When people think of my city....

Keen to avoid all the usual clichés I undertook in-depth research by asking people on the Lonely Planet travel discussion boards what they think of when they think of Sydney. Here are the results:
From Sydney-siders: Southerly busters on a sweltering hot day, the harbour (3), home, bloody traffic (2), mixture of people, art, restaurants, shops, fun, eastern suburbs beaches, jacarandas, thunderstorms, ferries, whales, Moreton Bay figs, cockatoos, ugly suburban sprawl, cockroaches, surfing all year round
Other Australians: The harbour (2), harbour ferries, Harbour Bridge, unaffordable waterfront dreams, excitement, The Big Smoke, smelly, Olympics, frangipanis, jacarandas, how much better Melbourne is
Non-Australians: The Harbour (2), Opera House (2), Harbour Bridge, sunshine (2), Melbourne is better, unfriendly people, friendly people, heroin, Kings Cross, Glenn Murcutt, ferries, The Rocks, Beaches, Darling Harbour, San Francisco (but less interesting), Florida, great big bats, Circular Quay

The most popular from a disparate range: The harbour - 5; Ferries -3

So, here you have it,the usual clichés: Sydney Harbour, ferries, and the bridge for good measure.

To see what other bloggers think people are thinking about their cities, visit the cities listed below. Remember, different times, diferent places.
Portland (OR), USA - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Memphis (Tennessee), USA - Manila, Philippines - San Diego (CA), USA - Anderson (SC), USA - New York City (NY), USA - San Diego (CA), USA - Mexico City, Mexico - San Francisco (CA), USA - Mumbai (Maharashtra), India - Mainz, Germany - Weston (FL), USA - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Turin, Italy - Las Vegas (NV), USA - Hobart (Tasmania), Australia - Bicheno, Australia - Durban, South Africa - Joplin (MO), USA - Nashville (TN), USA - Stockholm, Sweden - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Brussels, Belgium - Chicago (IL), USA - Montpellier, France - Seattle (WA), USA - Mazatlan, Mexico - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Sharon (CT), USA - Sesimbra, Portugal - Toulouse, France - Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina - Susanville (CA), USA - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Saint Louis (MO), USA - Prague, Czech Republic - Helsinki, Finland - Pilisvörösvár, Hungary - Lisbon, Portugal - Mexico (DF), Mexico - Trujillo, Peru - Dunedin (FL), USA - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - London, UK - Baziège, France - Jefferson City (MO), USA - Greenville (SC), USA - Selma (AL), USA - Mumbai, India - Naples (FL), USA - Norwich (Norfolk), UK - Silver Spring (MD), USA - Setúbal, Portugal - Stayton (OR), USA - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Sofia, Bulgaria - Arradon, France - Montego Bay, Jamaica - Athens, Greece - Austin (TX), USA - Singapore, Singapore - West Sacramento (CA), USA - Jackson (MS), USA - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Budapest, Hungary - Rotterdam, Netherlands - St Malo, France - Chandler (AZ), USA - Melbourne, Australia - Port Vila, Vanuatu - Cleveland (OH), USA - Nottingham, UK - Kansas City (MO), USA - The Hague, Netherlands - Crystal Lake (IL), USA - Wrocław, Poland - Chateaubriant, France - Cheltenham, UK - Moscow, Russia - Monrovia (CA), USA - Saigon, Vietnam - Toruń, Poland - Grenoble, France - Lisbon, Portugal - New Orleans (LA), USA - Sydney, Australia - Boston (MA), USA - American Fork (UT), USA - Boston (MA), USA - Montréal (QC), Canada - Wichita (KS), USA - Radonvilliers, France - Buenos Aires, Argentina - Christchurch, New Zealand - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Wailea (HI), USA - Aliso Viejo (CA), USA - St Francis, South Africa - Port Elizabeth, South Africa - Seattle (WA), USA - Pasadena (CA), USA - Vienna, Austria - Orlando (FL), USA - Torun, Poland - Delta (CO), USA - Santa Fe (NM), USA - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Haninge, Sweden - Paris, France - Stavanger, Norway - Niamey, Niger - Le Guilvinec, France - Bogor, Indonesia - Saarbrücken, Germany - Auckland, New Zealand - Wellington, New Zealand - Budapest, Hungary - Juneau (AK), USA - Bucaramanga (Santander), Colombia - Glasgow, Scotland - Chicago (IL), USA - Jakarta, Indonesia - Adelaide (SA), Australia - Sydney, Australia - Riga, Latvia - Subang Jaya (Selangor), Malaysia

MacCallum Pool, Cremorne

A free pool on Sydney Harbour at Cremorne. It started out as a rock pool, built of local rocks, and started by an early Olympic swimmer, Fred Lane, who lived nearby. It then got taken on by Hugh MacCallum, a highly regarded local resident. In 1930 it was taken over by North Sydney Council, and renamed the Hugh J MacCallum Pool (later shortened to MacCallum Poool) . It is still maintained by North Sydney Council. It needs to be emptied, refilled and cleaned about once a week.

Not a bad view:

For more pictures visit my swimming pools blog.

Wrapping democracy in a 3m high fence

Dubbed "The Great Wall of Sydney", a 5 kilometre long fence is being built around parts of central Sydney in readiness for hosting leaders of 21 countries around the Pacific rim (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum: APEC) and 6000 assorted flunkies, hangers-on and groupies and a 1500 strong media pack.

The trouble is one leader, at record levels of unpopularity amongst his own people, is arriving with an entourage which includes 20 motorcade vehicles, back up decoy motorcade, sniffer dogs, secret service agents . . .This leader recently added $4 million to the tab for security by announcing he'd be arriving two days early (and leaving early- not staying for the main leaders' meeting).

Personally I think the fence is a great idea for containing the APECers and ensuring we citizens never have to encounter this most unwelcome visitor. An immigration detention centre (Baxter) in the middle of the desert would have been a more suitable venue.

Many Sydney people are, to put it mildly, pissed off. Apart from the fence there is an "exclusion zone", which includes the area around the Opera House and Botanic Gardens, and several streets. Roads will be blocked off at certain times. One-third of the NSW police force will be deployed. We have brand new water cannon, buses for holding demonstrator/prisoners, and they're clearing jails of weekend detainees to imprison demonstrators who step outside the strict rules.

All because of a leader who has "led" the "free world" into a mad war to protect "democracy". So our democratic freedoms are wrapped up in a 3m high fence.

Ships and Subs (Transport IV)

The Australian National Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour. Seen here are HMAS Vampire, a Daring class destroyer built in Sydney at Cockatoo Island- read more here; and HMAS Onslow, an Oberon Class submarine - read more here.

The Maritime Museum collection also includes a naval patrol boat, a replica of James Cook's Endeavour (seen here in my previous blog), and a racing yacht, tug boat, lightship, ship's lifeboat, a pearling lugger, a ketch, Indonesian trading ship and Vietnamese refugee boat, amongst others.