Travel report of a fashionista – Sydney, Australia
For me Australia was simply this far, very, very far away country/continent on the right bottom corner of the word’s map and it surely wasn’t on my ‘must-go-see’ travelling wish list. The only times I heard about it, was when I travelled myself and was asked where I was from. My reply ‘from Vienna, Austria’ was usually met by an enthusiastic response of ‘Oh, I’ve been there, Sydney is a very beautiful city, many Kangaroos in Australia’ ;o) Since this is such a widely spread response, in Austria we’re actually selling souvenir tees saying ‘No Kangaroos in Austria’ ;o)))
After a never ending flight my Hubby & I arrived in Sydney and were immediately greeted by the amazingly friendly company driver. He engaged me in some pleasant chat (while Hubby was busy checking his Blackberry) and asked me what all I wanted to do while in town ... I told him that seeing Kangaroos was on the top of my list and he gave me some tips of where all I could go to encounter them.
At the front desk I immediately picked up a map of the city and some sightseeing brochures which I studied as soon as we were settled in the room. Since the Blackberry (which I call ‘The Enemy’ as it always keeps my Hubby busy) was still in use, I looked around the room for more reading material as I had finished my book on the flight over. I came across the ‘Shopping Guide’ – honestly I had planned to make my week in Sydney all about visiting sights, but when I held this little booklet in my hands I discovered that checking out the local talent actually IS sightseeing and getting a feel for the place ;o)
True to my original plan on my first day in town I went to the ‘Wild Life Centre’ to check out Kangaroos & Koalas – OMG, they are sooo cute!!! I spent a fair amount of time studying them and took loads of pictures...
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This successfully ticked off my list it was high time to go in search of the local designers at ‘The Strand Arcade’! While wondering around I was amazed by many things: The architecture is a wonderful mix of Victorian & ultra modern tall glass towers and many street names are the same as in London! People move around in multicultural groups at a leisurely pace, chatting, laughing and generally seeming to be in a good mood although the weather wasn’t all that great, seeing as June is winter over there ... I was amazed by all this positive energy which it highly contagious!!!!!
As I entered the first couple of shops I was completely taken by how friendly sales girls are! They take their job description as actually helping you, opposed to just making a sales pitch! You’re greeted by a friendly ‘Hi, how are you today?’ and they immediately engage you in girlfriend like talk as if you had known them for years!!! Topics range from ‘Ohhhh, love your shoes, where did you get them’, where are you from & chit-chat about Europe, the weather, what to see in Sydney, best time to visit again, where to go for dinner, fashion tastes, etc.
Besides checking out the world famous Opera House, ‘The Rock’, Chinatown, St. Mary’s & St. Andrew’s Cathedral, St. James Park, etc. I of course did more shopping. This I did at ‘David Jones’ which is similar to Harrods in London where you find all the international big brands in luxurious atmosphere ... but seeing as the sales were on, that was well worth wile (!!!), the ‘Victoria Gallery’ which has beautiful stained glass windows, clock towers, etc. and you can find great, small boutiques & cafes, Meyers and my all time favourite: the ‘Strand Arcade’ which was built in 1891 on several floors (interconnected by original staircases), where you can find many, many small, adorable boutiques of Australian designers, antique shops, cafes, etc. :o)
What made this trip to Sydney so absolutely amazing is the friendliness of its people. Here it doesn’t seem to matter where you’re from, what you look like or what you wear! It’s a relatively new (founded only in 1788) and small city with only 3.6 million people of which about a third were born outside of Australia and lots of residents have Italian, Greek, Indian, Lebanese, Korean, Irish, Chinese or Vietnamese roots. Although a week in town certainly doesn’t make me an expert, it seems to me that racism is a completely foreign concept to Australians, they are friendly to everybody, laid back, relaxed, happy & content :o)
Save to say even if the flight getting you there takes a looooong time, I still very much hope to go back – preferably for New Years :o)))
