Good times in Sydney. Technically, I've been in Oceania before, specifically in Hawaii. But that's far away, in the northern hemisphere. Now that I'm in Australia, it feels like I'm really in Oceania.
I rented an apartment in Sydney's Chippendale neighborhood. It's a relaxed residential area full of little restaurants and art galleries, as well as a couple of parks and shopping malls, and home to the University of Notre Dame Australia, the University of Technology Sydney, and a campus of the University of Sydney.
Australia is the 6th-largest country (after Russia, Canada, China, the USA, and Brazil), but its population hasn't reached 30 million yet (for comparison, Tokyo alone has 40 million). Sydney is the most populous city in the country, with about 5.5 million people.
A constant reminder of how far from the rest of the world I am is the curious fauna around town. The one I saw most frequently was the ibis, usually scavenging around gardens or garbage bins. Another peculiar animal is the kookaburra, a big-headed bird that makes a sound similar to a human laugh.
I visited a few museums, of course. The Art Gallery of New South Wales is by far my favorite. Lots of great works by Australian artists, as well as Modigliani, de Chirico, Delacroix, Monet, Cézanne, and an impressive Diogenes by Pre-Raphaelite John William Waterhouse. The Chau Chak Wing Museum, near my apartment, has an interesting collection of artifacts of artistic and archaeological significance from Egypt, Greece, Italy, Cyprus, and the Middle East. They also had an exhibition of J.W. Power, an Australian artist who lived most of his life in Europe and was influenced by cubism and surrealism.
The Australian National Maritime Museum, in Darling Harbour, has the usual collection of ship models and ship paintings, but it also displays actual ships (and a lighthouse). I went into the HMB Endeavour, a replica of James Cook's ship (it actually sailed 310,000 km, retracing Cook's original itinerary), the HMAS Vampire, a destroyer built in the 1950s, and the Cape Bowling Green Lighthouse, placed in Queensland in 1874 and moved to the museum in 1994.
I also visited the Australian Museum (mostly displays of natural history but they also had a Lego exhibition), the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (uninpressive), the State Library of New South Wales (offering a few interesting exhibitions), the Museum of Sydney (glimpses into the history of the city), the Hyde Park Barracks (one of the buildings that accomodated convicts in the early 19th century), and the Saint Mary's Cathedral (a 19th century Gothic Revival church). Another place worth mentioning is the Queen Victoria Building, a shopping mall built in 1898 in the Victorian Romanesque style, full of columns, arches, domes, and stained-glass windows, one of the most stylish malls I've ever seen.
There were two memorable walks that I did more than once. The first one was along the coast, from Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach, following the cliffs and the little coves on the east side of town. The second one was from my apartment to the Botanic Gardens of Sydney, the Sydney Harbour, the iconic Sydney Opera House, and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
What about the food?
It's hard to find something that can be called typical Australian food, as locals eat a variety of dishes that originated elsewhere. The most popular meals around here are what we could call pub food: fish and chips (British), schnitzels (Austrian), and burgers (possibly American). And then there are many Asian restaurants all over town: Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Thai, and Indian, among others. If there is one thing I ate that can definitely be considered Australian, it was a kangaroo burger. The meat tastes very much like beef, only a bit drier (since kangaroos don't have much fat).
And we have to talk about the Tim Tam. It's a little sandwich made with two malted biscuits and filled with chocolate cream, and then coated in chocolate. Delicious and addictive. There are several varieties: dark chocolate, white chocolate, double coat, salted caramel, and many others. My favorite, by far, is the Tim Tam Café Latte.
Any side trips?
I spent a day in Hunter Valley, north of Sydney, visiting small vineyards and doing wine tastings around Cessnock, Pokolbin, and Branxton. A good variety of wines was available, including chardonnay, verdelho, pinot grigio, pinot noir, durif (aka petite sirah), malbec, cabernet, and shiraz. My favorite was the delicious Saddler's Hunter Valley Shiraz 2023, made by Sadler's Creek Winery in Pokolbin. I bought a bottle (and drank it expeditiously), but unfortunately I will never find this wine elsewhere, as they don't produce enough to export.
And after Sydney?
I'm already living in Wellington, New Zealand's capital city. But that's a story for another time. Haere rā! (That's "goodbye" in the Māori language.)
