KM 0 - Sydney: Culture shock, cats and dogs and Austrian beer

Sydney was, after two months in Southeast Asia, a really shocking experience. And not just because we arrived with just four hours of sleep in the last two days in Cambodia. After having gotten deeper and deeper into life and travel in Southeast Asia (from westernish Singapore through more and more “authentic” Asian regions in Malaysia and Thailand, finally to Laos and Cambodia, where you don’t even have McDonald’s), it was just shocking to experience the “western world” full throttle again: One day you’re in Cambodia, everything’s kind of exotic and fascinating, everythings’s supercheap, but there’s beggars and poor vendors that are trying to sell you all kinds of stuff, the motorbike-, taxi- and Tuk-Tuk-drivers are harassing you all the time, it’s poor, dirty and smelly a lot of times. And just (in our case) one day of travelling away is Sydney, beautiful, clean, rich (but expensive), relaxed, no Tuk-Tuks, no bartering, the taxis leave you alone, just wonderful. It’s hard to describe, but it really was a culture shock, even though we were kind of coming back to “our culture”.
However, even despite the whole shock-thing, we felt immediately at home in Sydney and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and the relaxed feeling of the city. Even more so, when we were looking for a place to have lunch and found, horray, the Sidney branch of Löwenbräu, a german Brewery. So our first meal in Australia was actually German white sausages (Yes, they’re really called like that) and Stiegl beer, our delicious local beer from Salzburg.
Apart from that, we did some sightseeing, of course including the must-sees like the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, the Botanical Gardens, etc. Unfortunately, on our third day it started raining cats and dogs, pouring down cows and water buffalos, … well, you get the picture: It was pretty fucking wet. However, seeking shelter in a huge Apple-store (no better place to seek shelter in, trust me on this one ;-) ) we remembered that we wanted to check what concerts were going on in Sydney when we’re there. So, what do you know, it’s March 31st and who’s playing Acer Arena? Fucking THE WHO!!!! So how’s that for being spontaneous: Found out at 4pm, got the tickets at 5pm and went to see Pete Townshend rock the shit out of Sydney at 8pm  What a great way to end a rainy day…
On our last day we checked out famous Bondi beach, which was fun, even despite the sky still being cloudy and a strong wind blowing. And even if you hadn't noticed the "maybe no swimming today"-weather conditions, you could check at the info point that just told you short and simple: "Weather: Not good!" Still, we even got to watch a couple of surfers taking on the huge waves that day, with our comments mostly sounding like this: “Look, there’s a surf…. Ah, not anymore, missed him” – “Wow, he’s pretty good, check tha…. Oh, nevermind.” – “Check out that turn he made, I wonder if he can… ups, no, he can’t.”
So, that’s it for Sydney, next we’re getting our own campervan and heading down south to Melbourne, probably with one or two stops in the Blue Mountains. And on every other nice place that’s “on our way” ;-)