Traveller Justine Shapiro spends a week in Sydney,
the gateway to Australia. On the eastern Pacific coast
in the state of New South Wales, Sydney was the first
port of call for the convict ships of the 1800s, carrying
their cargo of outcasts from British cities to the penal
colonies.
The best way to get your bearings in Sydney is to take
a ferry tour around the harbour. Justine buys a weekly
travel ticket, then finds a cheap hostel to rest her
weary backpack in the King's Cross district.
On a mission to overcome her fear of heights Justine
gets up early to scale Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The climb can only be done with an organised group,
so in spite of her vertigo Justine is in safe hands
and the panoramic harbour view is definitely worth it.
Back on terra firma Justine sets off to explore of Sydney's
history at The Rocks, an early settlement,
and at the Colonial House Museum.
Bondi Beach, the most famous beach
in the world, is the place to flaunt the body beautiful
or just check out the lifeguards. Bondi is also the
starting point for the coastal walk, a scenic cliff
top promenade which many Sydney-siders incorporate into
their fitness regime. En route to the Waverley
Cemetery, which is surrounded by stunning coastal
vistas, there's the less populated Tamarama Beach and
Bronte Beach, more popular with the locals but no less
spectacular.
For all its European heritage Australia's closest neighbours
are Asian countries. The Sydney suburb Cabramatta is populated by a vast Vietnamese community. Also of
non-European descent are the Aboriginal peoples, who,
although they lived on the land for 64,000 years before
the arrival of the first convict ships, have only been
counted as citizens since the referendum of 1967. Justine
joins a tour which takes in cultural aspects of aboriginal
life and gives an insight into the way the Aborigines
have been brutally treated by the European colonisers.
Justine ventures outside the city limits to Katoomba,
gateway to the Blue Mountains. The
mountains are so called because of an eerie blue haze
on the horizon, the vapour exuded by the eucalyptus
trees. Her guide takes her through the bush and the
rainforest region surrounding Beacham Falls, and she
communes with the Kangaroos, Australia's national animal...though
unfortunately her new-found friends are on the menu
that evening.
 Back in town, Justine goes to a contemporary music
performance at the world-famous Sydney Opera
House. The Opera House was the product of an
international architecture competition won by Danish-born
Jorn Utsen, son of a naval engineer. Utsen drew his
inspiration from childhood memories of billowing sails
in the shipyards as he watched his father at work.
A day trip to Bundeena is just a short
ferry trip away, a calm backwater away from the urban
sprawl. Justine witnesses the Festival of the Living,
and hooks up with a local who takes her to the local
RSL club, one of the many servicemen's clubs all over
Australia.
Sydney has a long history of wild parties, ever since
the legendary orgy that took place when the first ship
of women convicts docked in the harbour after eight
months of abstinence on the high seas. The biggest event
in Sydney's calendar takes place in February, the annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Justine
is invited to join in the procession by Robert, who
has entered his fabulous costume Colours du Jour.
On her final day in Sydney Justine takes a quick Harley
Davidson tour to some of the sites she hasn't had time
to see in just a week, including the Sydney 2000 Olympic
site and the wealthy north shore region. |
