Somehow, it's time for online check-in again (one of those things that's supposed to make things easier, but never does. What's the point, when you have to check your bag in anyway, like normal check in? Sigh.) It's been an interesting few days in Sydney, quite work focused, punctuated by wide, windswept beaches, some really great food and a LOT of hotels.
Hotel World fascinates me. It's more competitive than professional sport and more full of Nathan Barley-esque 'strengthening the brand' nonsense than you would believe. I visited a hotel a couple of days ago where the bowler-hatted door-girls were actually called the 'Directors of Chaos'. Yes, really. I've drunk cocktails pulled out of glass domes of cherry-oaked steam. I've seen hotels converted from wool factories and department stores and been in a suite where Princess Diana stayed (this isn't a rare thing, that girl got around). It's been quite a weekend.
In some ways Hotel World is a world full of nonsense and hyperbole and quite a lot of complete b***ocks, but the upside is that hotels are generally staffed by genuinely charming and interesting people. You can't work front of house in hotels - at any level from reception to GM, without being good with people. Usually a dinner with anyone from a hotel is good fun, even if it is a bit like a wierd work-y blind date. And if they're a tad indiscreet (which the best ones never are, sadly) its even better. You realise just how much people who work in the hotel industry known about all of us, particularly celebs. Discretion is clearly one of the key skills in their line of work.
But inbetween the hotel visits, what will I take away from Sydney? The opera house for one; I booked myself a cheap ticket to Tosca on Saturday night and it was an absolute highlight of the trip so far. The seat, supposedly restricted view, was great, the opera had subtitles so even a complete novice like me could understand the plot (which was fab; love, betrayal, sexual blackmail, murder - it was like Corrie with singing) and just to be in that amazing building, glass of bubbles in hand, so far away from home...was a really intoxicating feeling.
I hadn't expected Sydney to be such a mix - the predictably gleaming modernist towers of Downtown, but loads of grand Victorian buildings
and also old frontier-style frontages that remind you how recent the city's history is.
The city is dotted with statues of men (always men, predictably) who founded a settlement, or started the wool trade, or did some other 'first'. It made me think how little there is left for us to achieve or explore or discover. I s'pose that's why Richard Branson's always barking on about space travel.
This is a hearty, outdoorsy city; on the weekend I couldn't understand why everywhere was so quiet - until I went to Coogee Beach and realised that was where everyone was. Teeming with people, I put off visiting Bondi until a weekday - hoping it would be quieter. It was - and it's a stunning beach - white sand, huge rollers
- but it did make me homesick for the undeveloped beauty of Devon's Croyde Bay - quite possibly my favourite beach in the whole of Britain.
From a travelling point of view, if I'm honest, it feels less of an adventure than my time in Asia. There's plenty to see and do in Sydney, it's an easy city to like, people are really friendly and the food is fantastic. But I'm looking forward to saddling up my drive in NZ and heading out into some serious countryside.
Ironically, I did find a little bit of Asia in the heart of the city this morning, in the Chinese Garden. I'll leave you with a pic of it. It really was lovely.
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