A Tourist's Guide to Sydney, Australia

chillibreeze writer — Sonali Majumder

Need an editable PowerPoint map of Australia

The name conjures up images of many world-known landmarks like the Sydney Opera House, the coat hanger Harbour Bridge and Bondi Beach.

We heard our names being announced on the microphone, "The last and final call for Debashish, Sonalee…" as we waited patiently in the serpentine queue at the check-in counter of Bangkok International Airport. There were five of us, all journalists from reputed Indian dailies, and we were on our way to Australia for a tour of the continent's top-notch institutes. Our first stopover was Sydney but at that moment it hardly seemed we would be able to make it. And we had no one else to blame for the impending catastrophe. For the last three hours we had been splurging in a shopping mall in Bangkok and then when we realized we were getting late, we tried to rush through the city traffic but got caught in a snarl, worse than in Kolkata or Mumbai. So here we were at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport at 3:15 local time and the flight was to leave
at 3:30 pm.

The tension was palpable and after what seemed like an interminable moment
we finally boarded the packed Qantas Airlines that would take us to our dream destination – Sydney. The 14-hour journey was largely unexciting and we slept through most of it, except when we were crossing the Equator. A journalist friend suddenly woke up from his deep slumber and muttered, "Let's celebrate the moment by opening a bottle of champagne," and we did three cheers to that historic moment.

Sydney – a city of well-known landmarks

The name conjures up images of many world-known landmarks like the Sydney Opera House, the coat hanger Harbour Bridge and Bondi Beach to name a few. Sydney's rapid expansion started in the last 50 years and today it can claim to be the biggest city in Australia with 4.2 million residents bypassing the archrival Melbourne's population of 3.8 million just about a decade ago. The city is also a dynamic centre for Australian economic activity and one of the most important cities for finance in the Asia-Pacific region. The host of the 2000 Olympic Games has raised its global profile quite successfully.

Our tour agent had already warned us that Australia has one of the most stringent Custom and Border Patrols in the world for items brought into the country, and even food items like apples could get you the annoying look of the sniffer dog at the Customs. Hence, with much hesitation, I threw off the cheese and nuts sandwich that I had bought on the aircraft, at which, a friend pointed to the gruffly creature standing nearby, "Good you threw it otherwise he would have given you a hard time."

Our Australian experience began at the Sydney Harbour that was spilling over with families on that particular weekend. Music wafted through the tree-lined deck and we saw that it was a stodgy Australian aborigine playing an instrument that resembled the flute but it was much longer and snake-like. It is the didgeridoo, the tour operator told us, and there were quite a few shops along the harbour that sold the instrument. At the insistence of the tour operator, we took a cruise along the Sydney river and the sight of the Opera House against the backdrop of the setting sun was awesome, to say the least. The Opera House was built by a Danish architect – Jorn Utzon and is a miracle of engineering and architecture. To the lay person, the entire structure would appear as a lotus in full bloom but actually it is a series of large pre-cast 'concrete' shells, each taken from a hemisphere of the same radius. It stands on an area of 1.8 hectares of land, and although we've seen the grand white structure in photographs earlier, the experience was quite out of the world, to say the least. We took a tour of the two main concert halls where famous singers like Lucianno Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli and Duke Ellington had performed
earlier.

The Koala Park

Australia's first European landing was established in the Rocks in Sydney, and the area is a hotspot for tourists. "Authentic Sydney" as the area is popularly known as, comprises souvenir shops, a tourist information centre, and pubs and restaurants. We found several didgeridoo here along with dotted paintings and some koala beanies made in China.

A tour of Sydney remains complete without the Koala sightings. These cuddly marsupial herbivores love to park themselves on tree branches and sleep. And when woken up they jump onto the laps of their human keepers, very much like naughty toddlers do. My friends wanted to take the 'lovable oh-so-cute koalas' in their laps and the keepers at Wildlife World Sydney were only too delighted to oblige them. And the moment came at a price of Australian $ 20. Many of Sydney's buildings were renovated before the Olympic Games and you could take a look at them from Sydney Tower, also known as the Centrepoint Tower. It is the tallest structure in Sydney and has a café, a rather well-decorated restaurant and we stood on a transparent platform over the edge of the top of the tower and watched the city life pass by.

Mardi Gras

February is the time when Mardi Gras is held, a resplendent festival showcasing Gay and Lesbian solidarity. On that particular day, the entire city is aglow with an enthusiasm, unseen and unheard of, and gay and lesbian community adorn clothes and dance away on garishly designed floating decks. The entire city celebrates and men and women watch the drunken spirits from trees, roof tops and verandahs. The festival traces its origins to 1969 in a New York bar called Stonewall when lesbians and gays and transsexuals barricaded police as a protest against police raids on the community. The event, resulting in what is
now remembered as the Stonewall Riots, is commemorated as International Gay Solidarity Day.

Today, of course, the occasion is no longer a protest march but more of a grandiloquent display of color, art, excitement and Sydney's spirit of both tolerance and acceptance of its gay and lesbian community. We parked ourselves in a particular spot in a square to catch a glimpse of the bacchanal spirit but our enthusiasm got somehow drowned at the drunken fervor and we trooped back to the hotel. Today as I sit back and reflect and read about Sydney I realize that I had only scratched the surface of this bustling city and look forward to a longer and more rewarding time there.

Box: City lights

*Sydney is perhaps best described as a "sub-tropical" country. Sydney has two seasons: a hot, mildly humid one (summer), and a cooler one (winter). The city is generally comfortable for travellers to visit any time of year. If you wish to make the most of Sydney's beaches, visit between late-October and early-April.

*Over 35 airlines fly in and out of Sydney Airport with multiple daily flights linking Sydney and key city destinations in the Pacific, Asia, Europe, North and South America. The Asia-Pacific transport hubs of Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Tokyo and Seoul are particularly well-served.

*Sydney has a good public transport system, especially in areas closer to the city area where many attractions are. You can find out timetables, fares, and routes by phoning 131 500 within Australia for the cost of a local call, or by visiting 131500.info.

*The cheapest way to use the buses, trains and ferries is to purchase one of the many travel cards: multi-use tickets typically sold at a 10-20 per cent discount.

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Sonali writes for chillibreeze.

A Tourist's Guide to Sydney, Australia

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