The first day was the trip up Sydney Tower, formerly known as Centrepoint Tower. It was built many years ago and is the tallest building in Sydney. There is an observation deck complete with a restaurant and snack bar close to the top and it is even possible to walk outside as well. I looked into it at the ticket office but it seemed too expensive for any particular thrill so we gave it a miss. Instead my brother and I picked a package which included a virtual tour around Australia and a ride to the observation deck.
The first part of the virtual tour consisted of us being herded into a single room divided into several theaters, each one representing a different aspect of Australia, like the city, the sea and the Outback. The ingenious thing was that instead of you physically moving from theater to theater, the entire room moved so that you sat in one seat the whole time. It was sort of like a diorama with fixed backgrounds but the actors projected onto glass screens making them appear three dimensional. They even walked round some of the fixed props meaning that the actors in-studio had to hit their cues exactly; it must have taken months.
There was one thing which was a little surprising and that was the way they described the language options. The narration was broadcast in 4 languages: English, Mandarin, Japanese and Korean. However, they described English as "Australian". In a society that professes to be multicultural and tolerant, this seemed a little affrontious. I can only imagine the fuss that would be created if someone tried to describe either English of French as "Canadian". But, you could argue that "Australian" is more accurate since Australians don't really speak English. I have a friend who once described the language which Australians learn chronologically are swearing, then slang and finally English. As for the multiculturalism and tolerance, that's a debate for another post.
The second part of the virtual tour was more of a rollercoaster ride type thing. We were strapped into a single theater with chars that moved. Images were projected onto 3 screens in front of us to simulate windows. The adventure consisted of us flying and swimming through various parts of Australia in order to give us a taste of Australia's varied landscape. Both video adventures were very entertaining. After this, my brother and I took the elevator to the observation deck.
The observation deck offers spectacular views of Sydney. On the clearest days you can see to the Blue Mountains some 80 km away. It was quite clear when my brother and I went up. In the northern distance, though, I saw smoke from a bushfire, a constant danger in the Australian summer. After descending from Sydney Tower, my brother and I made our way back to Dulwich Hill.
The next day my brother and I walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. At the time of it's construction it was the longest single-span bridge in the world, and it may still be. It was to be the longest bridge of all but a few months before it opened the Bayonne Bridge in New York was opened and found to be a few meters longer. Nevertheless, the "Coathanger" as it is called by some locals is still the major artery into the city and is one of Sydney's most famous landmarks. A few weeks ago it went completely cash-free meaning that all tolls have to be paid via an electronic E-Pass. The NSW government has also introduced differential tolls during peak hours, $4.00 compared to $2.50 during non-peak hours, to encourage public transportation use. So far, the results have been mixed. By comparison, 20 years ago, the toll was $0.20.
The story of the bridge's construction is almost too incredible to believe. Construction began in 1923 when houses were expropriated by the state government and demolished. Some years later there was a change in government and the future of the bridge was in doubt but it went ahead. During the early Depression years, the NSW government was also being asked to repay its World War One loans to the UK government. For the Labor premier, this was an egregious affront; he called it the interest on the lives of the Australians who had died defending Britain in World War One. He refused to pay but the Commonwealth government passed a law allowing it to seize state funds to force repayment. The premier then pulled off one of the most brazen bank heists in history. He sent a few civil servants in the company of police officers to various banks where the NSW government held accounts. The bank tellers were handed brief cases and told to fill them with as much cash as was possible. When the Commonwealth government came to seize the money there was literally nothing in the vaults; the NSW economy was being run on cash. When I heard this story in a documentary just after visiting the bridge, I could scarcely believe my ears.
That was not the end of the drama, though, as the Labor premier was bitterly opposed by fervent right-wing elements; quasi, if not completely, fascist elements. These conservatives were also outraged that the new governor, a Brit, actually supported the premier in his socialist schemes. At one point, riots broke out over one thing or another. The governor, in an attempt at compromise, told the premier that he, not the premier, would be opening the bridge. This would have been a particularly bitter pill for the premier to swallow since he had been the driving force behind the bridge. There were also squabbles among the architects and engineers but I can't remember the details now. At the actual opening ceremony in 1932, one of the right-wing leaders, a war well-known veteran, rode on a horse out in full military dress and preempted the governor by cutting the ribbon with his sword, supposedly in the name of the king. He was quickly arrested, the ribbon was retied and the governor cut it with a pair of gold scissors. A remarkable story for a remarkable bridge.
The architect of the bridge, man I think named Bradfield, did have some foresight in that he realized that the bridge would have to carry trains and cars and might need to be expanded in the future. Therefore he put enough iron and support into the structure that it could still be expanded even today without much problem. A few years there was talk of making the bridge double-layered to deal with traffic. The bridge actually had was large enough to accommodate traffic without expansion for 50 years, up until the time the NSW government finally paid off the loans on the construction of the bridge. A fantastic bit of foresight on the architect's part, in my opinion.
Anyway, my brother and I walked across the bridge to North Sydney, just across the Parramatta River. There is a popular bridge climb offered where you can climb the arc supports of the bridge to view Sydney but at $190/person, I'm not so sure it's worth the money. I was particularly keen to see the suburb of Kirribilli, a very affluent neighbourhood on the waterfront. As we walked along, we managed to find Kirribilli House, the prime minister's official Sydney residence. Although nice, it wasn't spectacular.
We also made a little side trip to Luna Park, an amusement area near the bridge. It isn't all that big but it has been delighting Sydneysiders since 1935. There is another Luna Park in St. Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne that I visited in 2005. The distinguishing feature is the clown's face entrance. There used to be a Luna Park on Coney Island but it closed down decades ago. I think the name lives on only in Australia. My brother and I walked around for a little bit then walked back across the bridge to Circular Quay to catch our train.
This was our last day in Sydney and I think out trip here was very enjoyable. We did the tourist thing, but had fun while doing it. I do like Sydney, even though it is a bit big and noisy, but it has such colour and flavour. But now it was time to get ready for our next trip which would take us north to a more tropical land.
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