Travel Biography - Week 93.

A Small World? A Pure Coincidence? Or Divine Will? You Choose.

The two days I spent at the Blue Mountains National Park left no regrets. Rather, going out on a backcountry hike whilst staying in a city added momentum to the holiday. And that wasn't all. Two other day trips were also completed whilst living in the city. One was a ferry to Manly. The other was a combined bus and ferry to Palm Beach, the filming site for the popular tea-time soap, Home and Away.

These were planned events. But another of the unexpected arose when I was at Darling Harbour. But it wasn't anything negative this time, such as encountering a smartly dressed queue jumper. Instead, I was called from behind by two casually dressed Chinese undergraduates. However, I didn't recognise them at first until one of them reminded me that we met at the hostel in Brisbane.

View of the Gearstick from Darling Harbour, Sydney.

Museum Ships moored at Darling Harbour.

 Two undergrads I met first in Brisbane, then in Sydney.

Pyrmont Bridge from the City to Darling Harbour.

With this knowledge, I greeted them warmly. They then asked me to spend the rest of the day with them. As we walked around and talked, one of them suggested a cruise around the harbour. I thought that was a good idea and having bought my own ticket, boarded the boat with them.

It was while we were cruising along that I realised how big the harbour really was. We passed the twin buildings of the Opera House and headed seawards. A circuit was completed in an hour, arriving where we started, at the Circular Quay, between the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.

The three of us spent the rest of the day together. Somehow, I marvelled at their level of hospitality, which I saw was quite contrary to the "Englishman's home is his castle" mentality of our national culture. So who were these two? Unfortunately, I had never recorded their names. Perhaps coming from China, their names I would have found difficult to pronounce. However, their bodily physiques were each distinct. One was tall and fairly slim, and he was the friendlier of the pair. The other was shorter in height, stockier in build, yet kept more to himself. However, he still had a friendly attitude towards me as well as his companion.

Where each studied, unfortunately, I wasn't able to recall, but apparently, they were students in China but had taken leave to backpack Australia together. However, the stockier one had to leave Sydney a day earlier than his companion. Whatever the reasons, it looked to me that the taller one found pleasure accompanying me as we explored the city together. However, I was assured that their separation had nothing to do with me but was already planned from the start of their adventures. One possibility was that each had a family at a different location, even if each studied at the same university. This may have necessitated different flights at different times of the day. At least, that was the hint I have gotten from my new friend who stayed behind.

Back at the hostel, we separated, with them going to their dormitory while I returned to mine to freshen up. Sometime later, I went into the kitchen to prepare dinner, and I sat alone, as usual, in the dining room. However, I was still there when the two students also arrived and took a vacant table by the window nearby. Again, it was the taller one who called me over to join them at their meal.

The meal they had was Chinese, and that included seaweed. Having already eaten, I didn't take any of their fare, but they persuaded me to try some seaweed after I had expressed surprise. I sampled some, and it tasted good. I found that it was almost addictive as I sampled more. The atmosphere between us was wonderful. It was as if we were all one family. Finally, we made our way to our dorms.

Sydney Opera House is seen from the cruiser.

The boat leaves the city far behind.

The cruiser reaches the mouth of the natural Harbour.

The next morning, the taller friend and I saw off his companion as he made his way by bus to the airport. His companion and I stayed together throughout the day until the evening when I saw him off to the airport. During that day, we didn't go far into town. Instead, on one occasion, he invited me to join him at the rooftop sauna. After I collected my gear, I made my way to the facility. He was already there, still fully dressed, but with a change of mind. He didn't want the sauna after all. Maybe there was something about the facility which he found offputting. What it was, I didn't get to ask. So we took the lift to the ground floor. Next to the reception hall was the games room. Here, we played snooker with a couple of other backpackers, forming a foursome. As expected, I didn't win!

That evening, he vacated the hostel and we both made our way to the appropriate bus stop. When the bus to the airport arrived, he boarded it alone. However, after settling down, he waved to me until the bus disappeared out of sight. Once again, I was by myself to continue with the rest of my 1997 Round-the-World trip.

It's here that I wish to correct an error I made on Week 76 of the Biography. In the last line of the 13th paragraph, I wrote:

I spent the rest of my RTW trip on my own, as no one had stepped forward to invite me to join them, and neither had I invited anyone to accompany me.

This was written in a referral to Singapore. Not long after arriving there, two European backpackers invited me to join them for the day to enjoy the facilities on Sentosa Island, including swimming in a leisure pool. This was when I learned never to rely on memory alone but to check the records, especially in the photo album. At the time of writing, I had forgotten about these two Chinese undergrads until I checked the photo album for reference and memory refreshing.

My intention is to write this Biography as accurately as possible and I apologise for the error in week 76.

A Ferry to Manly.

During the remaining days, I stayed in the vicinity of Sydney. This included a ferry sailing to Manly, a district north of the city. This trip goes to show how I felt drawn to natural features rather than urbanisation. And despite that, I was born in London, grew up there, and always felt nostalgic about Britain's capital. From my home town of Bracknell, I wouldn't hesitate to move back to London if all circumstances had been favourable. Unfortunately, failing secondary education dealt a fatal blow to that idea, mainly due to a lack of job opportunities.

However, with Manly, I didn't have any hiking or country walks planned for this trip across the harbour. Rather, it was to experience the ferry sailing itself. The boat had a bow at both ends, hence it was able to move in both directions without the need for a turnaround at the start of each sailing. On board, I found that the interior was very basic with no buffet or comfy lounge seating.

After arriving at Manly, I saw that the town was not unlike the 3rd Parade at Santa Monica, as this street, named the Corso, was also fully pedestrianised with decorative palm trees and artistic sculpture throughout its length. The Corso was the town's main shopping precinct and it was a through street from Manly Cove, where our boat docked at the wharf located there, to Manly Beach, on the other side of the peninsula and facing into the open ocean. Manly Beach was a favourite location for wetsuit-clad surfers. When I arrived at Manly Beach, I saw what appeared to be a surfing club in full swing. With the coolness of the June/July midwinter weather, the sea looked uninviting for a swimmer, and I had no regrets about leaving my gear at the hostel.

Instead, I saw what looked like a clifftop walk further south along the coast. This was North Head, a stubby headland, and from the air, forming a prominent upper lip of the harbour mouth. I wanted to see whether a footpath ran along the clifftop with the hope of a captivating view into the natural harbour.

I started to walk along the beach towards the headland. Sure enough, the path did ascend the hill, and pretty soon I was on the clifftop. However, the path carried on for some distance along the clifftop before it gradually petered out. Hoping to have completed a circuit, taking in some fantastic views and eventually ending up back at Manly, instead, I had no option but to turn back. Just as well. The ground ahead was covered in thick vegetation such as ferns. Could I prove that no venomous snakes or other harmful nasties were lurking in those bushes? And so, I returned to town in the same way I came out, a potentially picturesque hike ending in failure.

View of the opera House from the Manly Ferry.

Cruise ship view of the famous icon.

Meanwhile, in China...

Meanwhile, while I was staying in Sydney, another piece of the old British Empire was about to fall into the sea, so to speak. After all, Australia itself was once a British colony before it became independent in 1901, although it has remained in the Commonwealth to this day. This time it will be Hong Kong. On July 1st, 1997, this former British outpost was handed back to China after 156 years of British colonialism. I remember the occasion well. I was sitting in the hostel TV room with many other backpackers. The UK was under Tony Blair's New Labour administration which had only recently been elected into power, defeating John Major's Conservatives a mere several weeks earlier. And there he was, with Charles Prince of Wales, signing away over a century and a half of history to the Chinese President, Jiang Zemin. Why am I detailing this? This is another wonder with world travel. I was 10,620 miles from home, in the heart of Sydney City Centre whilst watching the world historic event happening on TV.

After the programme, preparing supper in its superb kitchen as the hostel routine continues.

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Next Week: a day trip to Palm Beach and the city itself before take off.

Also, the photos of Manly will appear in next week's blog. This was due to a lack of foresight during preparation.