there was even Haagen Daaz for dessert), plenty of movies and multiple trips to the free potato chip station at the back of the plane.
We had a three hour stopover in Hong Kong, where the kids played soccer in the deserted waiting lounge - not many people around at 5 am - and we gazed out sky high windows at the mountains and ocean just outside. Over the loud speakers came constant blaring warnings about Ebola and avian flu, urging travellers to monitor themselves and report any fevers or illnesses immediately to the authorities, exhortations we ignored when Tom came down with a mild fever and lethargy less than 48 hours after our arrival in Sydney. After checking by email with my sister that yes, her kids had just gotten the flu, we were reassured that Tom just had a bug from home and not a global pandemic that required quarantining him in a biohazard unit.
We spent a week in Sydney in a quiet apartment in Woollomoolloo. Arriving in the dark in an urban setting, Sydney on the surface didn't seem that different from Toronto - bright lights, newer buildings, tree lined streets that were a mix of housing styles. But as soon as we ventured out the next morning we knew we were a world away. Giant naval frigates sat in the harbour at the bottom of our street,
Australian ibis walked by on long legs,
kookaburras perched in the gum trees,
white cockatoos with yellow crowns prowled the grounds digging through the earth with their beaks, (we later saw them all over the city)
and mynah birds chirruped to greet us. Palm and banana trees grew in abundance, rare wollemi pines and cycads from the era of the dinosaurs made the ancient ruins of Turkey and Europe's historic cathedrals look young. Furthering the sense of disconnect from home were the spring blossoms.
It was so strange to have travelled backwards in time from summer to spring, almost as if we were resetting our trip back to the beginning - it was spring when we left home the last time.
We saw all this in the Royal Botanic Gardens, five minutes from our apartment. The gardens are an amazing feature of Sydney, and sit right on the edge of the downtown core, so it's easy to escape from the noise and the speed of the city. It's the equivalent to being able to cross the street from King and University directly into a massive garden of Eden.
Walking further to the harbour we came to a waterfront path that led directly to the iconic Sydney Opera House, where a seal basked on a boat launching platform just steps away, and later that day we ventured to the fish market where pelicans waited for fish rejects to be tossed outside at closing time.
Over the next week we explored the city on foot, testing out our brand new hiking boots (thank you Grandma Rosie!) - 5 identical pairs meant to carry us on the long distance hikes we have planned for the next few months. They proved their mettle as we ventured on coastal and inland walking routes, staying dry despite the heavy rain that poured down on us our first couple of days.
Starting north of Sydney and stretching along for 200 km along the coastline is the Great Ocean Walk, all of which can be reached easily by public transport from Sydney. We walked several sections of it including the Hermitage Foreshore Route, a long boardwalk winding through forest,
over rocks and beach,
ending at Watson's Bay, where we grabbed fish and ships and a prawn roll from Doyle's seafood shack before hopping on the ferry back home.
The Gap reserve to Clovelly walk began at a harbour lookout
from which we spotted migrating whales in the distance, then proceeded along the cliffs
and up to an amazing viewpoint.
Descending down to rock pools and sandy shores, we took our lunch break at Bondi Beach, known to surfers worldwide (we saw a bicycle with a surfboard attachment on it parked nearby), and plunged in for a swim.
Bathers are warned to stay within the flags indicating a supervised, net protected area, though a look out to sea for the net buoys shows the nets stretch across only part of the bay, so in theory a determined shark could easily swim around it to the frolicking beachgoers. Reassuringly, the last shark attack in the area was in 1929, so we weren't too concerned.
Leaving Sydney for a day we headed out to the Blue Mountains, deemed a must see by everyone we spoke to. The kids' groans of discontent during the long train trip and walk through the quiet neighbourhood of Wentworth turned to exclamations of awe and delight when we reached the national park and started trekking down the National Pass trail, cut into the rock alongside a steep gorge.
We were all stunned by the epic views
and the many waterfalls that cascaded down into pools.
The hike through the mountains ended with a stroll along a path named after Charles Darwin, who visited the area during his explorations.
Our final day we headed out on the Manly Scenic Walkway. It started with a traverse of the busy Split Bridge, but after a flight of stairs down to the sand and water the noise quickly receded as we walked across the beach and into the rainforest, where eastern water dragons of all sizes basked in the sun.
Traipsing over the ridge
we stopped to gaze out at sea, or down below where tiny bays and rocks with sunbathers beckoned invitingly. We descended from the ridge
and eventually emerged from the path into Manly,
and followed the pedestrianized Corso lined with ice cream shops and other beach paraphernalia to the main beach where the kids and Paul went for a dip while I stayed on the beach, a little too chilled to swim as the wind whipped around us and the sun dipped behind clouds. The ferry ride home offered an amazing view of Sydney at sundown.
Our explorations put Sydney near the top of the list of our favourite cities. Though from a cyclist's perspective the city isn't great (but bike lanes are slowly being built and government publications swear it'll be a biking paradise by 2030) and wide streets full of speeding traffic make some streets pretty unsafe, the built environment has much to recommend it. Besides the Sydney Opera House,
still stunning in person despite having seen in it in countless photos, the city boasts an impressive skyline with the massive harbour bridge between the skyscrapers of downtown and the neighbourhoods across the water.
There is an excellent science museum called the Powerhouse, where the kids learned about steam engines, water conservation and carbon dioxide emissions (0 kg emitted when you pluck a tomato from your home garden, 80 kg when you purchase one out of season and thousands of km away, and 3.75 tons for an intercontinental flight, doh). The interior of the museum is massive, with a fully reconstructed art deco cinema showing silent movies, and a space exhibit filled with satellites and a full scale model airplane jutting out of the wall.
Adjacent to the museum is the Goods Line, a converted rail trail
similar to but shorter than New York's High Line, which goes past the Frank Gehry designed University of Technology building,
and down towards the One Central Station condominium complex, awarded in 2014 the title of "Best Building in the World" due in part to its vertical garden covering the exterior walls - it looks like a hybrid of forest and glass - and an aerial park jutting out high above, with heliostat reflectors that project natural light into the building's inner atrium and courtyard as well as the lower floors that would otherwise be encased in shadow.
Much of the harbour has been developed with terrific public spaces and parks
as well as stylish lofts with restaurants at floor level, and still under construction are two massive urban renewal projects along the harbour which look to positively transform the area even more. The scale of investment in the city - a light rail project to replace some of Sydney's giant bus fleet is beginning in a few weeks - demonstrates the affluence we saw on our walks, that coexisted with the homelessness unsurprisingly found in such a large metropolis. The two extremes were close together in our neighbourhood, where a luxury car dealership with Lamborghinis in the window was mere blocks away from a kind of tent city of homeless people in sleeping bags under an overpass.
Though cost and Tom considerations meant we didn't explore the vibrant and heavily Asian influenced culinary scene, instead having cozy dinners at home with produce we picked up at the Kings Cross farmer's market,
we did have noodles and rice one lunch in a food court packed with stalls, family businesses unlike the chains we have at home. We also celebrated Jacob's 13th birthday (we now have a teenager?!) by going to one of Sydney's best ice cream parlours, where labcoat and safety goggle wearing staff mixed creamy concoctions and froze them using liquid nitrogen that filled the counter with clouds of vapour.
We chose salted caramel creme brulee, Milo Mofo (crunchy sugary Milo cereal swirled with chocolate) and Brokeback Moment (vanilla with chunks of honeycomb), all of which came with syringes of caramel and chocolate to drizzle over top.
What really made Sydney stand out for us was the huge variety of outdoor explorations and natural beauty either within walking distance or else a short and easy ride on the gargantuan public transit system, that while not cheap, covers a huge geographical area with fast and reliable service. Where else in the world could you live in your comfortable urban dwelling, with a farmer's market, great cafes, lush parks and the free art gallery of New South Wales (which the kids and Paul visited on the day I stayed home with ailing Tom) just minutes away, and do day hikes along the cliffs to spot whales, surf on world famous beaches, swim in natural ocean water pools carved into the rock or take a train into the mountains for a hike through forests and grasslands of incredible beauty?!
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