The Magic Hedge

Well, we’ve done it!  We have successfully sat on a plane for over 12 hours and arrived safely in Sydney, Australia.  We’ve been here just a little over a week so far and have learned some interesting cultural lessons:

• Mobile phones (not called cell phones here) are largely purchased and then filled with pre-paid minutes.  You can still get plans, but there’s very little financial incentive since you can get a phone cheap and get lots of minutes for very little.  The biggest change is that someone can call you and you don’t get charged minutes — no double billing on the minutes here.  Receiving texts is also free.
• The housing rental market is *very* tight in Sydney, and even tighter in Melbourne, I’m told.  When a place goes on the market, there’s an inspection period usually on a Wednesday or Saturday (Why Wednesday?  I have no idea), and then about 20 people all show up for the same property and it’s a race to see who can get in an application first to the rental agent.  The application is a bit of a misnomer, since it is in reality a full life history containing all sorts of information that I think may even be illegal to collect in the USA.  Then you can expect to pay anywhere from $300-$500 per week for a 1 bedroom place in the city or a smallish 2 BR in the suburbs.  Yes, rent is paid per WEEK and it is almost the same cost as a cheap hotel.  And you better be happy you even got a place.
• The Sydney Opera House is magnificent and looks different up-close than I imagined it.  The iconic, gorgeous white shell is actually composed of smallish tiles and has a substantially more yellow-tint than in the postcards.  It is situated right on the water and just west of the spectacular Botanic Gardens.
• Sydney is a very cosmopolitan city.  In a stroll down one of the main blocks of the central business district (CBD), you will likely hear at least 5 or 6 different languages from the people bustling all around you.  The city has evolved with a culture in which you are just as likely to wander into a bar and order steak & chips as to order Tom Yum soup.
• The Kebabs (close to what you’d get in the US as a gyro)  in this city are terrible, greasy and far and away the worst I have ever had.  However they are quite cheap, and quite ubiquitous.  I suspect that they prey on those foolish enough to stumble out of a pub bleary-eyed at 2 in the AM, but haven’t seen the transaction take place.  I also now understand why I never actually see anyone buy one of them.
• Bourbon is really common here, and Australia actually makes some here.  Of course, we US folks know that it’s not real Bourbon since it’s not make within the states, but I’m somewhat sympathetic since I’ve often had Champagne from California.  Haven’t tried the stuff yet, but may someday when I get a big, fat paycheck.
• Winter in Australia is far preferable to winter in Chicago.