open mind, empty stomach

Sydney was a great way to start this trip. I overcame some adversity, met some wonderful people, ate some great food, and enjoyed myself quite a bit in the short time I spent in the capital of New South Wales.

A few weeks before arriving, I found a Couchsurfing host. I messaged her two days before my flight and still have not heard back from her…. She flaked on me. This was the first time something like that has ever happened to me with Couchsurfing, but it may have been for the better. Having to scramble to find a place to stay and research things to do in the city since I was suddenly host-less got me right back into travel mode.

My first night in the city was spent at the cheapest hostel I could find after hours of walking around the city center, 790 on George. It was $24/night and $2/hour for wifi, was clean and served its purpose. My last two nights in Sydney were at Asylum Hostel in Kings Cross. It’s very cheap for Sydney ($19/night, free internet), but pretty dirty and there are no lockers to secure your belongings. My room was overlooking the main street and was very noisy at night, but I still managed to sleep fine. On the positive side the location is great, the bathrooms were extremely clean, the owner is a cool guy, and the kitchen is adequate.

About a month ago, a Sydney based food and travel writer stopped by The Pig and The Lady at the Saturday morning KCC farmers’ market. She gave me her contact info and we ended up hanging out on my first full day in Sydney. Edwina and her family were great company and very gracious hosts. She took me on a drive around the eastern suburbs where she lives and provided me with great pointers for Sydney and Australia in general. She left me to explore Bondi Beach while she went to pick her 5-year-old up from school. On her recommendations, I had a really good chicken, chicken liver, and chicken heart falafel at Sababba, sipped on a beer at The Icebergs overlooking a pool that is so close to the ocean that waves actually crash into it, then did the very scenic walk from Bondi to Coogee Beach.

The next day was a washout, but since I was only in Sydney for such a short period of time, I still ventured out. I had some incredibly fresh oysters at the Sydney Fish Market, went to the predominantly Vietnamese/Lebanese suburb of Bankstown where I had a great bowl of pho bo at Pho An, then stopped by Market City in Chinatown where I bought some great (and extremely cheap for Sydney) local ingredients to cook myself dinner. One of my best friends growing up in Massachusetts has two buddies that work at a bar inside an extremely good Vietnamese fusion restaurant, Ms. G’s, that was in walking distance to my hostel. I stopped by on a Saturday night, but, tragically, the kitchen was closed by the time I arrived. I still managed to spend a pleasant few hours sipping on some tasty drinks with great company.

The weather kept me from doing the main touristy things for my first couple days in town, but the finally cooperated on my last morning. I was able to walk through the Botanical Garden, visit the Opera House, take the ferry to Manly and hang out at the beach, check out the Sydney Harbor Bridge, and walk around The Rocks before returning to the hostel in time for my 1:15 airport shuttle! The ferry to Manly was really nice and provided great photo ops for the bridge and the opera house. The Rocks was cool, but very touristy midday on a Sunday.

I never made it to the Blue Hills and I didn’t get to eat any Lebanese food. I’m sure there’s at least a thousand other things I wasn’t able to do while in Sydney. What I did do, I enjoyed. Sydney is a beautiful city – even more so when it’s sunny – that I defintely wouldn’t mind spending more time in. For me, it’s tough visiting a city in a country as young as Australia. It lacks the depth of history and culture (and food!) that you would find in Europe, but has an even bigger price tag. The natural beauty of the area, vibrant immigrant community, and welcoming people makes Sydney a great place to visit.

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