Francesca and Henk-Jan's Backpacking Trip!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Sydney!
Our last day in Melbourne was rather uneventful, leaving us packing our backpacks for departure to Sydney early the next day. We also finally updated our blog, which had been long overdue. We have to keep our readers happy and our stories fresh!
The next morning we woke up around 07:30AM, leaving us just enough time to check out and grab some free slices of raisin bread before walking off to the bus stop just around the corner. A comfortable shuttle and a 20 minute drive took us right to the domestic terminal and not long after we were getting ready for departure. Francesca bought us a Krispy Kreme’s Original Glaze Doughnut, which I had never had before. Certainly a good little snack to keep us going!
The flight itself went by fast, as we watched the latest episode of Gossip Girl (well, part of it). After little more than an hour the plane touched the ground again; we had arrived in Sydney. Before departure we had already booked ourselves into MAZE backpackers, a (hopefully) nicer hostel right in the city center, with decently priced rooms. They also offered a free airport pick-up, which we obviously made use of!
A quick drive took us right there, and as we took our bags across the street we already saw the spotless sky above us. Sunshine all around! Francesca and I got settled in and walked outside. We found a backpackers’ travel agency around the corner, where we could make use of some free internet. Francesca’s dad had sent us an e-mail saying there had been a sandstorm right in Sydney. We looked around and saw absolutely nothing! Strange! After asking some people however, we found out that the storm had already subsided, and that there was just some residue on unwashed cars left as proof.
It being a sunny day, we decided to go check out the city. We got a map with our welcoming package from the hostel, which highlighted the monorail’s route through the city center, so Francesca and I decided to follow it. After a bit of a walk to get to city’s observation tower we turned left onto Pyrmont Bridge, which crosses over Darling Harbour. The view here is already quite stunning, overlooking the sea on side, and the city on the other. We got to have a look at the outside of the Aquarium and the WildlifeWorld, but decided not to go in because we had either already seen the animals, or we’re still about to.
Walking in the sun had made Francesca quite thirsty, so I got her a Diet Coke. A drink always makes the lady happy. The food courts under the main streets here are enormous, so we walked through parts of them, window-shopping away. By the time we got out it had gotten quite frisky outside, so we decided to head back to the hostel. We found a cool little spiral fountain on the way back, which Francesca ran down for some good pictures. As dusk fell we moved to the boardwalk, where she sat down for some more stunning shots.
Back in the city center I pointed to a lightshow by Lumière, which showed a fountain with purple lighting, much to Francesca’s approval and delight. After dinner we headed back to the hostel and turned in for the night.
The following day saw us exploring more of the city; this time we headed for the most well-known buildings in the city: the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. On the way there we had a quick look at the Town Hall, which unfortunately was closed due to renovations. Francesca and I also checked out Queen Victoria’s statue in front of Queen Victoria’s Building. In front of the building somebody was praising the Lord through a megaphone, discouraging us from staying there much longer. Ten minutes later I pointed to a funny-looking shape just up the street: part of the Opera House. Francesca had been very excited about seeing the Opera House, so we sat down near the sea and overlooked the harbor. With a clear-blue sky overhead it was easy to take some nice photos of both highlights of Sydney.
Our most pleasant surprise however came from a Sony employee that asked us if she could take a panorama picture of us. For free! Of course we said yes, and posed for it. It should be available to us tomorrow, so we’ll download it and add it to the blog as soon as possible.
Obviously one can’t just look at the outside of the Opera House, so we inquired within to see if there was a tour that we could do, and what that would involve. What we heard appealed to us, so we got our tickets for the 14:00PM guided tour. We also looked at tickets for an opera, but we couldn’t find a seat/price combination that satisfied us, so we left the decision for later. Our guide picked us up right under the Opera House and gave us some headsets to be able to hear her everywhere. She took us around the outside for some good pictures, and then took us up one of the staircases for a view of the glass hull. She pointed out that we could see the reflection of the Bridge in the glass. Neat!
Next, she took us inside and showed us the foyer. Francesca’s eyes lit up; the whole foyer was dressed in her favorite shade of purple! A few pictures later the guide asked us to sit down and watch a video of the history of the Opera House. In the 50’s Sydney held a competition for the grand design of a new Opera House in the city. The location (a thin strip of land stretching out in the harbor) was already known, the other liberties were left to the architects. Most submissions were straightforward, square buildings; a few ventured into the unknown with round entries; and one stood out, with a completely innovative idea. It had been submitted by Jorn Utzon, a Danish architect that had never actually been to Sydney, and had based his idea on pictures and sketches of the area only.
Unfortunately, the submission missed a few crucial entry points and was therefore rejected. When the judges came together for the final decision they couldn’t quite reach a unanimous verdict. One of them asked for all the previously rejected plans, and picked out Utzon’s sketches. Even though his plans were very basic, broke several rules and had no real financial plan it was still chosen as the winner. The initial idea was that the construction would take 3 years and cost about 7 million Australian dollars.
It ended up taking 16 years and costing well over 100 million Australian dollars. Utzon resigned halfway during the construction, as he didn’t get paid anymore. He left Australia, never to return. Sydney successfully financed the Opera House by holding a lottery. They employed an Australian architect to finish the project and finally Sydney had its completed Opera House.
Ann, our guide, first showed us the concert hall, which looked quite impressive with its natural acoustics and ‘sound doughnuts’ to prevent distortion. Next Ann took us to the small space between the two halls, with an overview of the city on one side and the sea on the other. Quite calming! We then proceeded to the opera hall, a smaller version of the concert hall. We were not completely impressed and started wondering why the building had ended up being called the Opera House, when in fact that part was smaller. Ann answered that one of the most influential citizens back then had been a big opera aficionado and had demanded it be called the Opera House; Ann said Performing Arts Center would have been far more apt.
Our last stop was the Utzon Room, a room designated for children’s plays. Sydney had realized they hadn’t been very kind to their architect, and tried to make it up to him. However, Utzon was in his eighties and too old to travel. He sent his son, and his son helped with renovations, and ultimately a room was named after Utzon. Utzon accepted the honor from his home in Denmark and his son is still involved in the ongoing overhaul.
Francesca and I thanked Ann for the tour and headed outside again to soak up some more sun. We decided to check out the rest of the area, and see if we could maybe get on the Bridge. We wandered into the Tourist Information Center and found some more brochures of things to do. As we looked for a way to get up on the bridge Francesca spotted a cool-looking gallery. Much more interesting than the photo exhibition were the foosball-tables in the middle of the room. I challenged her to a duel and before we knew it we had been playing for more than half an hour. I hadn’t really considered what the place might be, but Francesca thought it looked more like a shared student house, or something similar. Finally, one of the guys standing around came up to us and offered us a beer. We didn’t think much of it, but gladly accepted the offer. The guy walked off again, without saying much and we continued playing.
Ultimately one of them thought it’d be wise to inform us: we had walked into Saatchi & Saatchi, an advertisement agency and the employees were having a party. The gallery was indeed a gallery, but not as we thought: it had been set up for local artists, and they could show their creations here for free. The guy, Andrew, told us we had been the first people to come in and actually stay, playing foosball. They had thought it was funny, and decided to see what we were going to do. We ended up staying there for several hours, talking to Andrew and two Italians that had been invited to the party. We were challenged to some foosball doubles; we got beat, but we stood our ground. I managed to teach Francesca a few tricks, and we had a lot of fun doing so.
Andrew finally said he was going home and we felt it was time for dinner. He asked us what we wanted to eat and Francesca answered we had been wanting to try kangaroo and/or emu-meat. Luckily enough for us he told us of a cool hotel/restaurant called Hotel Australia that served kangaroo and emu-pizzas. The best of two worlds for us! Andrew said he had to go past the hotel on the way and gave us a hint that we could climb the bridge along the way as well. Being very hungry we headed for the hotel first. We sat down and ordered a half and half pizza. One half being Pepper Kangaroo (marinated in native pepper with roasted capsicum and native berries) and the other being BBQ Emu (Spanish onion, fresh basil leaves and cherry tomatoes). So good! Both had a very distinct and very unique flavor, and were pretty much fat free! We enjoyed a bit of Rugby Nation whilst loving our pizza.
Our walk back to the hostel included the bridge, as we had planned. We had a great overview of both the Harbour Bridge, bathing in light and seagulls, and the Opera House, lit up in pinkish fuchsia. It felt like we had the whole bridge to ourselves as we strolled back to the quay. A Japanese couple asked us to take a picture of them and returned the favor for us. With a really cool day behind us Francesca and I walked back to the hostel. Sleep was sweet.
The next morning we woke up around 07:30AM, leaving us just enough time to check out and grab some free slices of raisin bread before walking off to the bus stop just around the corner. A comfortable shuttle and a 20 minute drive took us right to the domestic terminal and not long after we were getting ready for departure. Francesca bought us a Krispy Kreme’s Original Glaze Doughnut, which I had never had before. Certainly a good little snack to keep us going!
The flight itself went by fast, as we watched the latest episode of Gossip Girl (well, part of it). After little more than an hour the plane touched the ground again; we had arrived in Sydney. Before departure we had already booked ourselves into MAZE backpackers, a (hopefully) nicer hostel right in the city center, with decently priced rooms. They also offered a free airport pick-up, which we obviously made use of!
A quick drive took us right there, and as we took our bags across the street we already saw the spotless sky above us. Sunshine all around! Francesca and I got settled in and walked outside. We found a backpackers’ travel agency around the corner, where we could make use of some free internet. Francesca’s dad had sent us an e-mail saying there had been a sandstorm right in Sydney. We looked around and saw absolutely nothing! Strange! After asking some people however, we found out that the storm had already subsided, and that there was just some residue on unwashed cars left as proof.
It being a sunny day, we decided to go check out the city. We got a map with our welcoming package from the hostel, which highlighted the monorail’s route through the city center, so Francesca and I decided to follow it. After a bit of a walk to get to city’s observation tower we turned left onto Pyrmont Bridge, which crosses over Darling Harbour. The view here is already quite stunning, overlooking the sea on side, and the city on the other. We got to have a look at the outside of the Aquarium and the WildlifeWorld, but decided not to go in because we had either already seen the animals, or we’re still about to.
Walking in the sun had made Francesca quite thirsty, so I got her a Diet Coke. A drink always makes the lady happy. The food courts under the main streets here are enormous, so we walked through parts of them, window-shopping away. By the time we got out it had gotten quite frisky outside, so we decided to head back to the hostel. We found a cool little spiral fountain on the way back, which Francesca ran down for some good pictures. As dusk fell we moved to the boardwalk, where she sat down for some more stunning shots.
Back in the city center I pointed to a lightshow by Lumière, which showed a fountain with purple lighting, much to Francesca’s approval and delight. After dinner we headed back to the hostel and turned in for the night.
The following day saw us exploring more of the city; this time we headed for the most well-known buildings in the city: the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. On the way there we had a quick look at the Town Hall, which unfortunately was closed due to renovations. Francesca and I also checked out Queen Victoria’s statue in front of Queen Victoria’s Building. In front of the building somebody was praising the Lord through a megaphone, discouraging us from staying there much longer. Ten minutes later I pointed to a funny-looking shape just up the street: part of the Opera House. Francesca had been very excited about seeing the Opera House, so we sat down near the sea and overlooked the harbor. With a clear-blue sky overhead it was easy to take some nice photos of both highlights of Sydney.
Our most pleasant surprise however came from a Sony employee that asked us if she could take a panorama picture of us. For free! Of course we said yes, and posed for it. It should be available to us tomorrow, so we’ll download it and add it to the blog as soon as possible.
Obviously one can’t just look at the outside of the Opera House, so we inquired within to see if there was a tour that we could do, and what that would involve. What we heard appealed to us, so we got our tickets for the 14:00PM guided tour. We also looked at tickets for an opera, but we couldn’t find a seat/price combination that satisfied us, so we left the decision for later. Our guide picked us up right under the Opera House and gave us some headsets to be able to hear her everywhere. She took us around the outside for some good pictures, and then took us up one of the staircases for a view of the glass hull. She pointed out that we could see the reflection of the Bridge in the glass. Neat!
Next, she took us inside and showed us the foyer. Francesca’s eyes lit up; the whole foyer was dressed in her favorite shade of purple! A few pictures later the guide asked us to sit down and watch a video of the history of the Opera House. In the 50’s Sydney held a competition for the grand design of a new Opera House in the city. The location (a thin strip of land stretching out in the harbor) was already known, the other liberties were left to the architects. Most submissions were straightforward, square buildings; a few ventured into the unknown with round entries; and one stood out, with a completely innovative idea. It had been submitted by Jorn Utzon, a Danish architect that had never actually been to Sydney, and had based his idea on pictures and sketches of the area only.
Unfortunately, the submission missed a few crucial entry points and was therefore rejected. When the judges came together for the final decision they couldn’t quite reach a unanimous verdict. One of them asked for all the previously rejected plans, and picked out Utzon’s sketches. Even though his plans were very basic, broke several rules and had no real financial plan it was still chosen as the winner. The initial idea was that the construction would take 3 years and cost about 7 million Australian dollars.
It ended up taking 16 years and costing well over 100 million Australian dollars. Utzon resigned halfway during the construction, as he didn’t get paid anymore. He left Australia, never to return. Sydney successfully financed the Opera House by holding a lottery. They employed an Australian architect to finish the project and finally Sydney had its completed Opera House.
Ann, our guide, first showed us the concert hall, which looked quite impressive with its natural acoustics and ‘sound doughnuts’ to prevent distortion. Next Ann took us to the small space between the two halls, with an overview of the city on one side and the sea on the other. Quite calming! We then proceeded to the opera hall, a smaller version of the concert hall. We were not completely impressed and started wondering why the building had ended up being called the Opera House, when in fact that part was smaller. Ann answered that one of the most influential citizens back then had been a big opera aficionado and had demanded it be called the Opera House; Ann said Performing Arts Center would have been far more apt.
Our last stop was the Utzon Room, a room designated for children’s plays. Sydney had realized they hadn’t been very kind to their architect, and tried to make it up to him. However, Utzon was in his eighties and too old to travel. He sent his son, and his son helped with renovations, and ultimately a room was named after Utzon. Utzon accepted the honor from his home in Denmark and his son is still involved in the ongoing overhaul.
Francesca and I thanked Ann for the tour and headed outside again to soak up some more sun. We decided to check out the rest of the area, and see if we could maybe get on the Bridge. We wandered into the Tourist Information Center and found some more brochures of things to do. As we looked for a way to get up on the bridge Francesca spotted a cool-looking gallery. Much more interesting than the photo exhibition were the foosball-tables in the middle of the room. I challenged her to a duel and before we knew it we had been playing for more than half an hour. I hadn’t really considered what the place might be, but Francesca thought it looked more like a shared student house, or something similar. Finally, one of the guys standing around came up to us and offered us a beer. We didn’t think much of it, but gladly accepted the offer. The guy walked off again, without saying much and we continued playing.
Ultimately one of them thought it’d be wise to inform us: we had walked into Saatchi & Saatchi, an advertisement agency and the employees were having a party. The gallery was indeed a gallery, but not as we thought: it had been set up for local artists, and they could show their creations here for free. The guy, Andrew, told us we had been the first people to come in and actually stay, playing foosball. They had thought it was funny, and decided to see what we were going to do. We ended up staying there for several hours, talking to Andrew and two Italians that had been invited to the party. We were challenged to some foosball doubles; we got beat, but we stood our ground. I managed to teach Francesca a few tricks, and we had a lot of fun doing so.
Andrew finally said he was going home and we felt it was time for dinner. He asked us what we wanted to eat and Francesca answered we had been wanting to try kangaroo and/or emu-meat. Luckily enough for us he told us of a cool hotel/restaurant called Hotel Australia that served kangaroo and emu-pizzas. The best of two worlds for us! Andrew said he had to go past the hotel on the way and gave us a hint that we could climb the bridge along the way as well. Being very hungry we headed for the hotel first. We sat down and ordered a half and half pizza. One half being Pepper Kangaroo (marinated in native pepper with roasted capsicum and native berries) and the other being BBQ Emu (Spanish onion, fresh basil leaves and cherry tomatoes). So good! Both had a very distinct and very unique flavor, and were pretty much fat free! We enjoyed a bit of Rugby Nation whilst loving our pizza.
Our walk back to the hostel included the bridge, as we had planned. We had a great overview of both the Harbour Bridge, bathing in light and seagulls, and the Opera House, lit up in pinkish fuchsia. It felt like we had the whole bridge to ourselves as we strolled back to the quay. A Japanese couple asked us to take a picture of them and returned the favor for us. With a really cool day behind us Francesca and I walked back to the hostel. Sleep was sweet.
2 Comments:
WOW!!
Geweldig!! wat geniet ik weer van jullie!!! en dan die foto's weer!!! AMAZING!!!!
hoe is het met het couch surfing gegaan??? was ik nog wel even benieuwd naar!!
love you both!!!!!!!!!!
mams
Hallo Lieverds.
Nou nou,het houdt niet op he.Wat een mooie verhalen en foto,s Dit vergeten jullie nooit weer.Francesca,wat zie je er goed uit,ik kan zien dat je geniet van alles,en jij natuurlijk ook HJ.Ik kijk iedere dag of er weer een verhaal van jullie is.Op deze manier reis ik ook een beetje mee.Ik hoop dat er nog heel veel verhalen komen. Heel veel liefs .Omaxxx
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