end of the Harbour Bridge. Today, the old buildings have been restored into a shopping and dining area. I walked around looking in the various windows of shops and pubs. There were plenty of neat little passages and back alleys that I knew would require further exploration at another time. I stopped at a small cafe for dinner and had a meat pie, a classic Aussie staple that is like a small chicken pot pie filled with meat. It was tasty and a nice dinner. I walked back to Circular Quay and took the train back to Central station and back to the hostel. I did a ton of walking, probably too much for one day, and was very tired and spent the evening resting before turning in early. It was a long day of exploration and look forward to what Sydney has in store for me in the days ahead.

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