Now granted I was only in Sydney a couple days, but here is what I reckon: LOL
The first thing I noticed about Sydney when flying in was its immense amount of similarities between it and Seattle. After spending a week in Los Angeles noticing the "do or die" and "Get the F outta my way" lifestyle, after a day out on the town in Sydney I came to a few conclusions; Sydney has a very similar population demographic of Seattle (yeah, lotta asians) and similar layouts. Also, the people here are pretty laid back overall, which is refreshing! You don't get the gorgeous super model looking average girl around here like you do in Hollywood, but the accents by themselves multiply their attractiveness ;). Taking in everything around you here is the best part, and walking around just seeing the city is gorgeous! Unfortunately though I don't think it would be too logical to live here. As beautiful as it is, it is very much a tourist trap!
For one thing, the prices for everything are ridiculous. I knew that it was going to be bad, but damn! The 8 minute taxi ride alone from the airport was about 46 dollars! Also, Its difficult to actually dine at a full on restraunt style place for less than 40 dollars a person, especially near Darling Harbor and the Opera House. To get a small ice cream cone it cost us just under 5 dollars, and for a large, close to 10! The hotel wasn't the cheapest in the world either, but I think we really lucked out with this place (about 150 a night). We were able to check in 8 hours early for free, and got an upgraded room! However, the breakfast is 19 dollars here and the wifi access is 27.50 per day, or 50 cents a minute! You can see how that would rack up a bill in a hurry!
After walking around the city for close to 10 hours I did not spot a single panhandler. Most of the homeless here actually are provided jobs that can feed them at the very least. They sell paper, and entertain, and are given other oddjobs, but really I think its just too damn expensive for the homeless to hang out here. There is virtually no cheap food and free water is almost no where. I have seen 1 water fountain since I've been here! The streets are very clean in and around most parts of the Sydney Metro, much like that of Vancouver, which is nice too!
After spending all day in Sydney we didn't have that much of a culture shock. I mean sure, they drive on the wrong side of the road(and the car), have different outlets, speak funny, and charge out the ass for shit, but in reality its just a more touristy version of Seattle with a less cool tower, and better weather. It is pretty clean with some cool parks, but I have yet to find a badass market that rivals Pikes Place, but the waters are beautiful and it really is a cool place to hang out. There is so much to do here!
Also, the jet lag isn't too terrible. Especially if you are like me and can sleep till noon, you will just sleep until like 6 am here instead. Although I am up at 5:30 writing this blog entry, haha! (Damn gabriel snores like none other!) The fountains, the arcitecture, and monuments here are quite awesome. The Opera House alone is enough to get me excited about it! That being said though if I could afford to live here, I think it actually is a tad better than my beloved Sea Town overall, but for a third the price I live in almost as cool a place, and I'm happy with happy with that!
A couple tips I would have for anyone planning to come to Sydney, or that would want to, is that there are cheap ways to do it. If you fly Qantasor American (one in the same really) they usually have deals on expedia or on their home websites for round trip tickets to Sydney for less than 1kUSD. Also the hotel we are at is almost perfect for a mid-budget travelers (scored it for 125 for the first night and 160 for the second, but then they upgraded us, and let us check in WAY early. I believe if you stay 5 nights the 6th night is free, but there are a number of backpacker// hostel accomodations in New Town and in China Town. Most of those run from 20-50 a night, and the food around them tends to be a little bit cheaper.... well actually, a lottabit cheaper!
Ao if you plan to do any tourism, you can grab the flyers at most travel places and get a discount, but remember, most people in the tourism industry are free to control their prices, so haggling with those Jet Boat folks or any of those outdoor activities is a must for a budget traveler! And also, for us, the best part of sydney was just walking around, taking in the sights and the fresh air. You could pay ten bucks to climb the bridge or you can just walk across the bottom all the same. Either way the best part of it for us was just taking everything in and exploring.... well, the jet boat ride was pretty badass, but its basically an extreme version of sight seeing... haha!
Anywho, a long first update, but here are some of the highlights and pics!
This is one of the coolest fountains we stumbled upon outside of a church. Very awesome!
Way cool memorial!
Not quite as cool as the Space Needle, but still awesome!
Sorry, it just made me laugh.....
The Beautiful Sydney Harbor Bridge, the Staple of Australia!
Walkin towards the Opera House
I have like 80 more pics of just day one, but Ill post more of Day 2 pics later! Takes a while to resize them all and crap.....
A randomly placed Egpytian Obelisk... but cool
One of the many street performers in Sydney
Now, my camera isn't amazing, but that view is no matter how you look at it!
