Be a Traveler Not a Tourist

We had such a short time in Sydney that I can’t pretend to do it full justice. So I’ll start with my simplest, most honest impression: it’s a beautiful city.

We landed at the ever-busy Sydney International Airport after a 4.5-hour flight from Fiji. In many ways, Sydney feels familiar: Uber is easy, the highways are wide and efficient, the cars are new. It’s unmistakably a majormetropolitan city. Our hotel, however, was a once-in-a-lifetime experience: we slept in the Kangaroo exhibit at the Taronga Zoo. 

Ok, not literally; the Wildlife Resort at Taronga certainly made you feel like it though. The inner courtyard is home to kangaroos, ducks, iguanas, and even a curious hedgehog named Hank. Floor-to-ceiling windows in our room looked straight into their habitat. Our stay included private zoo access and behind-the-scenes tours, which felt surreal in the best way.

As an American whose cultural exposure to Australia largely consisted of kangaroos, the Great Barrier Reef, and Steve Irwin, I quickly realized how massive this country actually is. The Great Barrier Reef was about 23 hours away. Steve Irwin’s zoo? Over ten hours in the opposite direction. How could I make sure Jamie saw her favorite animal, the roo, in such a short trip? Easy. Stay in a zoo.

The Sydney Opera House lived up to its reputation. The Harbor Bridge carries you over the water and straight into the city. It’s eight lanes wide, iconic and imposing. The pier was vibrant and alive: restaurants, shopping, perfect weather, and the added magic of Christmas markets, food trucks, and live music filling the waterfront.

It was also the first day of Hanukkah.

That morning, we woke up to news from home: another mass shooting in the United States. Bear with me; I know those two thoughts feel worlds apart. But given a recent conversation in New Zealand about how unsafe America is perceived to be, I found myself Googling gun laws and mass shooting rates in Australia.

That morning, after hearing that the U.S. had suffered another mass shooting, I found myself googling gun laws in Australia. What I learned reinforced the stark contrast between the two countries. Australia tightened its firearm laws after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, introducing a ban that restricted semi-automatic and automatic weapons and tightened who can legally own guns. To get a license here you must pass a background check and demonstrate a reason for ownership and no, personal protection doesn’t qualify. All guns must be registered to their owners, and the culture around firearms reflects that ownership is treated as a privilege, not a constitutional right.

Not even six hours later, a mass shooting occurred at a Jewish festival on Bondi Beach.

Even more unsettling, we had discussed visiting that beach that very day. Instead, United Airlines (grr) canceled our return flight less than 24 hours before departure, and we spent a portion of the day on the phone with customer service. Missing Bondi because of airline chaos suddenly felt like something more than an inconvenience. The proximity to tragedy is humbling. Life is unpredictable. My guardian angel has been working overtime.

My heart goes out to the victims and their families. Watching the local news afterward and hearing the interviews with shaken locals, watching the hero who tackled the gunman and feeling the overall collective disbelief all felt eerily familiar to me as an American. Aussies aren’t used to this. The grief, the confusion, the somber tone lingering over the city the next day stood in sharp contrast to the numb routine of thoughts and prayers that Americans have developed around these events. (Disclaimer). Mass shootings are historically rare in Australia, the Unites States documents 100’s yearly.

The undertones of the attack appeared targeted toward the Jewish community. Racism, extremism and religious hatred are universal flaws of humanity; no country can be immune. Just a week earlier, this topic had surfaced in New Zealand. If you want an easy way to get an interpretation of a people and a country, simply talk to a bar tender (one outside your hotel please); they don’t hesitate to tell the truth and could care less if you’re a traveler. 

Our New Zealand bartender, let’s call him Liam, asked about our next stop. When we said Sydney, his response was blunt: “Sydney’s shite.” In my head I’m picturing a dirty inner city with New York vibes but when I asked him why, he said simply: “they’re racist”.  

That surprised me. My ignorant American assumption was a country dominated by white, sunburned or overly tanned blondes, but racist toward whom and why? I thought about this for a few days and after going to Sydney I realized the striking difference between the two countries: New Zealand celebrates their indigenous land owners, the Maori. The language is prominent, the face tattoos, wood carvings, food, all celebrate the culture of the Maori. In Sydney, there is rarely a mention of indigenous people. Since the internet is our friend, another quick google search confirmed the tensions between Aussies and the Indigenous peoples. 

A Sydney bartender, let’s call him James, expanded on it further, joking that Australia and New Zealand have a big brother/little brother relationship and “they talk funny.” Humor aside, it was clear these issues run deep.

I wasn’t there long enough to understand the full complexity of it all, and I’m sure there are perspectives I didn’t hear. What I did see was unity at the Lady Gaga Mayhem Tour. There was no hatred there, just inclusion, joy, and love. As always, Gaga delivered. Paws up.

Quick pivot: the cockatoos.

There are wild cockatoos everywhere!!! I have never seen so many parrots flying free in my life. They move in loud, screaming flocks (Jamie would classify them as level 5 loud) so there’s no mistaking them. They’re actually considered a community pest because of their intelligence: opening trash cans, using tools, assigning lookout birds, and adapting brilliantly to city life while wreaking havoc in residential neighborhoods.

Watching them fly free, uncaged, unrestricted, owning the sky like they should, it was simply incredible. I love my bird deeply, but I’m endlessly grateful the parrot trade has been outlawed. In fact, Australia has some of the strictest wildlife protection laws in the world.

The South Pacific has been one of our best vacations. From the wilderness, forests, hiking and overall adventurous New Zealand, to the lazy beach days in Fiji, to the beautiful city of Sydney, this journey had everything.

Thanks for reading.
Until the next adventure.