Expanding List: Things I Love About Sydney

In amongst the course preparation and other anxieties (hey I did drop off my first course reader to be copied at Office Works this afternoon, coordinating it with a workout and feeling geeky as I ran with an envelope in my hand) I wanted to check in quickly with what may become a long list of cool stuff. 

1.  The Harbor.  Sure I’d read about 180 miles of shoreline or whatever, but I really wasn’t prepared for how beautiful the water is, how the bays and coves give neighborhoods their own identity, how much the water defines the city.

2. The public transport system.  I’m sure there’s plenty for Sydneysiders to piss and moan about, but for someone who is appalled at how un-friendly the “systems” are in the Bay Area--AC Transit, Golden Gate, Muni, BART, Amtrak--I am stunned at how well the various sub-units work, and work together.  I bought a 90-day MyMulti pass for A$452 at the airport, and I use this ticket on any ferry, bus, or train within a pretty huge zone.  On Sunday I blasted over to Watson’s Bay (such a nice day that a few thousand other folks had the same great idea), hiked around The Gap cliffs after taking a nap in the sun, then returned to the Circular Quay hub, then rode the little ferry back over to Mosman Bay--and hey, when the ferry arrives, the bus is waiting, not leaving (the way AC Transit does when I get to Berkeley on Amtrak).

3. Friendly locals and furriner-locals.  Far out of proportion to expected distributions in the population, I’m running into helpful, open, friendly people wherever I go, be it the library or on the bus or at bus stops or in the local grocery store.  Several times when I’ve heard an accent I’ve inquired where it’s from, and in a couple of cases been able to have a nice exchange in French or in German (or even, as this morning, in Dutch!). 

In a later post I want to add something about the hidden footpaths and running routes I’ve discovered, some interesting vocabulary I’ve been learning as I read newspapers and immerse myself in Ozzie culture, and even a bit on how good the coffee is.  But now I must sleep.  If I can post this now, it’ll mean I was once again able to make my furschlugginer USB stick modem work, after a mysterious “must be some kind of driver problem” diagnosed by the geek at Vodaphone (we tried to uninstall, got an error, restarted my MacBook, successfully uninstalled, reinstalled--and found the sumbitch was working, I had already gone through all the steps I needed to.  Grrrr).