Australia: Sydney

Harbour Bridge, Sydney, NSW, Australia. January 1993

"Time, time, time - look what's become of me" - Hazy Shade of Winter (Simon & Garfunkel)

My first visit to Sydney was tacked onto the end of the Big New Zealand Adventure. That part of the world was very distant at the time (Brian and I lived in New York). Maybe it was a combination of the flight to Auckland being via Sydney, and "will we ever pass this way again?" (if we'd only known in the not distant future we'd visit nearly all of Australia!!).

What is funny is how little I remember of my first visit to Australia and its largest and most famous city. We stayed outside of downtown in Darlinghurst (the "gayborhood" of Sydney) and took the tourist bus to see the city sights. We walked down around "the Rocks" (which I liked) and took in the views of Sydney Harbour which must be one of the most beautiful in the world. I was truly impressed, yet it didn't make an indelible impression - at least not like other famous cities, which I still remember in great detail. Nothing bad happened on that visit to Sydney - I simply do not remember much of it.

We did climb to the top of one of the pylons of the Harbour Bridge (that was an amazing experience, but I don't remember it except for photos). We strolled around the Opera House, swarming with tourists (mostly Japanese). At the time Australia was the top destination for Japanese tourists to the point that most of the signage in popular tourists spots was also in Japanese. The Royal Botanic Garden was beautiful - I vaguely recall. The ferry to Manly with its famous beach was truly lovely. Why are my memories more a series of snapshots or a "list of locations" without detail?

I actually had another trip to Sydney a few years later from Jakarta. We were just staying a couple days as part of a trip elsewhere in Australia over Christmas Day. We got tickets to "Rent". (I must have been the only person alive who loathed that very loud and unimaginative musical). Again, I don't remember much of that visit either, except the sheer frustration of being in Australia on a major holiday and the difficulty of finding something to do. Even that is a clearer memory than the first visit and we only stayed a short time.

My theory is that perhaps with my hippocampus FULL of incredible experiences in New Zealand (and our frequent talks with others about them). it was only those memories that migrated to "long term memory". Take note, I remember MUCH more about New Zealand than I do about the two days we spent in Sydney (which we were equally excited about and enjoyed). When I taught at AUK, in a bid to make sense to students of why they should NOT cram and try to hold everything in "short term memory", I did basic research into memory formation. Indeed, first impressions (seeds of memory) are processed and retained in our hippocampi. Like a computer RAM, things need to either move to the hard drive (long-term memory) or get purged so the device can continue to function. Were my New Zealand memories so much more exciting that they simply drove the memories of Sydney out of my brain in a routine memory purge? Why don't I remember a visit to a place I had always dreamed of going?

I feel robbed in a way. I visited one of the world's most beautiful cities and retain only spotty memories of it. I have forgotten much about other travels, too (again, a reason to start to write things down), but the failure to remember Sydney feels like an absolute loss. I feel both cheated and robbed because I really did go there (TWICE) and I can barely tell anyone anything about it.

Notes from the trip:

After I wrote about Sydney, I found my New Zealand travel notes. Even if my memory failed, I still had some record. What follows are what I wrote about that first visit (tacked onto the end of the long New Zealand trip). The only things I remembered incorrectly were the area our hotel was located (and the kind of transportation we used).

The flight was unremarkable. We got to Sydney and, after the usual airport routine, were on the way into the city and the small hotel we had chosen, the Pelican. Our stop was the last for the shuttle, so we saw a good portion of the city. The hotel looked OK, but I just felt tired and wanted to relax in the room. We finally checked into a kind of funky, ramshackle place in Darlinghurst, the gay center of Australia.

Although we were happy finally to sleep in a double bed together, we felt disappointed at the disorganization of the hotel. As we had eaten on the plane, we didn't need to leave the hotel urgently. We hung around the room, read some of the local gay papers, and relaxed. Brian was ready to go out that evening, but I was tired. It ended up being an early night.

Our long sleep turned out to be a good thing. The entirety of the next day was spent on a "tourism blitz" of Sydney. We woke early, had breakfast with a white guy from Zimbabwe (uber racist) and an American from DC. We purchased a day ticket on the "Sydney Explorer" bus that ran the usual set route to all the attractions in town. We chose that due to limited time, ease, and the chance to see more of the city.

Down on the harbor, the Rocks was lovely and the Park Hyatt there impressed us as a great place to stay. The area held lots of shopping and boutique stores like many restored portions of old, English colonial cities. Later, we climbed one of the pylons of the Harbour Bridge for an excellent view over the city.

We got back on the bus and stopped at the Opera House where we had a wonderful lunch on the waterfront right next to Sydney's most iconic landmark. We walked to Circular Quay and caught a jetcat ferry to Manly. Crossing the harbor was beautiful (it is large) and the views of the skyline and Harbour Bridge were spectacular. The bridge really is impressive - one of the symbols of the city along with the Opera House.

Manly was crowded, hot, and beautiful - a mix of Jersey Shore and Los Angeles, with clear, blue water. We stayed on the beach for a bit soaking in the sun. It was the only time on the trip we were on a beach when the sun was out and it felt hot! New Zealand had been overwhelmingly cool and rainy.

After Manly, we walked through the Botanical Garden (beautiful and great location, but we still preferred the one in Christchurch). At Mrs Macquarie's Point just beyond the gardens we enjoyed fantastic views of the city, but we thought the bridge top views and the ferry perspectives were still better. We hopped the bus (again) and passed through the new harbour tunnel to the North Shore where a park gave truly amazing views back over the entire city and harbor.

Back on the bus, we continued to the Australian Museum, Hyde Park (we liked it), and the Queen Victoria building - a real Victorian original (now a shopping mall). Unfortunately, most of it was closed when we visited, but we appreciated its beauty.

The bus delivered us to King's Cross, the red-light/backpacker center of the city. We didn't like it and didn't stay long - it was overly commercial. We exited its hubbub to have a delicious meal at a Cambodian restaurant on Oxford Street (not far from the Pelican Hotel). The food tasted amazing, especially after a month of bland food in NZ.

Back at the hotel we changed and relaxed (we had done a lot). We wanted to try the nearby spa. The place was clean and beautiful, but not very exciting (unfortunately). We returned to the room late. After just a few hours sleep, we awoke early to start our epic trip back to New York City. Luckily, the airport bus stop was nearby (and fast).

We found the flight was delayed two hours so our transit in Osaka would be jumping off one plane and immediately boarding the next.

Neither of us looked forward to those two long flights in a row.