I finally got my emergency cash and this morning my replacement credit card. It's when you don't have money that you really realise that money really does make the world go around, although I'm quite chuffed that I managed to survive in Sydney for 5 days with only $3 spent on food (a box of porridge). I must say I wasn't particularly impressed with Sydney, especially Bondi beach which wasn't a patch on Copacabana or Ipanema though I did see something that put a grin on my face. This old bearded guy had come up with a novel way of begging: he called himself an ego-tripper and would hurl compliments at passers by, "hey, looking good!" and "I like that dress!" However the most fun I had in Sydney was on Sunday afternoon when I headed over to speakers corner in The Domain. Here random demagogues get up onto soap boxes and start spewing forth their views at anyone who will listen, and of course people have the opportunity (or duty) to heckle back.
From Sydney I travelled to Canberra (even though all my Australian acquaintances told me not to bother and that it's not worth visiting) where I stayed with my mate Brad who I got to know on my tour of South America. From a touristic point of view there is probably just as much, if not more, to see in Canberra than Sydney, as it is chock full of interesting museums and the intriguing new parliament building. Canberra is also interesting because it is a completely planned city, and I must say that if I were to design a city it wouldn't look anything like Canberra. In fact it's difficult to call Canberra a city, it's more like a big park with randomly interspersed buildings, which makes it a nightmare for pedestrians because the distances between places are so large and the public transport system is virtually nonexistent. So it's very difficult to see or do anything without a car. But still, it was definitely worth a detour. Now I'm off to Melbourne to see some friends that I haven't seen in quite some time, so I'm looking forward to that.
From Sydney I travelled to Canberra (even though all my Australian acquaintances told me not to bother and that it's not worth visiting) where I stayed with my mate Brad who I got to know on my tour of South America. From a touristic point of view there is probably just as much, if not more, to see in Canberra than Sydney, as it is chock full of interesting museums and the intriguing new parliament building. Canberra is also interesting because it is a completely planned city, and I must say that if I were to design a city it wouldn't look anything like Canberra. In fact it's difficult to call Canberra a city, it's more like a big park with randomly interspersed buildings, which makes it a nightmare for pedestrians because the distances between places are so large and the public transport system is virtually nonexistent. So it's very difficult to see or do anything without a car. But still, it was definitely worth a detour. Now I'm off to Melbourne to see some friends that I haven't seen in quite some time, so I'm looking forward to that.
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