Date: 2003-01-15
To: Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oy, Oy, Oy
Miles today: 0.0

Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oy Oy OyWednesday, January 15thDistance: 6.3 milesOn Monday night, I boarded the plane bound for Sydney. Baby after baby came on board for the overnight flight. Great. One couple asked me to give up my aisle seat in the bulkhead row so that they could sit together and have room to put their baby on the floor. They were stunned when I said "no". I arrived in Sydney early on Wednesday morning and forced myself to stay up all day. I checked into the hotel then started walking. I walked through several small parks, through the business district, and Hyde Park with its great tunnel of trees. I stopped to ride up in the Sky Tower, which takes you high above the city to a 360 degree observation deck and an aerial view of one of the prettiest harbours in the world. This experience was clouded only by the "Woman With No Sense of Personal Space" who followed me around. At first I thought she was trying to pick my pocket or hit on me, but finally realized she just thought it was OK to stand so close to other people that you touched them. I have a personal space radius of at least a foot, maybe two, in all directions. If people get closer than that without permission, my elbows go out, my feet are planted, a snarl crosses my face, and I start making unanticipated turns that cause my elbows to hit flesh. After the SkyTower, I took a ride on the Sky Tour, a multisensory experience about the history of Australia that would have been corny except that the Australian employees were so nice and excited about it. An Indian man and I shared moments of giddy laughter as our senses told us we were zipping through canyons on white water rafts. That afternoon, I took a walk through the Royal Botanical Gardens. They have absolutely huge bats there. Hundreds and hundreds of them hanging from the trees, and me with no zoom lens. After a relaxing ferry boat ride to Manly and back, I retired to my hotel room. For Americans, Australia is a good stepping stone to foreign travel. While it is still "foreign", they speak English, the time change isn't too bad, the people are loud, the children run wild, and there is a definite streak of racism, homophobia, and Christian conservatism to make Americans feel at home. If you ignore that last bit, then Sydney is much like San Francisco with an accent. It reminds me of a short story I read in law school about a perfect city with perfect weather filled with deliriously happy people. However, in order to remain perfect, one child from the city had to be kept in a basement and treated miserably. A lesson in utilitarianism.   On a lighter note:Sydney had all sorts of candy that I have never tried before, most of it made by Cadbury. Australians order coffee differently: Short, black, white, flat. I tried to get a latte twice and failed both times. Australians speak like Yoda: "She's a big girl, she is." "Quite nice, that would be." Sydneysiders are wise: It is illegal to feed the pigeons in Sydney.Sydneysiders are very wise: I saw many signs on mailboxes that said: "No junk mail". Apparently, if you have this sign, the postperson will not deliver to you any mail that is not specifically addressed to you. Brilliant!