Travel Biography Photo Extravaganza - Part 36.

Concluding the Sydney City Stay.

The 1997 Round-the-World solo backpacking trip was the greatest adventure I have ever taken. The duration out of the UK that year was exactly ten weeks to the day, but this was not the longest in my life. That honour goes to 1994, when I spent 13 weeks in Israel, first as a volunteer at a Christian Conference Centre, and then a month spent alone in a backpacker's hostel in the Old City of Jerusalem.

However, in 1995, I spent a month backpacking across the USA, and this had a profound effect on 1997. The idea of visiting Australia originated from a conversation I had with an Australian bricklayer soon after settling into a twin-bed dorm at a HI hostel in San Diego, a large building on Broadway that was run by the YMCA and had rented out a floor to the hostel. 

Less than two years later, I spent nearly six weeks Down Under. Within that time, I snorkelled over the corals of the Great Barrier Reef - Green Island, Low Isles, and Border Island of the Whitsundays. I then visited K'gari, which is the world's largest sandbank, and the Blue Mountains National Park, a contemporary of the Grand Canyon National Park in the American State of Arizona, which I visited in 1995. And here I am now - in Sydney, the climax of the whole Australian trip, which all began with a conversation across the Pacific Ocean, in southern California.

This week's album contains photos centred more on the city. Since 1997, there have been some changes, especially with the decommissioning and demolition of the Monorail in 2013. The official reason for its demise was due to economic incompatibility, but while I was in Sydney, rumours were that the Monorail was unpopular with the locals and was underused.

The monorail's route was a closed loop linking the Business District to Darling Harbour, passing by the city aquarium, and crossing the Harbour over Pyrmont Bridge. It had eight stations. I boarded at one station and alighted at the same station, hence completing a lap of the circuit. Apparently, I could have stayed on the train, as there was no guard or conductor on board.

The Monorail at Pyrmont Bridge, Sydney, 1997.

The Victoria Building on George Street was an indoor shopping mall housed in a historic building. In 1997, under the central dome hung the Foucault Pendulum, a weight that swung in one direction while the Earth rotated under it. This was towered over by the Centrepoint Tower, nicknamed by some as "The Gearstick", 309 metres high at the tip of its antenna. The top floor viewing gallery, giving a 360-degree view of the city, is 250 metres high. In all, it was the highest tower in the Southern Hemisphere until 1997, when the Sky Tower in Auckland, New Zealand, opened on August 3rd of that year, with its antenna 19 metres higher. However, its viewing gallery is only 220 metres high, thirty metres lower than its counterpart in Sydney. Thus, to say that I was at the highest point on the Southern Hemisphere holds true to this day.

In all, although I enjoyed the privilege of visiting Sydney, its natural harbour, and the three trips out of the city (Blue Mountains, Palm Beach, and Manly), to me, Sydney was basically another London, but this version with palm trees. However, Sydney boasted the national icon of Australia, the Opera House, and next to it, the Harbour Bridge, an excellent example of civil engineering. But overall, Sydney wasn't the best place I stayed in all of Australia, or even the entire Round-the-World trip. That honour goes to Cairns, on the North Queensland coast. Backed by forested mountains, this city was the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, the highlight of the whole adventure, and the gateway to a whole new experience.

The Flight to Los Angeles, then to San Diego.

I felt sad when I had to vacate my bed at Sydney Central Hostel to board a bus to Kingsford Smith International Airport. But before I left the hostel, I made sure that I had a bed booked at the HI AYH in San Diego, believing that it would be at the same venue as in 1995, the YMCA building on Broadway. But when I examined the booking receipt after checking in, I saw that the address was at Market Street, and not at Broadway. At this, I was puzzled.

The trans-Pacific flight from Sydney to Los Angeles was once the longest non-stop commercial flight in the Guinness Book of Records before the New York/Cape Town flight took its place on the records podium. But the flight I was on had some unusual characteristics. For example, I took off from Sydney around 18.00 hours in the evening on August 3rd and landed at Los Angeles International Airport around midday on August 3rd. By crossing the International Date Line, I have literally arrived in L.A. six hours earlier on the same day than when I took off!

On the same flight, I also crossed the Equator from the Southern Hemisphere to the Northern Hemisphere. This also means that I have crossed from Winter, where the air in Sydney was cool, to Summer, where the air in San Diego was hot and stifling.

After arriving at Los Angeles LAX Airport and passing through Passport Control, I was too tired, after a sleepless night, to think about taking a bus to my destination. Therefore, I asked Security where I could board a connecting flight to San Diego. I was directed to a small domestic flight terminal and departure lounge. Here, I was able to buy an air ticket as easily as buying a train ticket. This was a reward for staying at backpacker's hostels instead of hotels, to be deprived of personal privacy by sleeping in a dormitory, and to buy and cook my own meals instead of eating in restaurants. The reward was luxury travel when I needed it.

I boarded a SkyWest propeller-powered plane for a thirty-minute flight to San Diego. This was the shortest flight of my life, covering just ninety miles (145 km). So ironic that this flight was back-to-back with the longest flight of my life, covering 7,488 air miles (12,050 km). Around two hours before landing, a cloud break allowed me a glimpse of Hawaii below.

After alighting at San Diego Airport, I was able to walk to the city, Downtown San Diego, as the airport was a short walking distance from the city. 

My third stage of the 1997 Round-the-World was about to begin.

For more details of this flight, click here for the link to Week 96.

Photos of Sydney City.

A view of Darling Harbour from "The Gearstick".

The Victoria Building, George Street.

Looking over the city towards the station.

The Botanical Gardens and Mrs Macquarie's Chair.

Hyde Park with its War Memorial.

Archibald Fountain, Hyde Park.

This block nearly obliterated the Bridge and Opera House. 

The Rocks, where the POMS first settled in Australia. 

POMS is "Prisoners Of Majesty's Service."

Market on George Street, The Rocks.

Interior of Victoria Building shopping mall.

The clock ornament, Victoria Building.

Hyde Park.

St Mary's Cathedral.

Centrepoint Tower, from Hyde Park.

Archibald Fountain, Australia/France allegiance, WWI.

 

Distant view of Archibald Fountain, Hyde Park.

The Monorail from the rear of the train.

The train glides over Pyrmont Bridge.

Night Reflections of the Business District.

A species of fig tree, Sydney Botanical Gardens.

A touch of the Tropics, Botanical Gardens.

The Business District, seen from the Botanical Gardens.

Sydney's Oxford St IS different from London's!

Final view of Sydney, a Monorail train passes by.

The Flight to Southern California, USA.

At Sydney's Kingsford Smith International Airport.

About to board the Qantas airline for Los Angeles.

Midflight over Hawaii.

A hole in the clouds and Hawaii could be seen below.

Whilst in a stack, we fly over L.A. LAX Airport.

At LAX Airport, this plane awaits to fly us to San Diego.

The final destination after a long journey, San Diego.

Flight definition: Stack - A queue of planes circling the airport waiting for their turn to land.

Next Week: Arrival in San Diego and some unusual scenes.

Travel Biography Photo Extravaganza - Part 35.

Arrival in Sydney.

My final stop in Australia before the trans-Pacific flight to Los Angeles lasted 11 days, including one night spent in Katoomba, an administrative town for the Blue Mountains National Park, sixty miles by train from Sydney Central Station. This was after my first sight of the city on the Greyhound Bus from Coffs Harbour as it crossed the Sydney Harbour Bridge. From the window, I had a clear view of the Sydney Opera House, the national icon of Australia, before the bus passed through part of the city to end at a coach parking space in front of the railway terminus.

Just across the road from the station, a former Victorian office block was converted into an inappropriately titled YHA Youth Hostel. Rather, it was dormitory accommodation for backpackers, all of whom were adults, some even older than I was when I arrived in 1997. Sydney Central Hostel was the largest hostel of all three countries visited, and second only to HI-AYH New York City, where I stayed a year later in 1998. It had two members' kitchens serving a large dining room. On one wall was a mural of the dining room in full use, with its windows looking out across the city.

The rooftop floor featured a spa facility, consisting of a sauna cabin and a plunge pool, which was elevated from the floor and accessible via steps. As a "Sauna-Nut", this suite wasn't as good as those back home, or even the spa suite in the basement of the YMCA in San Diego. Here in Sydney, a push-button start meant that it was up to me to heat up the cabin from room temperature, along with an extract fan, which delayed the warming up.

Once settled in, the city was mine to explore. One location I passed through on the way to the harbour was Hyde Park. Surrounding the park, the street architecture was predominantly Victorian, and one could easily mistake this part of the city for London. Indeed, there is a strong resemblance between the two cities, except that here, palm trees dominate, while in London, the dominant tree lining the streets is the Plane tree.

However, referring to Sydney as "London-by-the-Sea" won't go, either. That title is reserved for Brighton, a brash resort on the English Sussex coast. But Sydney does boast the largest natural harbour in the world. It is crossed by the Harbour Bridge, a magnificent work of civil engineering. Its single-span arch was designed after the bridge spanning the River Tyne in Newcastle, and it carries the main Indo-Pacific Highway, along with a footpath, a cycleway, and the railway line out of Central Station. 

A Manly Ferry cruises past the Opera House.

On one occasion, I crossed the harbour on foot to North Sydney, a more sedate and residential side than the city's south side. The bridge also has four turrets, two at each end. One of the towers, the southwest turret, was open to the public in 1997 and offered brilliant views of the Opera House and the surrounding harbour. From Circular Quay, the city's main quay, I watched ferries ply to and fro, along with harbour cruises. The vessel which stood out uniquely among others was the Manly Ferry. This was a ship with no stern but a bow at both ends. This allowed the ferry to dock in the harbour, then pull out without the need to turn around. It was very much like a train at a terminus station.

In the Business District by the Harbour, the city was dominated by the Sydney Observation Tower and the telecommunications centre, or Centrepoint Tower. Nicknamed by some as The Gearstick, as in the car. It stands 309 metres high, and in 1997, it was the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere. At present, this was overtaken by the Sky Tower in Auckland, New Zealand, which is 19 metres higher. I spent an afternoon in the observation deck.

The Opera House was, and still is, the icon of Australia. It appears all the time in holiday brochures. Before arriving, I always thought that the Opera House was a single building, and I found it difficult to imagine a rugged, masculine Aussie rancher sitting in a theatre listening to classical music or a soprano.  But after arriving, I saw that there were two buildings, one next to the other, and one slightly larger than the other. The larger of the two was the Concert Hall. The other was actually the Opera House. From what I have seen, younger backpackers and families seem to be attracted to the Concert Hall. The Opera House was more for the highbrow performance and its clientele.

By nature, the theatre is not my sort of venue. But the Opera House, or should I say, the Concert Hall, offered budget seats for a piano performance that would be held one evening. This allowed me to experience a concert in such a famous building. And no, there was no call for formal dress!

The budget seats were at the back of a huge, cavernous theatre, but as with most other venues, the sloping floor allowed a clear view of the stage. But what surprised me was the acoustics. I could hear the piano playing as clearly from a distance as if I were standing right next to it.

Hence, sitting in a theatre completes the wide variety of experiences of my travels. On one hand, I was snorkelling over the corals making up the Great Barrier Reef. On the other hand, I was sitting in a theatre, famous as it is, to watch and listen to classical music. 

This week's pics cover mainly the Harbour area, including a Harbour cruise I took whilst there. The Harbour cruise was a different boat trip from the Manly Ferry crossing. During my stay in Sydney, I embarked three times. The first was for part of the journey to Palm Beach, then a crossing to Manly, and finally, a circular Harbour cruise. 

Click here for the Index link for the main Biography, covering Weeks 93-96, the Sydney experience.

Photos of Sydney Hostel and Harbour.

Sydney Central Station and the hostel to the right.

Dining room mural. The empty tables are the real ones.

The Pyrmont Bridge carried the Monorail in 1997.

Darling Harbour shopping precinct.

Open-air Boat Museum, Darling Harbour.

Behind me, the "Gearstick".

The "Gearstick" was the tallest tower in the South.

About to board the Manly Ferry to visit the town.

View of the Opera House from the Manly Ferry.

A Manly Ferry is about to dock at Circular Quay.

The Opera House is on the left, the Concert Hall on the right.

On the Harbour cruise.

View from the Manly Ferry.

Cruise boat view.

Syline from the cruiser.

Views of the City from different angles.

We went further out towards the ocean.

The cliff to the left is Manly North Head.

Harbour Bridge. The tower, left, is open to the public.

I crossed the Harbour on the bridge footway.

The beauty of civil engineering.

The Business District and Circular Quay, from the turret.

The Rocks as seen from the Bridge turret.

You can now climb those steps.

A classic view of the Opera House from the turret.

Posing at the Harbour Bridge turret.

I stayed on the turret until sunset, when the tower closed. 

Approaching the Opera House.

Inside the foyer, the Concert Hall.

The Business District as seen from the Opera House.

A romantic view from near Mrs Macquarie's Chair.

A view from "The Gearstick" observation tower.

Potts Point Defence Estate.

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Next Week: More City views plus the flight from Sydney to Los Angeles, then to San Diego.