The other half of the world

Sydney has never really been on my travel bucket list for various reasons. Back in Italy, it felt so far and unreachable that I never gave it a thought. After moving to Asia, it seemed far too little “exotic” to be visited.

But a bucket list is boring. It builds up expectations on a specific, long sought after place and doesn’t allow you, quoting Matisse,  to see that same place with the eyes of a kid. That’s perhaps why I enjoyed Sydney and Australia more than I was expecting. Sometimes, I just have flashbacks of myself eating oysters at the Sydney fish market.

From the beginning, I realized that one of the best traits about Australia is the extreme juxtaposition of things. Sometimes, everything seems just perfectly crafted and thought over thoroughly, like the eye pleasing subway stations names in giant coloured capital letters.

Other times, things around you are just extremely random.

But randomness and attention to detail come together perfectly in what makes Sydney so elegant and vibrant.

After landing and dropping the bags at the hostel in Woolloomooloo (they’ve really got some great names down under), we started roaming around the harbour area to have a first look at the city.

First destination, and probably my favourite area of Sydney: the Rocks.

One thing I learnt pretty quickly is that Italians are everywhere in Australia. That’s why I got a Salsiccia e Friarielli pizza from a cool couple from Naples as soon as we arrived under the bridge, just to be sure not to try anything too foreign and extreme on the first day (and also to make sure that I tick all the stereotype boxes).

And then, finally the stunning view over the Opera House and the related unmissable picture. A gloomy day certainly cannot take away the incredible beauty of the place. The only thing that it’s taken away it’s your breath.

Strolling around makes the mind happy, but the stomach empty. Fortunately, fuel is always around the corner in Sydney. In my case, dinner came in the shape of a Poke Bowl. For all those who have never heard about Poke Bowl, that’s the actual name, no joke or pun intended. Oh yeah, and it looks roughly like this (note: Image not suitable for the sensible reader/food porn addict):

The Poke Bowl was courtesy of a place called “The bar at the end of the wharf”, which is, you guessed, a bar at the end of the wharf (+ theater). View on the bay and the bridge, great food and wine, with the added perk of being all for yourself since at 8 pm a loud bell invites all the theater goers to enter the theater before the performance start.

First day is history, but before going back to the hostel, a stop by the Opera House is due.

Second day. Time to do one of the most Aussie things in one of the most Aussie places. Time to put loads of sunscreen on and head to the beach. One of my biggest desires after feeling the Australian sun is to buy a protection 100 sunscreen. Or to buy a facekini.

Sun apart, the coastline from Bondi to Coogee is a real delicacy, with stunning features and an incredible vibe.

However, the highlight of the day, apart from the delicious picnic on Bondi beach, was the bus driver of our bus on the way to Watson’s bay. Suddenly and very unexpectedly, he simply stopped half way and said: “Alright mates, it’s four pm, gonna get home”

To which we replied: “(puzzled face) what do you mean?”

“Well it’s Sunday and it’s four pm, I want to go home so I’ll drop you down here. Anyway, the lighthouse is nearby”

“Alright, it looks like we don’t have a choice. Can you show us how to get to the lighthouse on google maps?”

“Sure.”

The problem was, he couldn’t understand how google maps works. At that point, we just started walking until we reached the lighthouse. It turned out, it was the wrong one.

However, that lighthouse wasn’t too shabby either.

I love the sea and to swim in the sea, but seeing that endless amount of water stretching beyond the horizon gave me chills that I can’t explain.

Following the walk around Watson’s bay, we were lucky enough to hop on the last bus to downtown (this was at about 7 pm, they seem to be more chilled down under than we are in Italy) and get a good sleep. That was just after we stared for several minutes at a cool Coca Cola advertisement on a building. Totally worth it.

Quote of the day:

“Alright mates, it’s four pm, gonna get home” – Bus driver who wants to go home early

The next day, we took the trains to the Blue Mountains. After a bit of confusion on which trains to hop on, we ended up with this view

and we started the hike around the mountains.

Living in Singapore doesn’t give too much space to enjoy a quiet place, so the Blue mountains were a real treat in this sense. Just birds, howling wind and nothing else along the whole way.

At the end of the hike, we got on the steepest inclined railway in the world, that you could make even steeper by changing the inclination of the seats! We also managed to do a double run for free. Thanks security guard eheheheh

The whole walk was just stunning and along the way I couldn’t help but noticing how many people were not going for the hike, but chose to just get on the train ride instead. It was a great hike on a great day. All topped up with some nice flat white with cinnamon at the cafe on the top of the mountain.

Quite hungry, we headed back to Sydney accompanied by a delightful sunset.

And now, one of my favourite places: the Fish Market. We got there after a walk in Darling Harbour in the early morning to avoid the crowds. It turns out, having sushi, oysters and shrimps at 9.30 am is a pretty nice thing to do. Also, I’ve got to see pelicans and that is a pretty big win to me.

After seeing lobsters and scallops being stolen by birds and after laughing at the people who lost their food, we headed for a walk around Darling Harbour.

The Darling Harbour area is probably one of the best put together parts of the city, full of nice restaurant, new buildings, great bakeries and completed with a lengthy and sunny promenade. Furthermore, it is a stunning gateway to the city center where we stopped next.

Before the sun set, there was still plenty of time to see the Opera House up close, lit up by the last sunlight of the day. That perfect last sunlight made my photography senses tingle.

Before going back to the hostel, there was still some time to catch up with some friends at a local steakhouse. Second steak dinner in a row, it does not get any better than this.

The last day in Sydney started with coffee and croissants at the Mrs Macquarie’s Chair, with views over the whole bay. Yes, I am quite picky with my breakfast spots.

The plan for the day consisted in enjoying the Botanic Gardens before heading off to the Art Gallery of NSW and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia or some culture time.

Along the way to the Botanic Gardens, we spotted a tree completely packed with cockatoos.

I hope you’ve seen enough photos of the Opera House in this post. In case you haven’t, please see below for one extra delicious pic.

Bye bye Sydney, you’ve been very charming.

But the flight to Melbourne is waiting, ready for the next adventure.

Extra story:

This happened at Barangaroo and I still can’t get my head around it. I went to a nice bakery to buy some good bread in order to make sandwiches with few salami, hams and other stuff that I bought earlier on. My brain was happy thinking about the food, I was happy thinking about my brain being happy about the food. Basically everyone was happy. That is until I sat down in front of the sea ready to take the first bite. In a split second, I felt something hitting my hands from behind my back. Thinking it was a guy, I turned around ready to say something, but there was no one there. Then something felt weird. My sandwich had gone missing from my hands and I couldn’t find it anywhere. In the meanwhile, people around me were just laughing their asses off. And that’s when I realized that a seagull flew over my shoulder from my blind spot aka the back and was skillful enough to take the sandwich out of my hands without touching any of my two hands holding the sandwich. Hats off to the bird. However, I am sorry to say that I have to revise the bird ranking for the seagull.

Revised bird rating: DQ (Disqualified). Yes, lower than the bastard bird. That looked like a delicious sandwich.