Visiting the Rival - Sydney

It seems there’s a lot of rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney, which is understandable considering their history. Even though Sydney might be more famous than Melbourne today, Melbourne used to be exceedingly more significant by serving as the Australian center of finance and culture. Throughout the years Melbourne and Sydney have been the worst frenemies. And so, you will occasionally overhear Sydneysider conversations such as “do you have any children?” “Yes, two living and one in Melbourne”. When talking about Sydney, the Melbournian might point out that “sun and beauty rarely coexist with intelligence”. Sydney has always been the somewhat larger city and the change in vibe and character was hard to miss when I took a little trip to New South Wales last weekend.

A little trip might be a little understated, as it took the bus 10 hours overnight from Southern Cross Station in Melbourne, to Sydney’s CBD. On the map it had looked like a stone’s throw away, where in reality not even professional stone throwers could throw a stone this far. By now I should know that nothing is close in the land down under.

Of course it was Mardi Gras weekend in Sydney, and so the city was overflowing with cheerful tourists and men in dresses. And when I say men in dresses, I mean men in naught nun costumes, hot men in tutus and men celebrating the ‘Beyonce G-Spot Memorial’ (there was an actual float in the parade). I couldn’t have picked a more exciting, dramatic and camp weekend to explore Sydney, and I must confess that I had the time of my life.

I also went to see the Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains and was told by the tour-guide that the enchanting blue haze that clings to the pinnacles comes from the eucalyptus oil in the air. He then casually adds that eucalyptus gets Koalas stoned out of their minds. The Three Sisters is a rock formation so unusual and captivating – so prominent in the midst of the azure mist. Most of my Edinburgh-based readers will now try to reason with me “my wee lass, The Three Sisters is ye pub doon the street.” So let me tell you the aboriginal story of the real Three Sisters who fell in love with three brothers from a different tribe. Because tribal law forbade the star-crossed lovers to marry, the brothers became furious. I can imagine aborigial men back in the day being fiery and zealous, and maybe a little quick-tempered, since the three brothers force captured the sisters triggering a great tribal battle. The legend continues with a witchdoctor who turned the sisters into stone in order to protect them (seems a little overprotective, but who am I to judge), intending to turn them back once the battle was over. Ironically this witchdoctor died in the battle (he obviously did not think this through) and was never able to lift the spell.

When wandering down to the the sisters in order to climb what must be their faces, all the information board reads is something along the lines of “these are three of seven sisters.” What happened to the other four I cannot tell you, and oddly enough the tour-guide couldn’t either.  But considering the wild nature of tribal men and poorly planned witchcraft, I am not certain whether I want to know.

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