From: "Philip Merryman" <phil_merryman@hotmail.com>

Date: Mon Mar 11, 2002 06:43:50 AM Etc/GMT

Subject: Sydney in a Hurry

Hi everyone,

I have arrived in Cairns after 2 nights on trains and one in Brisbane, so this is the first chance to send a message. However it is another depressing Monday as Spurs have been dumped out of the FA Cup at home 0-4 by Chelsea, he same team they stuffed 5-1 the night before I left. It seems that Spurs have used up all their good football in that one game as they have been rubbish ever since! :-(

Anyway, my time in Sydney was far more successful, and if you think that I did a lot in the Blue mountains, then hang on!

As I travelled on the train back from Katoomba the skies were getting darker, and with perfect timing, just as I arrived in Sydney the heavens opened! Now the Hostel is literally across the road from the station, but both gutters were by now raging torrents. So we all waited in the shelter of the station for the pedestrian crossing lights to change, then ran for it! It was only about 25 metres, but it is not easy to run with all my bags, and I got significantly wet and one foot ended up ankle deep in the water in the gutter as it was too wide to get across in one step! Welcome back to Sydney! However, by the time I had checked in and sorted myself out it had passed, and there was no more significant rain to worry about, but it remained humid.

Now as a kid, an being an engineer, there were 3 bridges I had always wanted to see: the Forth Railway Bridge in Scotland, The Golden Gate Bridge and Sydney Harbour Bridge. Having seen the first two I had one left. So in the afternoon I made a bee-line for the harbour. This bee line was George Street and I was to come to know it very well over the next 72 hours as it was the direct walk to the harbour front. However it was about 2km so it was a brisk 35 minutes each way!

So on Monday afternoon I immediately went down to the Harbour and look lots of pictures of the Bridge and Opera House. I then walked across the bridge to officially have "done it", took more pictures of the Bridge and Opera House and walked back over. By now I realised that it would be dark in an hour or so, so I had supper in one of the Opera House cafes and waited. I then spent the evening in the area taking night photos. By the time I had walked back to the Hostel it was about 10pm.

However, while there I had found out about tours of the Opera House, so the next morning I was back for a backstage tour of the various theatres in the building. This takes you up into the roof voids and behind the main stages. However because of the design of the building there is no wing space, so for the opera all the sets are raised and lowered on large elevators. The tour guide remarked that they were just like an aircraft carrier! They also have small theatres there for drama productions and a big concert hall, which is actually bigger than the Opera Hall, which has a magnificent 10,000 pipe concert organ and also has flying doughnuts for improved sound just like the flying saucers in the Albert Hall. At the end of the tour we were told that we were enititled to a reduced rate for a concert or opera! So I enquired. Unfortunately the Opera that night was full, but I got into the Concert. An Aus$125 ticket for Aus$75! A good reduction! So I had to come back in the evening for the concert.

Now you were not allowed to take cameras into the Opera House and they did not have place to store bags, so I had left them back in the Hostel. So it was all the way back to get them, then out again to the Aquarium in the afternoon. The Sydney Aquarium is a must if you ever come here. They have all sorts of fish and other creatures, including the Platypus swimming around in its own little pond, but at eye level so you could see it underwater. There was a crocodile, many other wonderfully coloured fish and coral. But the best bits were the large tanks where you walk in glass tunnels under water to look up at the sharks and rays! Also the new Barrier Reef display, a large tank at floor level, was magnificent with sharks, all sorts of big and small fish of all colours and large expanses of coral. A couple of hours here quickly disappears, so with a short ride on the Monorail as well it was another brisk walk back to the Hostel. Just enough time for a shower and a bite to eat before going out again to the concert.

As it was humid, and getting on in time, I hailed a cab to the Opera House to avoid ending up getting there all hot and sweaty! So this gave time for a leisurely drink before the concert. The concert was given by the Pittsburg Symphony Orchestra. The first half was Shostakovitch's Cello Concerto No. 1. The soloist was a brilliant Norwegian chap whose name escapes me for now as the programme is already in a box on its way back home! After several re-calls he was persuaded to do an encore. After the interval the piece was Mahler's 1st Symphony (Titan). This was another tour de force by the entire orchestra with the music ranging fom the quiet and reflective to the exultant via humour and irony! When it finished the applause was reminiscent of the final whistle of a soccer match (though not at Spurs at the moment!!) and after many recalls they were persuaded to do two encores! By the time I had walked back to the Hostel it was 11pm!

Next morning after packing another box of stuff to send home, I then headed back to the harbour for a haurbour cruise. However the Post Office is on the same street most of the way to the harbour, so I had this big box to carry as well. When I got to the Post office I found it weighed almost 5 kilo! It certainly felt it all the way down the road!. Then on to the harbour for the Cruise. For the first half of the cruise you go towards the harbour entrance. Sydney harbour is a large area with many little bays. It was a formed by glaciers carving out the mountains in the Ice ages, but after the ice retreated the sea level rose to flood the valleys the glaciers had created, hence it is deep and a perfect harbour for large ocean going ships. After an hour, half way round, I got off for a quick visit to the zoo (next boat in two hours). They have a little cable car system to take you up to the main entrance, and this goes over the top of many of the animal enclosures! So here I was able to see just about all the remaining Aussie animals I hadn't seen so far: Koala, echidna, wombat, kookaburra, etc. Then back to the jetty for the second half of the harbour cruise. This went under the bridge and offered some more good angles for photos of the Opera House and Bridge. Finally returning to the quayside at 3.30 pm. Still time to go up the tower! So after a beer and a cake it was back up the road to the tower! This is the tallest structure in the southern hemisphere (the one in Melbourne is the tallest office building). The grey humidity had gone over night, so it was hot and clear, and the view from the top was maginificent. You could see all the weay over the whole harbour to the ocean beyond! then back to the hostel at a reasoanbly civilised time. However this just meant that I hade time to write the last e-mail I sent and pack as I had to check out in the morning. So it was still not eaxactly a lazy evening!

Next morning was another glorious day. My train did not leave until after 4pm, so a couple of days before I had booked a bridge climb! This is a relatively new event, beginning in 1998. Its not cheap at Aus$127 but it is extremely well orhanised. Because you are going onto the structure above the road deck you are not allowed to take anything with you that could fall. So once again no cameras! However your gruop leader has a disgital camera to take the picturs of you. They provide everything, an all in one suit (no pockets), hat, even a handkerchief all of which is tied on! Even your specs are tied on. You each get a radio and earpiece so the leader gan give a commentary and talk to you. There is a continuous attachment to a safetly line all the time you are on the bridge, so you can't fall of either! The walk begins along the catwalks below the road and them climbs up onto the famous arch, all the way to the top where the flagpoles are. Magnificent views of the harbour. You go up the same side as the Opera House, across the top to the other side and back down to the same end you started from. As we were coming down, one of the replica sailing ships was setting off on some major voyage, so was being escorted out under the bridge by a fire tug sending sprays of water high into the air, other boats in pursuit and the sky buzzing with helicopters! The whole event, from checking in, throught getting changed and doing the walk is 3 hours.

So just time at a German Beerkeller near the bridge for a German Beer and Hotdog with Sauerkraut (apologies to my German friends if my spelling is wrong!), back to the hostel, shower, get bags out of lockers, re-pack the stuff from the morning, get the train to Brisbane!

Needless to say, by the time I got here I was a bit tired and this morning waking up was NOT easy!

I have a week here altogether before heading off to NZ. So a chance to slow down a bit!

More soon

Phil