Australia...a break from training
by Jean Barbazette, President, The Training Clinic
Sydney is a spectacular city, even in the rain. It's physically as beautiful, if not more so, than Vancouver, B.C or San Francisco.
The city surrounds a huge harbor with over 250 km. of shoreline (I took a 2 ¼ -hour harbor cruise the first day) and many picturesque bays and river inlets (as well as five nude bathing beaches...but not in the rain). The harbor is connected to the north by a large bridge and an underwater tunnel. The city is south of the harbor with the shopping and business district only three to four blocks to the water. The rest of the city spreads out to the surrounding hillside overlooking the harbor. It's like San Francisco but not nearly so hilly.
Sydney is a dynamic, multi-cultural, stylish city with young, American-like people (informal-no ties, brash, hard working and hard drinking). The atmosphere is a cross between S.F., London and Vancouver, B.C. It ranges from very sophisticated to bohemian, beautiful parks overlooking the harbor to cheesy strip joints, neighborhoods being rejuvenated and modernized and a few sliding into disrepair. This is a city I would certainly like to visit again and one that has a great future.
The beauty of visiting at this time (October, 2000) is the U.S. dollar is so strong vs. the Aussie dollar. The U.S. dollar will buy about 2 Aussie dollars, but the cost of things here is about the same as at home. So, the real cost to a U.S. traveler is about half. For instance, my room is in a 3 star hotel ( a large, one-bedroom suite) for A$140. So, my real price is US$70. Not bad.
Touring in Sydney, even in the rain, is a snap. They have two "get-on-get-off" bus routes that travel in a loop around the:
- downtown area and
- beach area
The entire trip on each takes about two hours and includes 17-25 stops. At any stop you can get off, tour and then catch a later bus. On the other hand, it's hard to tour Sydney because you feel like a kid in a candy shop; so many things to see but you're limited by time. It's a good feeling in that you know there will be things to visit in the future, but it's disappointing because you can't take it all in. In the future I would like to travel outside Sydney, Melbourne and Perth and New Zealand.
My visit occurred during the U.S. Presidential elections. In Australia, everybody votes or they are fined. All votes are counted by hand and some independent organization overseas the integrity of the process. Seems to make sense.