Iconic cities and sporting venues

Melbourne and Sydney are the two largest conurbations in Australia. They are both striking cities, with different virtues. Our experience of them was so different that comparison would be invidious, in the one Sydney we were at a major international conference and at the other we were staying with one of Jane’s oldest friends, celebrating over 50 years of shared experiences. In one we stayed in an old club and in the other a family home, in one in the city centre and in the other a suburb, in one we worshipped in the cathedral and in the other a local, lively parish church, in one we looked at the city centre from a harbour launch and in the other from a bicycle. Both satisfy, both are superb cities with immense virtues.

We arrived in Sydney from Brisbane, buoyed up by the professional and personal aspects of our visit. We were driven to the club, a few hundred yards from the opera house and after unpacking we set off. We looked around on of the most impressive cityscapes in the world, thronging with people and with a bewildering number of weddings on attractive vantage points, all seeking the bridge and the opera house as their backdrop. We strolled round the harbour and wandered across the bridge, in the cooling early evening, then took a ferry to Darling Harbour so we could check out the conference venue. Then after a waterside supper we went to bed in the club. The next morning I jogged in the park, seeking the view of the opera house and bridge that has graced so many post cards and formed the backdrop to Saturday’s weddings. Then we went to church, I had long wanted to visit Sydney’s Anglican Cathedral and we were not disappointed, the service was fairly traditional and the message good expository preaching, the welcome afterwards was generous and warm.

Then we took off to register for Jane’s hand conference, booked on a harbour cruise and saw the harbour from the water, with a commentary which was pretty informative but contained much that was salacious and more appropriate to the columns of “Hello” magazine. Then we had the opening ceremony for the conference, in which the collection of performances were truly memorable, finger silhouettes to virtuoso trumpet playing, followed by an opportunity to network.

The following evening we went to the opera, to hear and see La Traviata. The opera house is intimate; we had excellent seats and witnessed a great performance, greatly aided by the surtitles. After this extraordinary two days anticlimax could be expected, but happily we jumped from one high point to another, a memorable supper “a deux” on the harbour, with that memorable backdrop, a stroll to the rocky headland at the entrance to Sydney harbour, a phone call to the son of my original mentor in ENT, and visiting our latest Australian Registrar and his five day old baby.

After this how could Melbourne compete? It did by being different. From the moment that we were met by Gill Austin at the airport we were surfed on a wave of love and friendship. A trip to Phillip Island, to swim, have tea, see Wallabies and picnic in a prime position before seeing the fairy penguins make their way across the shore. These little chaps are about 30 cm in height and spend the day fishing in the waters, at dusk they come crashing out of the waves, form up in small groups called rafts and wait for a safe moment to cross the beach and get home to their burrows, which are scattered throughout the sand dunes. However they complicate this simple task by imagining that there are all sorts of demons which are out to get them. As they gather, and prepare for the waddle, one will lose their nerve and retreat into the waves, they all follow. The craven is a more compelling leader than the brave. Eventually several hundred made the trip, but not after some had had several false starts and indeed one group needed the guidance of one who had made the journey already before they ventured across the sandy foreshore.

The next day started with a leisurely breakfast and then a trip into town by tram, which took us to the centre of town and we were able to go up the second highest building to look at the city from the observation deck. This view gives the orientation and the scale, but in the brown of a prolonged drought, with the widespread traces of industry peppering the landscape, it does not show the townscape to its best advantage.

After lunch I scuttled to the College of surgeons to meet with john Collins, the Dean, an affable and committed man, he has a clear idea of the educational needs of the young surgeons in Australasia. I was able to get fully up to speed, meet with Jane and Gilly scoot round the town again before John and his wife Jenny took us out to supper. They lived in an elegant city centre flat, with a uninterrupted view over the nearby park and university, interestingly showing the townscape to great advantage!

The next day it was the Yarra and bicycles. It was the way to see Melbourne and its surrounds. We were reminded that there was a great televisula event taking place that weekend with the unceasing hum of fast cars from the Grand Prix circuit at Albert Park. It is quite clear that Melbourne is committed to sporting endeavour as there are sports stadiums of world renown, within minutes of the centre of town, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the Rod Laver Stadium and the Grand Prix Circuit, amongst others, being within half a mile of each other. I used to think that living within half an hour of Lords, Wembley, Twickenham, Wimbledon, Ascot and Henley put me in the centre of the sporting universe, now I am not so sure!

The thing about cycling is that you can cover enough ground to see beyond the obvious and you can stop anywhere. We used a “punt”, a small motorised flat bottomed boat, with no concessions to safety, which was hailed by waving a broken flag. If w had stumbled across it on the Zambezi we would have wondered about its safety, as it was we paid our three dollars (one way, no returns and no timetable) without a murmur. That evening we all went to a talk on service in Cambodia, for which I spent most of the time awake!

It was great to go to church with Gilly and Bill on the Sunday, a joyous service with clear preaching and a real sense of fellowship. Lunch was the traditional Barbie, steak and chicken, followed by a Koala watch in the gum trees near their home.

What a great few days, it has really helped us understand why people are so happy here. Our next move is Adelaide and other old friends, Bill and Ros Hague.