Sydney Up Close

When first we travel to a well-known destination, we arrive fully loaded with pre-existing notions of its sights, its people, its character. Before I stepped foot in Sydney, Australia I expected the city to be shiny and modern, stuffed with museums and restaurants and buzzing with people-filled sidewalks, much like many major cities back home in the U.S. And, well, I wasn’t wrong. Sydney is just that. Look beneath the surface of any city, though, and you’ll discover – maybe not shattered notions – but little pieces of uniqueness that make each spot memorable. Here’s a few bits of life that I think help give Sydney its own feel.

The Top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge – A major attraction in this city is the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The largest and widest steel arch bridge on earth, this a beautiful piece of architecture and remarkable to see even from afar. Climbing its 465 steps to gaze out over Sydney is quite a popular activity for many visitors. As I have a fear of heights, I wasn’t going to be climbing this bridge, whose summit is 134 meters above the Sydney Harbour. I did learn, though, that prices for climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge range from $188 to $298 for adults. Whoa. Why?! It is a remarkable bridge with a spectacular panorama, but I managed to get a view of my own. As I traveled to Sydney by train, we chugged over this bridge that costs so much to climb. The cost of my round trip train ticket? $10.80. And the close-up view of the bridge itself with Sydney peaking through, I think, was more unique and interesting than standing on top just gazing into the distance.

The Largest Bats in Australia – I’d never seen wild bats up close until I strolled through the Royal Botanic Gardens. Here Flying Foxes, Australia’s largest bats, dangle from trees by the hundreds. I had the privilege of seeing them slowly wake up and stretch and filmed a video of these mega-bats swooping through the sky into the moon. Flying Foxes are fruit eaters with appetites that have so badly damaged much of the flora in the Royal Botanic Gardens that noise disturbance is being utilized to force them to relocate. I’m so glad they haven’t yet.

The Gloss of the Sydney Opera House – Flash a photo of this landmark in the face of anyone in the Western world, ask them what it is, and they will say “That is the Sydney Opera House.” Finally I arrived on the grounds of this piece of quintessential Sydney but was still trying to figure out what I’d long wondered – what gives this architectural beauty its shine? Just standing at a distance staring at it wasn’t telling me anything, so I strolled up for a closer look. I smacked my head on one of the outwardly arching sheets of glass, but that’s not the opera house’s fault, nor is the glass part of the sheen. The majority of the exterior is made up of thousands of small pieces of beige and white colored square tile. Pieced together in just the right pattern, these little unassuming bits are responsible for the high-gloss appearance of the Sydney Opera House.

Like the tile that helps shape the Sydney Opera House, piece together the little independent aspects of any place you travel, and you’ll come out with a good picture of what makes it special.