Well, mate, welcome to Australia. I’m really loving this apartment we rented, with its great views of the harbor (below). Read on!
The flight to Sydney was mostly pleasant, though a little harrowing because the woman behind me, and several other passengers in our section, were given masks because they began to exhibit flu symptoms. Our plane was momentarily quarantined upon arrival while these passengers were examined and removed. Three days later, a cruise ship arrived in Sydney, bringing with it a dozen people sick with H1N1 and quickly raising Australia’s number of cases from 7 to over 250 within a week. Needless to say, the media is having a field day.
Sydney is a wonderful city, especially when you are able to stay right on the harbor. The ferry system is efficient and convenient and we were able to go from the wharf at our doorstep to the center of the action at Circular Quay or Darlington Harbor quickly and easily. In these areas, at least, the streets are friendly to pedestrians and there are many wonderful restaurants and shops, and some of the best sites.
We spent four full days in Sydney; be sure to follow these links to photos for more.
- Sydney Opera House (with special artistic illumination) [photos],
- Blue Mountains (a great train+bus package outside the city) [photos],
and also other sites in the city [photos]:
- Sydney Aquarium,
- IMAX theater (biggest screen in the world), and
- University of Sydney (where I gave a talk).
Next stop: Adelaide.
This post was transferred from MobileMe to WordPress in 2021, with an effort to retain the content as close to the original as possible; I recognize that some comments may now seem dated or some links may now be broken.
David Kotz 