Sydney and the Blue Mountains, November 5-10, 2008
Traveling to Sydney from the U.S. is an exercise in time zone mental gymnastics, and is one of those subjects that once you understand conceptually, it still doesn’t make sense on an intuitive level (especially the day after the U.S. had switched from daylight savings to standard time). We left Charlotte on Monday afternoon around 6 PM (EST!), which was 16 hours behind Sydney. We flew to Los Angeles, therein moving 3 more hours behind Sydney. As we departed LA around 11 PM PST Monday evening, it was already 6 PM Tuesday evening in Sydney --- we had not yet begun Tuesday, November 4th, and yet where we were headed, that day was almost done! Thank goodness we had voted early.
Fifteen or so hours later, after departing on November 3rd, we touched down at 9 AM on the morning of November 5th. After disembarking through airports of many different languages over the last months, we have to admit that it was comforting to be welcomed in our native tongue by as friendly a people as those in Australia. In a city of 4+ million, it was also nice to walk out to the curb and collect our rental car (easier than in Greensboro). Somewhat in a daze, we hugged the left side of the road as we headed to the city center, called the Rocks. As we arrived in our hotel room, we were greeted by one of the best hotel room views possible, that being one of the world’s great harbors, with the Sydney Opera House on the right side of the window frame, the Harbor Bridge on the left, the Circular Quay (with its constantly arriving and departing ferries) on the bottom, and the historic Rocks all around.
Therein situated and soon to be showered, those scoring the time zone game at home will know that the polls were just closing in the U.S. on a historic election day; however, our only goal was to stay awake until nightfall. We headed out to Circular Quay and took a ferry to Darling Harbor; there, strolling along Cockle Bay Wharf, we had lunch and enjoyed a nice afternoon at the Sydney Aquarium, returned in a stupor on the ferry, and just made it through dinner before collapsing into a bed for the first time in 45+ hours.
After 12 hours of solid sleep, we couldn’t rouse Scott, and left him in bed as the rest of us headed for breakfast. Soon after his doggy bag from the restaurant, we were back on another ferry heading for Taronga Zoo. “Taronga” means view of water in Aborigine, and this term does not misrepresent. Cascading down the cliff side to the water, this wonderful zoo was a perfect first day in Sydney, allowing us to focus on the Australian animals with which we are unfamiliar. We also watched a few animal shows overlooking the harbor and the Rocks area in the background. After the zoo we hiked around a few coves to Mosman, where we caught another ferry back to Circular Quay.
After some homework and downtime, we walked again to Circular Quay, but this time we kept walking because we had a date at the Opera House. Our restaurant was located in the Opera House complex (in one of the smaller orange peel slice shape buildings), and it was nice to venture just up the stairs after dinner into such an iconic place to hear the Sydney Philharmonic. We had to fight off a little bobble-headedness (and all out snoozing) before applauding and applauding for what seemed like 5 or 6 curtain calls.
Sydney has so much to offer as a place to live – Seattle without the rain - but not so much in the way of history. We had to recall that no one landed here from England at all until that country had lost some colonies in the New World, and the Aussies did not get around to becoming a country until a little over 100 years ago. So, as compared to some of the other great cities of the world, Sydney is lacking in historical tourist options. That, of course, did not bother the Tuttle kids at all, so we followed an aquarium day and a zoo day with a bridge day. Trust me when I say that compared to spending the day in a museum, climbing the suspension cables to the top of the Harbor Bridge will win out every time. In addition to learning about the amazing history of this bridge, its nine years of construction in the late 1920’s, it safety record, the foresight of its design, etc., none of that matters when you are 160 meters high looking back over the harbor to Sydney’s downtown. My 12 year, with whom I have battled for much of the past year to take his photo, was now the camera hog, and had to have his own picture taken from every angle, all without the rest of his family cluttering up the shot.
After lunch, we did discover the Rocks Discovery Museum, and enjoyed a well put-together introduction to the founding of Sydney and the area of the Rocks. After an hour or so of that, though, it was off to Bondi Beach, the most famous of the beaches in the Sydney area. Why we went to the beach in hindsight, we do not know, other than to watch some pretty serious water-sporters do their stuff. The water is cold enough, the jellies dangerous enough, and the waves big enough, that in order to just boogie board, one needs a wet suit and flippers. The surfers were more impressive. We stayed on the sand.
The next morning we were on our way to the Blue Mountains, 100 kilometers or so directly west of Sydney. On the way we stopped at a wildlife park; although the kids got to pet and feed a number of animals, Claire enjoyed it the most, spending time up close with her favorite animal, the Koala.
As we approached the Blue Mountains, they did not look too dissimilar to our own Blue Ridge Mountains, and we began to wonder if we had traveled 16 time zones to experience what was in our relative backyard in NC. However, after finding and checking into our hotel in Katoomba, we ventured out to Echo Point and gasped at the beauty of the Jamison Valley as it unfolded before us. We didn’t have (OK, we didn’t make) the time for serious exploring that afternoon, instead deciding to lay low, do a little homework and play a lot of cards – “Hearts” is the game of choice on this trip. That evening, the grown-ups had a date night, while the kids watched (groan) “Crocodile Dundee” with room service.
The next morning we gathered in the mountains in all their splendor, from the Echo Point overlook of the famous Three Sisters rock formation, the hiking (down!) of the Great Stairs, a walk through a rainforest in the mountains, and the touristy but fun Scenic Village, with cable car and incline rail car. It was a beautiful day, and we were outside for most of it, enjoying the views, the walks and the forest as much as possible.
The next morning, after a very civilized (i.e., late) breakfast, we were off for a full day of travel, back to Sydney, via jet airplane to Adelaide, and then via turbo prop twenty minutes south to Kangaroo Island. We were leaving the cushiness of city life, and the cool climate of mountain life, for the more rugged island and outback life. We would end up loving it.
