claudine_c

I have lived in Melbourne for 22 years and have only visited Sydney twice, so it is tempting to fall into the trap of comparing Sydney unfavourably with Melbourne. But I didn’t see much of Sydney on my last trip, only a few tourist sights. I did walk a fair bit, though. As well as being hilly, Sydney can be confusing for a walker. I’m used to the well-defined grid plan of the streets in Melbourne’s central business district. The streets of Sydney’s CBD run mostly north-south or east-west, but at slightly different angles in different places, and minor streets are more likely to terminate abruptly than they do in Melbourne.

On the other hand, public transport in Sydney’s CBD was a dream compared to Melbourne. In some ways, the trains and trams (‘light rail’) in Sydney remind me of the good old days of Melbourne’s old-school public transport system, the Met. One of the lamentable ‘reforms’ applied to our public transport system was the removal of conductors from trams and guards from trains. In Sydney, trams have conductors or at least live human ticket-sellers, and there are guards either on the trains or on railway platforms who signal to drivers when it is safe to leave the station. Having these extra staff makes public transport safer as well as easier for passengers to navigate. What amazed me is that Sydney’s trams are run by the same company that operates Melbourne’s trams and trains, Connex. How could the outcomes be so different in the two cities?

I ate dinner twice in Sydney, and these were both at the Darling Harbour/Cockle Bay complex, which reminds me of Southgate on the banks of the Yarra. Hyde Park is much like the public gardens of Melbourne, and seemed to be full of tourists when I was there, on Thursday afternoon. I didn’t go to Circular Quay (not taking any ferries after that plane trip!), the Rocks, the Harbour Bridge, the Opera House, Mrs Macquarie’s chair, etc., etc. I had seen all of these sights on my first trip, and guessed that they wouldn’t have changed much in fifteen years.

( Feel free to skip the rest of this article if church politics bores you. )

If I only looked at my recent holiday to Sydney and the Blue Mountains from the point of view of my physical wellbeing, I’d have to say it was a bit of a mess. It all started with a ninety-minute plane flight; I spent about eighty-five minutes feeling sick and managed to wait till I landed in Sydney before depositing my pizza brunch in an airport toilet. That was one lesson for me: pizza with strong cheese just before flying isn’t a great idea.

I think the best way to discover a new or unfamiliar city is on foot. I hadn’t been to Sydney in fifteen years, and it was my first time there on my own, so I was quite eager to explore. I learned pretty soon that Sydney, like Hobart, is very hilly. After checking in at the Railway Square YHA, near Central railway station, I set off through Chinatown, across to Hyde Park, then back through the CBD, getting a little lost before finding myself at Darling Harbour/Cockle Bay. After a nice Thai dinner I realised that I wasn’t prepared to repeat the journey back on foot, and I was too disoriented to find a more direct walking route back to the hostel, so I acquiesced and took a tram back.

The next morning my legs were complaining about the previous day’s meanderings. Not a good start to my Blue Mountains adventure. I should have paid more attention to the Blue Mountains tour brochure, particularly the part about a three-hour walk along the Grand Canyon (in the Grose Valley). I’ve been quite sedentary since returning from Tasmania in February and really wasn’t up to this walk; I was fooling myself. The first incident was a twisted ankle about half an hour into the walk. Whatever I did, I had to go upwards eventually, and I decided to continue with the walk. I was actually quite surprised that I managed to complete it, and the visual and aural environment of the valley made up for the pain. However the climbing took its toll and my knees are still sore, three days later. I later learned that this particular walk was graded ‘Medium—Hard’. I’ll stick to ‘Easy—Medium’ for the time being.

The next morning was spent mostly with my feet propped up on ice packs at the Katoomba YHA. In the afternoon the tour continued with a visit to kangaroo territory. It was quite exciting to see kangaroos in the wild. Unfortunately getting there and back involved sitting in a bus on very winding mountain roads. It was almost like the plane trip all over again, but this time my lunch stayed where it belonged.

The flight back to Melbourne yesterday went smoothly (apart from the little bump on landing that has been part of my experience of all Virgin Blue flights). I had the foresight to take some ginger-based anti-nausea tablets first, and I think that may have been the solution. Yay for ginger!