Sydney – An Amazing Cosmopolitan City On The Water
Arriving in Sydney, we were awoken to the higher costs and busy environment. First off, if you take the train from the airport into town, it is $22/person. If you take the local bus from the airport to the next train stop on the line, a five-minute bus ride, it will cost $2 AUD and then the train to downtown will only cost $4/person. That is an easy hack to beat the airport service fee. So, for $6, you can get to downtown.
But really, who wants a train or bus when there is Uber? A quick check the night before, from Tasmania showed the Uber fare was only $45. Sign me up, only 2 times the $22 train fare, for a couple, that’s a deal. Unfortunately, with dynamic pricing and multiple flights arriving, the price shot up to $98 when I checked while waiting for our luggage. More than double the night before. Bus and train it was for us. We were certainly not the only ones using that hack.
The Sydney Opera House – A World-Wide Symbol
On our first day in Sydney, we toured the Sydney Opera House. Anyone who has travelled or read any sort of travel magazine, or watched Bugs Bunny, has likely seen pictures of the Sydney Opera House. It is up there with the Eiffel tower and the Pyramids as symbol that almost everyone knows. Our hour-long tour did not disappoint us, learning facts and stories about the construction, operation and behind the scenes. The two largest venues – the ones within the iconic shells – are spectacular.
They seat 1500 and 2700 patrons respectively and are designed without pillars that would obstruct views of the stage. Each is engineered so amplifiers are not needed and every seat hears the same music at the same volume. The larger venue is used for symphony; the smaller for opera. Quite amazing to think that one single human voice can be equally projected to 1500 spectators without amplification.
Another surprise is that the building is not white, despite how it looks in every picture. The shells are actually textured beige-y, gray-y tiles. To the eye up close, it looks almost gray – but the camera picks up white. We have many photos – from the air, water, bridge and plaza, day and night, up close and far away. The Opera House looks white in all of them!
The Shiralee – An Australian Story
We decided, after touring the site, to see if we could get tickets for a play. We were fortunate to get some just released tickets for a play on our last night in Sydney. The play, called ‘The Shiralee’ was an amazing 2 ½ hour play that highlights the life of a “Swag-Man” in the Outback and his daughter.
The Opera House Lives Up to its Expectations
The play, which was wonderful, kept us both riveted the entire time. It was held in one of the smaller venues, maybe 750 seats. But there are no poles or support beams blocking any seats in the theatre. Acoustics were great and there were no distractions. Audience noises were almost none existent. The only thing to focus on was the stage.
The theatre was completely black – walls and ceiling starkly so with no decorations, chandeliers or curtains, just black wood. No dim lights marking the aisles, no illuminated exit signs (at least none that we saw from our seats). The audience had no choice but to fully immerse in the action on the stage. Being six rows from the stage, we were close enough to see expressions on the faces of the actors. It may have been the best live drama I have ever seen. The story moved us both. If you do find yourself in Sydney, I recommend not only a tour, but a play if you have the time (and the plot interests you).
So Much To See
With over 5 million people, countless harbours and coves, many with soft sand beaches, the problem was what to do during our four days? We were staying in a studio apartment in the CBD (downtown), close to a lot of the action but away from other must-see sights. The Bondi to Bronte walk, along the sea was recommended to us and we enjoyed that. Following that, we wandered up to Watsons Bay and went for a swim to cool off.
Murals and Street Art
In the evening, we visited NewTown, an area known for its murals. The “I Have a Dream” mural, likely being the most famous. The quote and a drawing of Dr. Martin Luther King is inspiring. The murals throughout the area depict many scenes of daily life as well as sci-fi and fantasy. My favourite was a drawing from 2015 that is even more relevant today. It is called “The Housing Bubble”. It features a lady sitting on a man’s back reaching out for a house that is floating away under balloons. The house is out of reach for her and her family, a scenario that is being played out in Australia more and more, as well as Canada and other places.
Manly to Split walk
Another walk, that is well worth the effort is the Manly to Split walk. It is 10km and features a lot of stairs. The reward is stunning views of the harbour from numerous angles as well as multiple beaches that you can swim at to break up the travel. Due to the nature of the walk, I did this on my own, as Meg didn’t think she could handle the ups and downs.
Sydney, a Liveable City (Although Maybe Not Affordable)
As we wound down our time in Australia and Sydney, we were captured by Sydney. It helped we saw an outstanding play on our last night and the weather was good. There are buses, trams, trains and ferries to get you around. If you are touring, you don’t really need a car. The town is not as clean as other places in Australia, but it seemed safe overall. Given it has such a major airport, I can certainly see coming here again and visiting places that I only walked by or missed. On this visit, we skipped the museums. A must for next time.
Given that Australia is a Commonwealth country, like Canada, the similarities are striking. Language is the biggest, they are easy to understand and speak a clear dialect. There is almost no need to carry cash. Card is accepted everywhere, although most places will charge a surcharge of up to 2% for using a card. Given the ease of card, we withdrew no cash while in Australia. Everything was on card, normally tap to pay from our phones. There is a transit card called the Opal card but the benefits are the same if you use your credit card.
It is amazing how fast a month can go, but we are leaving Australia now and heading off to the Philippines for our next phase of the Fall 2025 trip.
Thanks for reading,
Cam and Meg