Staying with the Sydneysiders

Long time no write I know but time is precious and so are Internet costs and connectivity (Yahoo is notoriously bad here sometimes). My last few mails have been written through the night at gracious hosts who have been polite enough not to complain about my nocturnal writing habits. But now alas I have to settle for authentic backpacker Internet spots so I hope my imitable style wont be affected by this change in conditions. BTW I'm actually now in Cairns (and tomorrow I go to Cape Tribulation for Shabbat) having worked my way up the East Coast since my visit to Sydney but details about that will have to come in my next mail!

So for those of you hadn’t noticed, I am feeling more relaxed than ever as I continue to pretend I never have to work again and that travelling is my life. This is especially true since I've now been away long enough so I cant remember everyday routine too well and I've got enough travelling in front of me that I don't have to focus on getting back to it quite yet!

I mention this now as I first experienced a real sense of blessing and gratitude for this new state of mind during my week in Sydney. The city manages to maintain a great holiday, relaxed feeling whilst still being an internationally important city. My preferred mode of touring cities is always to walk around the streets and travel its local transport to really get the vibes, rather than rush in and out of a "must see" checklist of museums and attractions, and Sydney was wonderfully suited to this method.

I am not going to enter into the Melbourne or Sydney debate as I don't want to lose friends however another friend asked me to settle a Cape Town or Sydney dispute and at risk of South African wrath I must say I far prefer Sydney. Then again that could be an unfair comparison as I was a different kind of traveller when I visited Cape Town 8 years ago.

I was very fortunate to have a great base in Sydney staying in the stunning neighbourhood of Vaucluse in Sydney's Eastern suburbs. My hosts were Molly and Alan Joffe, parents of my friend Sharon Berger who made me exceptionally welcome and even had the decency to arrange to have a most wonderful view of Sydney harbour -- bridge AND opera house -- from their balcony. In fact following my more people focused stay in Melbourne I was pretty much flung back into full time tourist mode immediately on my arrival.

The Joffes live just across the road from "The Gap" cliff walk in Watson’s Bay. This consists of beautiful sea and rock views leading down to what was originally a small fishing village. Like many former working class areas in prime locations around the world this is now being bought up and renovated by yuppies. The same goes for inner city terraces in Sydney proving that 21st century Yuppies are to inner-cities what 18th century travellers were to undiscovered lands. Anyway Watson Bay features some stunning houses among the beautiful trees and birds. (I'm amazed by the multicoloured "common-garden" birds here which make Britain’s robin red breasts and blue tits look very monochromic and sillily-named! On my first afternoon we walked through the village and along its very non-commercial beach. Highlights included seeing an expert at sandcastle sculpture at work and a minor local celebrity picnicking with friends - Hugo Weaving (Lord of the Rings and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert to mention a couple of regionally relevant appearances).

We ended at the ferry terminal at Watsons Bay which is the last stop on the ferry service coming out of Circular Quay in the city. (Real name is Semi-Circular Quay for obvious reasons when you visit but shortened because Australians really can't handle too many syllables). The whole week I was in Sydney I travelled around on one travel pass that took me on the bus, ferry or train, all of which go into the city. The train and bus weren't bad at all (I especially liked the huge TV screens on the train platforms) but there was something incredibly idyllic about getting the ferry in and out of the city. I was reminded of that Bacardi advert from the UK a few years back, when the ad is narrated as if its a regular day in London and at the end the guy jumps on a speed boat off some desert island and the narration is "Catching the last bus home". Probably lost a lot on translation but that sums it up for me.

The ferry docks at a number of stops on the way to the city -- Rose Bay (Jewish area - if Bondi is Jewish Home and Away then the ferry stop here reminded me a bit of Dawsons Creek ), Double Bay (also a bit Jewish but chiefly known to be very expensive, hence the nickname "Double Pay") and then before you know it you're in the city centre in half the time as the bus or train.

I got down to seriously exploring Sydney center the next day, arriving by train at Central Station. I chose to walk through to the Harbour by walking myself through the historical sites of the city. As it was about noon when I began, this meant that as well as looking at Sydney's architecture I also got to see corporate Sydney at lunch, most of which enjoyed their break outside in the "Autumnal" climate of Sydney - 20 degrees at least! Interestingly most of historiuc Sydney was designed by an exconvict architect, who was pardoned due to his talents and even appeared on Aussie money until recently. (Someone finally noticed that there was a convicted forgerer on the currency - slightly inappropriate perhaps!)

Memorable sites included the Anzac Memorial and its mirror lake next to it, the great shady trees of Hyde Park, Maquarie Street (named after one of the first governors of Sydney who commissioned most of the buildings along the way with or without permission from the Mother country), and the Queen Victoria Buildings (QVB). I eventually arrived at the Opera House first viewing it from behind through the luscious greens of the Botanical Gardens. Whichever way you approach it, it is quite amazing at first sight. I experienced a bizarre feeling of seeing something very familiar yet awesome and incredible at the same time. No great spiritual connections as experienced when seeing great natural sites or religious places but just an icon of great sites in the world, a symbol of our era...

Interestingly enough the people behind the Opera House's conception would be very happy to hear this comment as that’s basically why it was built. In the 1950s the Govt of Australia wanted to make a postcard view to attract people to come to Oz. There were similar moves made twenty or so years earlier as the harbour bridge was built to encourage people after the depression in 1932. It may seem ironic to mention in a time where Australia is in the news for a very strict Immigration policy, resultant rallies and breakouts at "Detention Centers" for illegal immigrants,but, over the years Australia has launched several assisted immigrant schemes in order to boost its economy with the need to, in the words of those times, "populate or perish". Now of course is not one of those times although if you have enough money and a good trade plus family ties, immigration is still a good and viable option.

Having admired the Opera House from the outside (its interior 70s decor has not aged as gracefully as it exterior and the tour that day was limited as there were rehearsals in the main concert hall) I moved onto a district next to the harbour known as the Rocks. Its significance is not entirely clear when you first visit as now its an upmarket shopping area with nice outside eateries and live music at lunch time but this was the first part of Sydney to be settled. It’s called the Rocks due to the nature of the terrain as first sighted by Sydney’s first settlers. You can see these big vertical slabs in a small section of the district positioned slightly above street level. I read up about their history by following a small walkway above these known as Bunker Hill. BTW all information plaques in Oz seem to have been unveiled by an MP. I'm not one to interfere but there are ALOT of plaques, surely they could be doing better things with their time....?

On the whole my over-priced adventure travelling urge was covered by New Zealand but there was one thing I'd decided I was willing to pay through the nose for to do and that was the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb. A totally corporately designed venture -- breathalyser tests at the beginning, another "if i die i wont sue" form to sign, group get to know yous, groovy climbing suits and safety harnesses, walky talky radios -- it was a very cool way to get a view (verbal and physical) of Sydney. Three hours all in all I really enjoyed myself and would recommend it to anyone who likes to see things from the top and getting potted histories of a city but cant cope with one more monotonous cruise/ferry commentary. Of course my most impressive achievement while standing above Sydney and all its glory was discovering that one of the crew went to JFS (my old school) and finding out that of course we knew people in common. Guess some things never change.

Talking of Jews I did visit the infamous Bondi Beach a couple of times although admittedly not for a great amount of time. We had supper at fa airly typical "run-by-an-Israeli-chutz-laaretz-deli-cum-restaurant". As is well known about Bondi you can hear lots of Hebrew and the great Israeli presence means as well as lots of kosher restaurants there are several treif Israeli ones too. The beach itself seems pretty enough (many complain that its too commercialised) but I don’t think I had proper chance to take it all in so I have decided to decided to spend my last night there (wedged between Alice Springs and New York) to give it a real chance. I also want to do the Bronte beach walk which I have been recommended which I think sounds like a nice way to spend my last morning in the Southern Hemisphere.

The only other time I got to Bondi was on Shabbat. I stayed in Rose Bay with Marion and Alan Spiro - parents of my friend Dani Wassner but walked over on Shabbat to the Or Chadash shul in Bondi. Shabbat was a good one for the "Who do you know game". On Friday night, Dani's sister brought a friend whose sister was married to the brother of a friend of Dani's (Deb Galasko) who Marion knows, plus on Shabbat I met a woman Leonie Hardy, who knew my host-to-be-in-New-York Abby Carmel*. Coincidentally Leonie worked in Terem when she was in Israel so I was able to tell the "Fell on head while dancing" story which pertains both to Terem and Abby but now I REALLY digress!!! (* I hope that the host offer is still on following that mention...)

So where were we? Jews... ah yes, so, so far no-one has been able to an accurate figure for the size of the Jewish communities in Melbourne and Sydney (estimates varied from 80,000 and 20,000 respectively to 40,000 each). That aside it is generally agreed that despite Melbourne being the more observant community, Sydney's Jewish Museum (there's one in both) is superior. I chose to see for myself partly out of general interest but mostly because I was to be in Sydney for Yom Hashoah and wanted to do something appropriate on the day. It was a good thing that that was my intention because there's disappointingly little about the history of the Sydney's Jewish community included within the exhibits and the majority of the museum dedicated to the Holocaust. I did learn a bit though, particularly about the six phases of Jewish migration to Australia. This began with the Convict Era 220 years ago; through the Gold Rush era of the mid 19th century; Eastern European migration from the turn of the century; Pre-holocaust refugees in the 1930s; Post WWII refugees who managed to get in despite the Australian Government’s initially anti-Semitic immigration policy; and finally the most recent influx since 1967 from South Africa and Russia. It almost reflects the aliyot to Israel and it would seem from a discussion I had with my Shabbat hosts that Sydney Jewry has displayed attitudes to these new influxes similar to Israelis . Today no-one blinks while saying anything about how "those South Africans" do things. Back a generation Marion remembered feeling strange that her parents were not survivors as all her classmates parents were were and noted that her parents generation were not as welcoming as one would have thought to the refugees after the war.

But my purpose was to see the Holocaust exhibit and it was quite impressive. Designed for those who no little about the period I didn’t expect to learn any new facts myself. However a key element of the museum is to be guided through by a survivor who annotates the exhibits with his or her own personal story. (This presents educational difficulties for years to come which the museum is addressing. I'll be interested to see how this works out) I missed the tour but just sitting and watching personal accounts on TVs positioned around the museum did a lot to bring me past the statistics and through to the human, personal side. I then managed to sit down with Eva, a Rumanian survivor of Auschwitz who told me her story one on one.

Now I know I agreed not to mention it too much in my e-mails, but it goes without saying that the current situation in Israel has never been far from my mind. Without other sundry matters such as work and normal life to bug me I have had moments when I've had time to think and question whether I could be doing more, should be doing/ feeling something else etc. My visit the previous day to the Anzac Memorial had already affected me and triggered off thoughts. The main focus of the memorial is a sculpture of a fallen soldier supported by his mother, wife and sister, designed to show that even those who do not literally sacrifice their lives still bear the burden of war. The memorial to me seemed very appropriate but it made me think how it is relatively easy to be poignant and defined in our reactions when we are talking about conflicts and wars finished and in the past, but how do these memorials help us face challenges today? I’m not sure I’m expressing myself correctly but I guess I feel that these memorials don’t offer me adequate practical lessons for today. Perhaps I'm asking too much and its an unreasonable thing to expect but it almost hurts to look at a memorial that was built with a hope that this war will be the last when clearly it isn’t. Maybe I should recognise that I was just feeling sadness and frustration that will ultimately never be resolved but will pass at some point albeit temporarily?

So there I was listening to Eva's story and just when I thought I could lose myself in that "that was 50 years ago not now" feeling, Eva asked me where I was from. I explained Israel and why I'd come to the museum and she started to cry. She had just related her story which ended with her escaping from one of the work marches out of Auschwitz with a cousin and friend. So why was she crying now? Well apparently the same friend who had escaped the camps with her had been related to the family who had been killed in the Netanya Pesach bombing. She said she felt a great connection to Israel and visited a lot but she had cancelled her trip for her grand nephew's bar-mitzva because of the situation and that it all saddened her too much. Again I don’t know exactly that has to offer but I felt it was not serendipity that led me to meet Eva that day.

On a brighter note, that evening I met up with my Canadian friends Jill and Karen who I'd met in New Zealand. I didn’t really know people my age in Sydney and as I wasn’t hostelling it I had little opportunity to meet any. Thus it was nice to meet up with them and hear what they had been upto. We went over to Darling Harbour, another over-priced but pretty area of Sydney to the left of the harbour. We went over by monorail which we got for free cos as we were deliberating whether to get on or not the driver pointed out it was the last one so we should just get on! We also posed next to a couple of the colourful cows that can now be sighted all over Sydney city centre. Apparently this is a world bovine tour and these cows are not unique to Sydney (they were in London just recently it seems) but we had fun anyway!

Once one has toured around Sydney city center for a couple of days its nice to take a ferry trip out to one of the other sites around the harbour. This visit has more or less confirmed it for me that when it comes to animals (and as a consequence zoos) I can take 'em or leave 'em, preferably the latter. (This reaction could be latent agression following the infamous "London-Zoo-goat-ate-my-chocolate-and-crisps-fiasco" of 1976 but this remains scientifically unproven). This given, it meant it wasn’t a difficult decision for me to opt to visit the Sydney suburb of Manly instead of Tooronga Zoo.

Manly is famous for its beautiful beaches (ocean AND harbour beaches, noch) and its scenic walkway which follows the harbour shore inland from Manly Cove all the way back to Spit Bridge on Middle Harbour (about a 3 hour walk). Manly is so named because when Captain Arthur Philip discovered the area he noticed how the Aborigines of the region were rather well built and manly! This interested me so much that I actually considered trying to find out how I could have the suburb twinned with Jerusalem for ironic reasons ... just kidding guys! Anyway all I can say that because Manly had such womanly targeted great sales I didn’t get on with the walkway until about 3pm so I missed the sunset I'd wanted to get back to the Harbour Bridge for – nevermind! The walkway was a fresh change from shopping and was slightly reminiscent of the Abel Tasman Track (in a kind of Junior beginners training kind of way) as the walk was through forests overlooking secluded beaches. I'd recommend it and thanks to Rachel H, former North Shore Sydney-sider for recommending it to me. (It should be noted that between Rachel and Dani Wassner my Rough guide was mere commentary to a wonderful Sydney itinery that they set out for me before I left - ta!)

One side observation. Sydney on the whole is very relaxed except for the drivers. This may seem strange but I think I can understand their road rage. For some unknown reason the traffic lights (of which there are many) have the timing of a grandfather clock one pendulum short. There's always ages where no one seems to have right of way. This frustration is shared by the pedestrians who not only inevitably end up jaywalking a ton but also have to put up with strains of Atari Space Invader like beeps everytime they actually can cross. Absolutely unconnected to anything I just thought this was a useful word of warning for those of you planning to visit.

Uptil now most of my touring in Sydney was pretty local however I did take myself out of Sydney for one day and that was to visit the Blue Mountain, a trip highly recommended by all

The Blue Mountains are so named as they actually look blue due to the blue haze emitted by the eucalyptus trees (eucalyptus = gum btw -- this I find out rather belatedly!). Aussie's are rather into their eucalyptus oil. Every guide seems to come with a new use - to clear your sinuses (aka olbas oil), to remove red wine stains, to suffocate fleas for dogs, an effective wool wash... the list goes on.

The mountains are part of the Great Dividing Range which runs along the East Coast (? I think!) of Australia. Basically all mountains in Australia have the same appearance but this particular bunch got the name, as they were the first mountains to be discovered when Sydney was established. They are a pretty impressive set of mountains. Impressive that is to all except to New Zealanders who often refer to them as the Blue Hills!)

But before we got to the Blue Mountains we had one stop just 20mins outside the city -- of a more manmade nature -- the Olympic Village. Huge and spacious this site has become somewhat of a white elephant. Stadia have been altered so they can be used for rugby matches and the Olympic "fast" swimming pool (water flows over the side and there are square dividers between lanes) is open for public use, but the place is so huge it just cant be used to its full capacity. To add insult to injury, unlike the sports crazy Melbournians, Sydney-siders just aren’t into sport. (Surfing isn’t a sport its a way of life).

That said the site was very impressive and as our guide told us these were the "Green Olympics". For example the site used solar panels for electricity, recycled water in the loos and public transport was heavily encouraged (there's not one car park in the place) just to mention a few "green" moves.

Apparently these Olympics also managed to make a profit 9although one wonders iff that will remain true over time) and the Greeks are now desperately trying to get Australian help to get them out of pending disaster for the 2004 games. The city shut down when the Olympics were on and whole road systems were built and modified especially for the event (including the Madonna bra like Anzac bridge). I particularly liked the way that they used school buses from all over the country to ferry people around. What comes with local school buses? -- Local school drivers of course! After a day of thousand of drivers getting lost around Sydney the organisers appealed to public for volunteers to sit along side each driver and show them the way!

So back to the Blue Mountains. You probably all heard about the recent bush fires (around last Christmas). Well they happened in this area, very near to Sydney, infact the nearest one came within 14km of Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The first of our bush walks of the day (bush walk definition = taking a walk where there is no defined path0 was near the same town of Glen brook which was deeply affected by the fire. At one point there were 2 fire trucks for every house in the town and 30 of 90 house were burnt down. We could see signs of how bad it got such as telegraph poles, treated not to burn if cars crash into them, totally burnt and in ruins plus trees with black bark and furry leaves. The trees didn’t totally burn down a la the trees in the Jerusalem forest in 1995 but rather developed a furry coating as a result of their natural emergency mode kicking into gear. Basically the Eucalyptus "wonder" oil causes the tree to go into "freak out" mode where endodermic seeds burst out making the leaves close to the trunk.

It is believed that the fires were partly started by natural causes such as lightening (there hadn’t been any rain for up to a month before which made them more vulnerable) and partly by arsonists (mostly youths who couldn’t even be punished through the law). It was a mammoth operation getting the fires out and it was interesting to hear about it from our driver as he was directly involved. His next door neighbours house was burnt right down. He was slightly luckier – his house wasn’t burnt down but having evacuated the house it was flooded by the two weeks of floods that the area received immediately afterwards. Fire trucks and staff were brought in from all over the country -- even fireman from New Zealand. I was surprised to hear how little government compensation they received. The Bush fire brigade is a voluntary service so many of the men lost out on wages as they just couldn’t go into work. Many of the houses were underinsured and evacuation procedures had to be done so quickly that residents often grabbed for sentimental items first seeking refuge in the local pub where many residents celebrated Christmas together. In general there was a very communal feeling, people with pools marked their post boxes with pink ribbons so the firemen knew where to come and get more water. To make up for lost wages and insurance a telethon was held raising over 2 million dollars for victims of the disaster. There was some looting so police patrolled the areas together with locals checking the cars of those non-residents for Christmas presents taken from the houses.

This lack of government intervention, Prime Minister John Howard had appealed to employers to pay employees who were volunteering for the fire brigade made me appreciate the welfare state environment that I am very used to – both in UK and Israel. This made me read up about the political culture in Australia and it didn’t surprise me to find out that there has never really been any socialist tradition here.

Our second bush walk was over the stunning Wentworth falls and by Jannson valley (think I’ve got that right). Whatever this was the first view to really amaze me since New Zealand. This wonderfully deep green valley is older than the Grand Canyon, a result of erosion from the Ice Age. The Blue Mountains are a world heritage site, which should mean they are protected yet they still mine coal there – bit strange. Similarly other Australian world heritage sites include Kakadu National park – where you can mine for uranium and the Great Barrier Reef where there have been oil spillages of late….

Our last bush walk took us right down into the rain forest to see the famous Three Sisters which are 3 huge rocks/mountain things (ok I’m getting tired now). The highlight was right at the bottom you get on a scenic railway with the steepest gradient in the world (50 degrees I believe). Sensation and view was amazing – perfect end to a beautiful and informative day.

So that was my Sydney experience bar the stuff that I must have forgotten. I left Sydney for Byron Bay Saturday nigh 13th April (first of 3 overnight 12-hour trips). Since then the time has been whizzing but I can say that I’m happy to be back on the backpacker trail again.