Sydney
 San
Francisco, Budapest, Paris: cities to fall in love with. Add
Sydney, Australia to the list.
Houses cluster on low hills surrounding a wide
bay. It seems that everyone should have a view of trees and
water. Only a few skyscrapers cluster round the ferry terminal
but do not block public access to the waterside park.
Bed and Breakfast
My family stayed in Rose Bay, an area of clean
winding streets, small restaurants and, as my relatives would
say, "posh" homes. We found our bed and breakfast
through the Australian Bed and Breakfast Association. We bought
the book but you can also get all the information on the web
site. Syl's Sydney Homestay cost $700 Australian dollars for
a three day stay for the four of us, in a full apartment with
a walkout to the garden. Breakfast included such delights
as Welsh rarebit, various cereals, fruits and properly made
tea. The modern home looked down the hill, over the tree and
roof tops to a peek at the harbour.
Transportation
Our family stayed in Sydney for less than three
days. If you are staying a much longer time, consider using
the travel pass which allows unlimited travel aboard buses,ferries,
and trains. A week-long pass costs about $17.00. Should you
take the Airport Bus to and from your accommodation, then
the Sydney Pass will pay for itself. Passes can be purchased
at the Tourism New South Wales counter, Central Quay, most
buses, and some confectionery stores.
The Rose Bay bus arrives frequently but took
about forty-five minutes to reach Circular Quay, time enough
for me to read parts of Angela's Ashes over the shoulder
of the man in front of me. He could have turned the pages
faster. John carried on a long conversation with some people
from Toronto. Small world.
Take the best way to travel, zooming across
the bay by Jet Cat. The one way price ranges from $2.80 to
$5.20 depending on distance.The trip takes 15 minutes from
Rose Bay to the Circular Quay. We travelled with a boat full
of local business workers heading to and from the skyscrapers
of downtown.
My daughter Gwen and I made the young man in
front of us smile at overhearing us as we discussed the ferry
beside us called Friendship.
"There are good ships and bad ships, but
the best ship is friendship," I said, quoting the old
yearbook saying.
We continued on to discuss what the word Eternity
in lights on the Sydney bridge meant. Friendly like all Australians,
the man turned to us and said, "When I was a boy, my
mother told me about a swag man who wandered around Sydney
writing the word Eternity in chalk on the sidewalks.
He died in the early 1960s but people remembered and they
put his word up on the bridge to celebrate the Millennium."
Lunch
The influx of immigrants
into Australia means a wide variety of restaurants. The rule
for price is the better the view, the higher the price. We
got a great view for a great price by packing a lunch in the
apartment kitchen before leaving.
We joined workers on their
lunch hour, sitting in the garden in front of the Gallery
of Contemporary Art beside the Quay. The Opera House floats
across the bay, the bridge sits to the left. Long legged ibis
stalk the grass.
Cruising Sydney
Harbour
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