To Melburnians, Sydney and their citizens Sydneysiders are the Americans of Australia. Naturally, this amuses me, as we Canadians refer to the USA as Canada’s underwear.
Michelle and I arrived a Saturday morning to rainy Sydney, where we were immediately wooed by an expensive $15 AUD train ticket from the airport to the city. By comparison, Hong Kong’s Airport express line is the same price, but includes fewer stops, goes a much longer distance, and features an airline check-in so you don’t have to lug your giant bags around. However, the Sydney Airport Link train was a modern double-decker train, which entertained us for the 20-minute train ride to the city, and only blocks away from the Radisson Plaza hotel.
After arriving to the hotel, we eventually ventured to Bondi Beach, where we signed up for some surfing lessons ($89/pp, low season)! While it was raining, the water was surprisingly warm for an autumn day. For newbies like us, the lessons were also the best way to go to pick up on the how-to. We had only four people during our group lesson, including Michelle and myself.
The lesson began with how to get a good wave and maintain your center on a surfboard. Once you catch the wave by inefficiently paddling like a madman, you must place your hands flat on the surfboard to help evenly distribute your weight. This is more difficult than it sounds, as it is human instinct to clench the surfboard side to maintain balance, but which contributes to the capsizing surfboard. But once you grasp the concept, its a lovely coast to the shoreline.
Once you’ve enjoyed bodyboarding a few times, the next challenge is to stand up on the surfboard. You have to push up with your hands flat on the board (again, gripping the side will result in a tipping over), and bring your lead foot onto the front of the board while keeping the board balanced, left-right and front-back! This is a lot harder than it sounds – if you are not centered on the board when you begin to stand up, you are quickly dunked. By the end of the two-hour lesson, both Michelle and I were standing on the board (don’t ask how long I stood though), and I also fractured my pinky! I hear both that it is and is not a common injury associated with surfing, so just allow me to say that I’m an awesome surfboarder with a surfing injury.
The next day, Michelle and I headed to Sydney Opera House to embark on an Essentials tour ($28/pp, early bird adult). All the tour participants were loaned some impressive touring technology, strapping on headsets that turned our tour guide into a portable radio station, allowing the tour guide to speak in our ears as we traversed from location to location. The tour was composed of interesting historical videos and a chance to sit inside the Concert Hall and Opera Theatre – it is an architectural nerd’s delight to be able to witness the interior concrete fins and design.
The Rocks Sunday market was a short 10 minute walk east of the Opera House and Circular Quay (pronounced “qee”). While the market had a large assortment of random wares to purchase, Michelle and I were most engrossed in, of all places, a candy store. Sticky is a candy store that specializes in the making of custom hard-candy, with designs of little fruit and words (mostly names of couples to be used as wedding favours). Lolly maker Greg invited me to step behind the counter to take closer snaps of the confectioners-in-training, which was a privilege! So we watched up close, for an hour, as Sticky made passionfruit candy from start to finish!
To summarize the long candy-making process, melted sugar is poured onto a cooling table, where citric acid and colourings are added into mix. After the candy is well mixed, the confectioners then whip the hefty slabs of candy to get air into it, giving it a beautiful, glossy look. The different parts of the candy are then stuck and rolled together to resemble a design, and are stretched thin on a hot table to be chiselled out into a massive amount of candy. While this may seem easy, it is a long and physically demanding process. The end result is always a crowd pleaser though, as nothing tastes better than delicious and artistic looking candy! In addition to names, they also do company logos and other retro designs. If I ever quit my job, I want to be a lolly maker.
Michelle and I were getting increasingly hungry as we witnessed candy growing up, and would soon turn diabetic if we continued to purchase and eat candy. So we then took the ferry to Darling Harbour ($5.30/pp), got off at the Maritime Museum, and walked to the Sydney Fish Market.
The Sydney Fish Market is not only the place to go to get your fresh fish, but also a great location to consume the seafood right there and then. For example, a delicious dozen of fresh pacific oysters was only $15.90 per dozen, complemented with lemon wedges and a small fork. Or perhaps you could indulge in some fresh sashimi, where you hand-pick the fish and then it is all sliced for you on the spot. You would have no choice but to be absolutely stuffed after eating it all in one go (tip: 200 grams per person is more than plenty of fish)!
A productive weekend of surfing, candy, and seafood. Not bad for the America of Australia!