How can you hate Sydney when Sting’s in town?

Sydney- possibly the most famous city in Australia- is something to see. Its busy, fast-paced lifestyle is certainly a city lover’s dream. It’s got all the typical city attractions; all the fast food you’d need alongside what appears to be some very nice restaurants of all types of cuisine, as many coffee shops as one person can handle, parks in the central areas with gorgeous scenery, museums and art galleries to please all tastes, and of course, some great entertainment venues. Australians (typically, those that don’t live in Sydney) think it’s a bit hyped, but I certainly believe there is merit in this assessment. No matter which way you look at it, the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House are two glorious sites.

The Harbour Bridge is so stately just standing in the middle of the harbour. It’s constantly peeking into view whether you’re walking or driving down the winding downtown streets or coming in from the nooks and crannies of the surrounding waterways. Maybe you need to really appreciate architecture in order to think it’s gorgeous, but I think it is. It becomes less so when you’re actually ON the bridge. Then it just becomes some steel beams. But those beams give you the best possible view of the city behind you and the other splendid presence in the harbour, the Opera House.

The Opera House is a bit more of a complex beauty, but it still is. There are multiple angles to the Opera House and there are a few favourites for the photographer. The front view, for instance, is not the most appealing. It looks pompous and pretentious. I believe one of the three buildings that make up the Opera House is solely a restaurant, which I can only assume serves very classy, fancy, small dished meals. But make your way around the thing, see it from the Botanic Gardens, the Rocks, the Bridge, and it’s a different view altogether. It transforms into this warm and inviting place to be.  You find yourself wondering just how much it costs to go see an Opera and imagine what the sound quality must be like in those impressive eaves.

Although I have not had the chance (yet) to see an opera, you all well know that I did get the- might as well be best- next-best thing; a concert in the Forecourt with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Oh, and Sting. I was able to be part of Sting’s Symphonicity Tour 2010/2011. How excited I was for that night, you could only fully grasp by talking to me. It’s been 4 days and I’m still over-the-moon excited about it. Why I don’t have Sting’s entire discography in my collection yet, I don’t know. I love his music. I love his Police stuff, but not as much as I love solo Sting. His lyrics are thoughtful and his style is unlike anyone else’s. Blame it on my mother (and partially on Matt,) but it doesn’t get much better than Sting’s songs being played through the various orchestra instruments. The sound was absolutely breathtaking, even outside. The playlist was perfect; he did all of my personal favourites. You can imagine how upset I was when my camera battery died and I didn’t even get a dozen photos, but I managed to bring back a couple videos of my favourite songs and I suppose you could say that gave me the chance to enjoy the experience of it, which I did. Wholly. It was what I expected and 100 times more. That is one item on the bucket list checked off and plain good timing that I had the most fantastic backdrop.

After all the Sting excitement, I went on a tour of the Blue Mountains with a friend I had made in the city. Andrea was only spending 10 days in Sydney so she was all for doing exciting things while she was here. I had also talked her into going to the Sting concert, which didn’t take much arm twisting, to be honest. At first view, the Blue Mountains are not blue at all. They are in fact very green. But once you get in there, you see this strange, blue haze over the tops of the mountain ranges. This is actually caused by the eucalyptus trees releasing some kind of particle into the air causing it to have that blue hue. Most of the Blue Mountains are covered by eucalyptus trees, but they do not have a koala population at all. Koalas only eat something like 42 different types of eucalyptus leaves, and although the Blue Mountains have around 100 different types, there is not enough of the 42 that the koalas prefer. That does nothing to affect the view though. It’s still incredible and stretches on for miles. I can imagine it wasn’t viewed in quite the same admiration back in the 1800’s, when people were looking for a way across the vast mountain range. They eventually found one, above the valleys, and that is currently the only way to get across it. There are parts of the Blue Mountains that have yet to be explored and my theory is that this is where all the drop bears are hiding.

I’ve been here a week now and the next and most important thing on the agenda is finding a job. I need money. My credit card cries itself to sleep at night, I just know it. I have been sending my resume at various recruitment agencies. I’m looking at office work because I need lots of money and I’m not sure if the hospitality industry can provide me the hours I would need to make the kind of money I want. So if you could keep your fingers and toes crossed for me to find something here, it would be much appreciated. Until then, trips to a couple beaches (ever heard of Bondi Beach?) and more walking through the massive botanic gardens will be my agenda. If no job, or a crappy one, is found, then I may have to forgo a trip to Hunter Valley, or a bridge climb, but I can always remember that I got to see Sting from the steps of the Opera House. Thank you, Sydney!!