It might seem surprising that
Sydney, established in 1788, is not
Australia's capital. Yet the
creation of Canberra in 1927 -
intended to stem the intense rivalry
between Sydney and Melbourne - has
not affected the view of many
Sydneysiders that their city remains
the
true capital of
Australia, and certainly in many
ways it feels like it. The city has
a tangible sense of history in the
old stone walls and well-worn steps
in the backstreets around The Rocks,
while the sandstone cliffs, rocks
and caves amongst the bushlined
harbour still contain Aboriginal
rock carvings, evocative reminders
of a more ancient past.
Flying into Sydney provides a
thrilling close-up snapshot of the
city as the aeroplane swoops
alongside sandstone cliffs and
golden beaches, revealing toy-sized
images of the Harbour Bridge and the
Opera House tilting in a glittering
expanse of blue water. Towards
Mascot airport the red-tiled roofs
of suburban bungalows stretch ever
southwards, blue squares of swimming
pools shimmering from grassy
backyards. The night views are
nearly as spectacular, skyscrapers
topped with colourful neon lights
while the illuminated white shells
of the Opera House reflect on the
dark water as ferries crisscross to
Circular Quay.
Sydney has all the vigour of a
world-class city, and a population
approaching five million people; yet
on the ground you'll find it still
possesses a seductive, small-town,
easy-going charm. The furious
development in preparation for the
year 2000 Olympics, heralded as
being Sydney's coming-of-age
ceremony, alarmed many locals, who
love their city just the way it is.
It was not so much the greatly
improved transport infrastructure,
or the $200 million budget which
improved and beautified the city
streets and parks, but the rash of
luxury hotels and apartments still
adding themselves, often
contentiously, to the beloved
harbour foreshore. It's a setting
that perhaps only Rio de Janeiro can
rival: the water is what makes the
city so special, and no introduction
to Sydney would be complete without
paying tribute to one of the world's
great harbours. Port Jackson is a
sunken valley which twists inland to
meet the fresh water of the
Parramatta River; in the process it
washes into a hundred coves and
bays, winds around rocky points,
flows past the small harbour
islands, slips under bridges and
laps at the foot of the Opera House.
Taken together with its
surrounds, Sydney is in many ways a
microcosm of Australia as a whole -
if only in its ability to defy your
expectations and prejudices as often
as it confirms them. A thrusting,
high-rise business centre in the CBD
, a high-profile gay community in Darlinghurst
, inner-city deprivation of
unexpected harshness, with the
highest Aboriginal population of any
Australian city, and the dreary
traffic-fumed and flat suburban
sprawl of the Western Suburbs
, are as much part of the scene as
the beaches, the bodies and the
sparkling harbour. But all in all,
Sydney seems to have the best of
both worlds - if it's seen at its
gleaming best from the deck of a
harbour ferry, especially at
weekends when the harbour's jagged
jaws fill with a flotilla of small
vessels, racing yachts and cabin
cruisers, it's at its most varied in
its neighbourhoods , not
least for their lively café and
restaurant scenes. Getting away from
the city centre and exploring them
is an essential part of Sydney's
pleasures.
A short ferry trip across to the
leafy and affluent North Shore
accesses tracts of largely intact
bushland, with bushwalking and
native animals and birds right on
the doorstep. In the summer the
city's hot offices are abandoned for
the remarkably unspoilt ocean and
harbour beaches strung around
the eastern and northern suburbs.
Day-trips away offer a taste of
virtually everything you'll find in
the rest of Australia. There are
magnificent national parks
and native wildlife - Ku-Ring-Gai
Chase and Royal being the best known
of the parks, each a mere hour's
drive from the centre of town. North
of the centre the Central Coast
is great for surfers, and has more
enclosed waters for safer swimming
and sailing. Inland, the Blue
Mountains offer tea rooms,
scenic viewpoints and isolated
bushwalking. On the way, and along
the Hawkesbury River , are
historic colonial towns. Inland to
the northwest is the Hunter
Valley , Australia's oldest and
possibly best-known wine-growing
region, amongst pastoral scenery.
