Sydney 26 Part I

Love at first shock. Instant. This city will have a hard time sneaking into my memory in a bad way. There are cities you fall in love with immediately, and then there are the Tours of this world. And it can be so simple. Like, for example, a functioning public transport system from the airport. Intuitive to use, well signposted, and 15 minutes later you are in the city center. With a subway station, is it actually a subway, that could be in any European metropolis or New York. And honestly, at that point you have already won me over.

And it is clean, holy moly. Out of the metro, okay, a lot of stairs, and suddenly you are standing in the middle of a park framed by high rises. And as is now typical for a proper metropolis, car traffic does not dominate the city experience. The whole vibe here is really pleasant, very cosmopolitan.

You barely notice the humidity. In Brisbane it is like the moment you step outside, your skin gets coated in a film of sweat. Here it is genuinely very, very pleasant. Just as hot, but without that heavy, sticky swamp air. In Brisbane I live almost exclusively indoors. Everything else is too exhausting. The second you go outside, the humidity hits you like a wall. You sweat, you are tired, and you want to run straight back into the AC. Queenslanders, of course, overdo it with their 21°C indoors and sit there freezing in a hoodie. You can do that. Or you can also set the air con to 25°C. Just saying.

So what am I actually doing in Sydney? Well, what do you do as a German? Bureaucracy. I need a new passport, and you only get that at the German Consulate General in Sydney, with an appointment booked at least a month in advance. The consulate in Brisbane does not offer the service at the moment, or at least you cannot book any appointments via the website. So I had no choice but to get on a plane and fly the two hours. At least I get to see a bit of Australia. Probably good for me before I start generalising and treating Brisbane and Queensland as if it is all of Australia.

Mistake.

What I have already seen in this short time, or rather what I have not seen, was pretty telling. What I do not see here are ridiculous moustaches, mullets, the whole Vokuhila situation, and truly, truly bad tattoos. I barely see tattoos at all, actually. In Brisbane everyone who wants to be someone has tattoos. I have got nothing against tattoos, do not get me wrong, but what I see in QLD is just bad. Like genuinely awful stick figure drawings on someone’s skin. No idea why you would do that. And also, the people here in Sydney, very un big city like, are friendly.

I ticked off the obligatory Opera House visit immediately and discovered something that makes me personally very happy. Ferries. At Circular Quay there are city ferries that connect the whole inner city. Boating for the sake of boating. Brilliant. I felt at home instantly. Add the Royal Botanic Garden and you have got yourself a perfect first day.

Day No. 2 started with the consulate run. The website said bring this, do that. I brought and I did, and would you look at that, very Australian, relaxed. Actually. Through security and straight to the young woman at the counter. No problem at all. I had everything, maybe even a bit too much. We started chatting. Tip here, tip there, go here, do that, this is how it works. The best. And that is how you end up getting your passport abroad in a few weeks. Future music.

Afterwards, out and straight to coffee. A street café right by the road. Like I said, car traffic does not really dominate Sydney. Probably because of the city’s geography. Sydney sits on a harbour, water everywhere. Plus clever one way systems, good bypass roads, and genuinely solid public transport. You can see all of that from above at the Sydney Tower Eye.

Ridiculously overpriced. Entrance through a luxury shopping mall. You can save yourself those 50 dollars. We know which TV tower is the better one, right?

And so the day went. I wandered through the streets, took a boat, took the train again. Coffee here, coffee there. No goal, no task. Wonderfully uneventful, also nice for once. In the evening I took another ferry and got some great shots of the skyline at night.

That is it. In that sense.