Sydney

I recently returned from a wonderful six-night trip to Sydney. Before I enthuse about the vacation, however, I’m going to share a very important lesson I learned: hotel ratings are not the same in Australia as they are in the US! I used the internet to reserve a room in the Westend Sydney. When I arrived, I found a nightmare. There was no top sheet, just a less-than-squeaky-clean comforter; the pillowcases were so threadbare they were nearly nonexistent, soap and towels were missing altogether, and the curtain was broken so it didn’t cover the whole window. Therefore I had to walk around and the third hotel I tried had an available room. This was the Marque Sydney, where I was generally happy. Now, my original hotel had been rated three stars. My immediate thought was, ‘If this is three stars, one star must come with complimentary rats.’ I was later told by the woman who owns the house where I’m renting a room that three stars in Australia is risky. It never occurred to me that hotel rating systems might be different, and I fully expected an average but livable room as I would anticipate at home.

That aside, I truly enjoyed Sydney. Less than 48 hours before leaving Hobart for Sydney I impulsively bought a ticket to see the Australian Ballet at the Sydney Opera House, and I’m very glad I did. It was one of my better impulse purchases. Plus, the night that I wanted to go featured a Youth Under 27 discount, so I was able to get a good seat for the price of a mediocre seat. The performance was a Jerome Robbins tribute. I had never heard of Jerome Robbins, but it turns out he choreographed West Side Story. He also choreographed a number of ballet pieces, and the Australian Ballet was performing four of them.

It was a bit surreal to be inside the Sydney Opera House. This was the evening of my fifth day in Sydney, so I’d been gazing at the outside for some time. (And photographing it. I was not alone in noticing that there’s a strange phenomenon that draws cameras towards the Sydney Opera House like some kind of magnet. Almost anywhere with a good view of it has tourists with cameras out.) Being inside was another matter altogether. I’ve read that the acoustics aren’t nearly as impressive as the outside. This didn’t strike me as an issue in the ballet, although I must confess that even if it were I probably wouldn’t have noticed. While in the foyer before the show began I was offered a canapé by a neatly dressed waiter. That, for me, was one of the most surreal moments I’ve had in Australia. After all, I’m a small-town girl and have never lived anywhere but Maine until now. Then there I was, nibbling a canapé in the Sydney Opera House.

Each piece got better than the last in my opinion. The last, “The Concert,” was particularly amusing. A pianist came out, and slowly dancers came out as an audience. However, his music couldn’t hold their attention. Several whimsical scenes then happened. According to the program, “The Concert” sprung from the admission that, while attending a performance, audience members’ minds wander. Interestingly enough, I was so entertained by “The Concert” that my mind hardly wandered at all! It ended with the dancers flitting around with butterfly wings. Fed up, the pianist abandoned his music and chased the dancers with a giant butterfly net. It sounds absurd, but it was beautifully done and highly engrossing.

Another highlight of my trip was the Sydney Aquarium. I read nothing but good things in my tour books, and wasn’t disappointed. It’s divided into four sections: Freshwater Rivers, Saltwater Rivers, Southern Oceans, and Northern Oceans. After buying my ticket, I walked through the enormous metal shark mouth and entered, guidebook in hand. The very first exhibit was the platypus. A freshwater creature, it was far more adorable than I anticipated. (There may have been another, but only one was out.) It was about a foot long – smaller than the beaver-sized animal I’d imagined, and this one particularly liked its hollow log. The first I saw of the platypus was its beak inching out of the log. As I was quite captivated, I stayed for several minutes watching it. The first specimen sent back to Europe was assumed to be a hoax. I can’t say I blame those men who decided the platypus couldn’t possibly be a real animal, with its thick fur, large beak, flat tail, and big webbed feet. This doesn’t sound particularly cute, I’m aware. Nonetheless I thought the platypus was cute. It swam around, poking its beak around for food and going in and out of the hollow log.

I finally pulled myself away from the platypus and on to the rest of the aquarium. After looking at the rest of the Freshwater Rivers tanks, which included a very large Murray cod, it was on to the Saltwater Rivers. The star of this section is the “saltie” – the term Australians use for their saltwater crocodile. This happens to be one of few (two, if I remember correctly) crocodile species that will eat adult humans if given half a chance. A 3-D sign helpfully explained that you can tell crocodiles from alligators because both top and bottom teeth are visible, whereas only top teeth are visible if the creature is an alligator. I, however, prefer to keep my distance and a solid barrier between me and any large, toothed reptile. A sign posted on the upper level, where you can look down at the saltie, hammered the danger home. “DO NOT ENTER,” it read. “If the fall does not kill you, the crocodile will.” I didn’t linger.

For the sake of minds used to the northern hemisphere, remember that the Southern Oceans exhibit here is where the cold water creatures will be. The big draw here is the penguin exhibit. While several species of penguins visit Australia, one breeds here: the fairy penguin, aka little penguin. (In fact, much of their breeding ground is here in Tasmania. I may yet get to see them in the wild.) They’re quite small, perhaps nine or ten inches tall, and charming little birds. When I was looking none were in the water, but the sign informed me that the aquarium keeps a current in their water because they enjoy playing in it. Near the penguins, I meandered over to the Southern Oceans Touch Tank. The employee told us that if you put your finger between the spikes of one creature (I forget what species), the spikes slowly close around your finger. I tried this, and it’s a rather strange sensation.

The final section was the Northern Oceans, where there’s a large Great Barrier Reef tank. This had sharks, rays, at least one turtle, and all kinds of brightly colored fish. When I bought my ticket I paid $5 more for the Shark Explorer glass-bottomed boat ride. The thought crossed my mind that going on a boat over a tank full of sharks could be dangerous. However, I was operating on a “no regrets” motto and decided that if sharks were feasting on visitors the aquarium wouldn’t offer such a ride. Besides, if there was even a remote chance that the insurance company thought sharks might eat people, I was certain the Shark Explorer wouldn’t be allowed. So I zipped up the life jacket and went on, and I’m very glad I did. For about 8 minutes I was in a small 8-person aluminum boat with a glass (or, I suspect, plexiglass) bottom, pulled along a rope by an employee. The view was excellent, and even better when I was given a pinch of fish food to drop overboard. A couple dozen fish came up and put on quite a show. The Shark Explorer has been going on for four and a half months, and that’s how the fish are fed now. I also learned that the aquarium has a special government permit to take fish and shellfish out of Sydney Harbour, which happens on occasion, particularly if the sharks have gotten extra hungry. This, it seems, is the risk of keeping sharks in the same giant tank as fish. None of the sharks below me turned out to be man-eating varieties, which I was glad to hear. (There were no great whites, but those are apparently impossible to keep in captivity because, quite apart from that bothersome man-eating business, they like to dive over 20 yards deep.)

Out of the boat and back on land, so to speak, I found clownfish. It wasn’t hard, because there were little kids squealing, “Nemo! Nemo! NemoNemoNemo!” A large poster showed Nemo’s friends and asked if you could find them. Obviously, the Sydney Aquarium benefits from the interest sparked by “Finding Nemo.” The Great Barrier Reef tank was mesmerizing. Even the homely potato cod was impressive because it was enormous. That one didn’t do much; it just hung there in a little grotto. Sadly, I couldn’t stay in the aquarium forever because by that time, having spent over three hours when the tour guides said to allow two, I was quite hungry.

For the record, I passed on fish and chips in the café.