Arrived in Sydney, after the most uncomfortable flight of my life on United Airlines. Although partially deaf, my first night in the city was definitely better than I expected it to be. Michael and I had a hotel reservation in Kings Cross at the Vibe Rushcutters Hotel, which was not too far from the night life and city district. We were also only a few stops away from the Rocks, which we learned was a prime spot for celebrating New Years in Australia.
Our first order of business was to exchange currency, which we did in the city because the airports were complete rip-offs as they charged a commission fee on top of the conversion price. We then found internet access so we could look up where we were and also write home so our parents wouldn’t worry.
What surprised me the most in my first few hours traveling around the city was that nowhere had free wi-fi access. This was unusual because here in the States, wi-fi is everywhere. When the embassy told us that Australia was sufficient in making itself provide its own needs, it surprised me that ‘cloud’ technology would not be something that they would try to dominate as it would allow them to communicate faster across the country & around the world. I also found the high prices being charged for internet access were interesting as well as the rest of the world uses email as a common practice and most places offer it for free so that even those who cannot afford to own there own computer can still be connected.
Beyond this lag in technology, we moved on to find that food was way more expensive than back home. I will never take for granted the dollar menu again. When every meal averages $10-12+, you realize $20 does not stretch as far as you’d think. The reprieve to this was that most restaurants were not chains but owned by small family groups or were ‘mom&pop’ shops.
After finding food, Michael & I left Kings Cross for the Rocks. Even though it was only 6pm, major viewing areas for the New Years fireworks were filling up quickly and being sectioned off by the police. We made it to small viewing area near the harbor (and would later realize very close to our final hostel) where we could see the Bridge and the Opera House, clearly. Thus began our six hour wait for the New Year to arrive. What I noticed was that there were not many young people there to watch the fireworks but more families and upper class socialites, who wanted to party at the expensive restaurants near the harbor. I later learned that young Australians go to Bondi Beach and party in the New Year, like young Singaporeans do on Sentosa Island. There was also a great difference in how Australians celebrate the New Year compared to Americans. In America, when the clock strikes midnight, everyone kisses and cheers and makes resolutions. In Australia, most people don’t recognize it’s the New Year until after the 15 minute fireworks display and then people disperse and go home. It was very weird to experience and almost anti-climatic for one of the first cities to cross over into the year 2011. Luckily, I was too tired to care from the jet-lag that decided to set in and we rushed back to the train station to get back to Kings Cross and get some much needed sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment