Sydney: The centre of Australia's world?

Before I arrived, I had heard lots about this wonderful city. Depending on who you talk to, it is either a great multi-cultural city that is world-class, or it's just another urban jungle with all the problems of the big city. After spending a few days, I can say that it's a bit of both.

Sydney's population is officially listed as 4.2 million but driving around, it seems to be more than that as the city just sprawls out over about 50-75km west of the downtown core. I stayed right in what is called the CBD (Central Business District), a fancy word for downtown.

The first thing I noticed about this city was that the streets are not straight. It is one of the most confusing places to drive in if you're a visitor. This strongly contrasts to the relatively easy navigation around Melbourne.

Sydney is located in a protected harbour and there are ferries that run to all the subarbs from the CBD. These ferries go right by the famous Sydney Opera House. This structure is truly worthy of all the attention it gets and it's just a spectacular piece of architecture to look at. It is the most photographed icon in Sydney. The second-most famous architecture is the "Coat Hanger", aka the Sydney Harbour Bridge. To be honest, it's quite ugly, but it's a symbol for Sydney. I found it real tough to creatively photograph these places as they have been shot in just about every angle you could think of.

Walking around Sydney, it was quite obvious that I was no longer in a small town and people are definitely in more of a hurry and are also quite dressed up for the business world. Amongst the rest of Australia, Sydney has the reputation of being the large, dark, big city that the country needs but that everyone doesn't like. Exactly like Toronto!

Within short ferry rides are several spectacular world-class beaches like Bondi and Manly. I visited Manly and it really was amazing. Only 1-2 hours west of the city are the Blue Mountains. They're called this because from a distance, they appear with a blue haze due to the eucalyptus oil vapours given off from all the gum trees. The park is spectacular with the main attraction being the "Three Sisters" rock formation. I went to the interior of the park to do canyoning. Canyoning is rappelling down into limestone canyons, often through waterfalls. Don't feel bad about not knowing what that is, I didn't know either but it was a lot of fun!

Sydney, like Melbourne is in draught and in real danger of running out of fresh water. The reservoir capacity is expected to drop to 30% and may dry out soon. Scary! The draught might be due to the 300+ days of sunshine that Sydney gets. I guess no place is perfect.

Sydney was ranked the 6th most expensive city to live in; ahead of London and New York City. It is extremely expensive to buy a home in Sydney, I thought Toronto was bad....Traffic congestion is also a concern in Sydney, though not as bad as Toronto.

Overall, my impression of Sydney was that it's a nice place to visit with lots of things to do and places to see. If you like the big city and night life, yet still love the outdoors, Sydney is the place for you. Personally, I would find it much easier and less stressful to live in Melbourne!

Highlights from Sydney:

- Seeing the Sydney Opera House
- Photographing the less-photographed but spectacular Anzac Bridge
- Seeing a chinese commercial/music video being filmed
- Going canyoning and stubbing my toe (losing the toenail)
- Seeing a brown snake while hiking, the most venomous snake in the world
- Seeing the Sydney Aquarium
- Being told to take a day off to go sightsee by managers in Sydney
- Taking a ferry to Manly to see the great beaches
- Eating Kangaroo!
- Shopping at an outdoor market (The Rocks market)
- Witnessing Australia day in the heart of Sydney Harbour
- Watching Australian Open Tennis on an outdoor big screen in front of the Opera House