At 6:30 AM, August 2, 2010, flight 863 lands, probably the smoothest of any I have ever experienced, and I marvel at how large craft as the 747 can be so smoothly handled. There are perhaps 10 to 12 first class seats in the nose of the plane, well equipped with on-demand TV, full beds, and other trinkets for those who can afford.
Business class stretches behind and up the stairs to the second floor behind the cabin. The passengers can manage everything conveniently as well; the bed is less accommodating, nevertheless horizontal. Economy stretches the vast cavernous length of the body, 10 seats across with two aisles. No stretch out for those passengers.
Customs is rapid but baggage takes awhile and I search for the camera while waiting, but can't find it. After baggage is claimed I make a bee-line for the door and find myself in bright sunny, 55 degree weather of outer Sydney. The train to Central Station where the I will find the CountryLink is $15, but only 4 stops away. They trap the tourists like we do.
I run into an professor of Ecology at Ohlone College in the Bay Area. He's in Sydney partly for vacation and partly to lead a clutch of students for several weeks. Quite a personable fellow who has been here for 2 weeks already and mentors me on the transportation system and points out the high prices of everything. We talk about solar in some detail.
Central is the main transfer point for all transportation in Sydney, bus, train, and rail, to the city and intercity. Commuters crowd the trains like they do in every big city, but the system proves to be quite efficient and rapid. Central is located in an older, perhaps seedier part of town, but I base that on old buildings and not on numbers of homeless. Maybe I see one person that might qualify, but I can't tell for sure. This is where I pick up CountryLink.
The time is 9 AM. I check my bag into CountryLink and hit the CityRail for Circular Quay. It's a $6.40 charge for a round trip ticket just before 9 AM and $4.40 afterward. It seems that "Peak Commute" time ends at 9.
Circular Quay refers to the walk, I suppose, around parts of Sydney Harbor. The rail lets me off across from the Ferry Terminal where a half dozen ferries are loading and unloading for trips to various points around the harbor. The Sydney bridge is off to the left and the Opera House off to the right, both within walking distance. I start off toward the right, miffed because I can't find my new camera amidst all my baggage. I have a hunch I left it at home on the shoebox.
The sun of outer Sydney has been pushed away by a high foggy overcast, much like the summer sun at home is pushed out by the summer fog at the Golden Gate, hurling the valley into 50 degree days, while 10 minutes north in San Rafael the sun bakes 25 degrees Fahrenheit hotter. But this is winter here not summer and I wonder if Sydney is cold in summer too, like SF.
The stop for hot coffee at a sidewalk café (more of an outdoor kiosk with a few tables) gets me a smallish cup of evil brew with some warm milk and white sugar for $3.50. I notice that an "Aussie's breakfast, consisting of eggs, Italian sausage, and toast is $22, the same price as the salmon salad. There must be more than one egg. The pasta dish goes for $18. I find a coke machine and notice the cokes are in bottles and go for $3.50, but they do use sugar cane for sweetener instead of high fructose syrup. Yippee.
Turning back and looking at downtown Sydney shows me a modest density of tall buildings, nothing like current San Francisco, but perhaps the San Francisco of the 1970's. The buildings look old in the overcast gray of the morning. Even the Opera House looks a bit dark among these near-rain clouds. The clouds seem to be getting denser; maybe it will indeed rain. Walking around the streets later, I see many newer buildings, many taller than I first saw from the Quay. These buildings use blue colored glass to great effect. It is that warm feeling of a city's embrace that one usually feels once embedded in its midst. And bustling.
After walking about the Opera House I find a seat in the Botanical garden nearby and type out this post, watching strange pure white birds with long curved beaks. I find later that they are called Ibis.
G'day, mate!
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