One year at DOWN UNDER

Today, I completed one year in Sydney, Australia and till date it has been a great experience to stay in such a nice city and fantastic country. From the first day, I was impressed with the weather, warm people and wow places of Australia.

I came to Sydney after exploring other great cities like London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow in Europe; Nairobi and Addis Ababa in Africa; Mumbai, Delhi and Kuwait city in Asia, but Sydney has a different flavour and class than these cities.

Sydney and other parts of Australia have been projected in few Bollywood movies such as Dil Chahta Hai, Bachna Ae Hasino, Singh is King etc. I tried to cover most of the places shown in these movies; after all we are Bollywood buffs.

As such Sydney is a cosmopolitan city with people from different parts of world; the major population belongs to Europe, South East Asia, China and India. Most Indians are from Punjab and Gujarat and they prefer living in western suburbs of Sydney such as Harris Park, Paramatta and Westmead.  

Indian restaurants and grocery stores are in abundance in Sydney and other capital cities of Australia. I got limited experience of eating at Indian restaurants as I got more interested to explore different cuisines from all over the world. After exploring Thai, Italian, Brazilian, Japanese, Malaysian, Turkish, Lebanese and Mediterranean cuisines, I can say that I have fallen in love with Thai food for its great taste and freshness.

Weather wise, this country is extremely good; the weather is not extreme in winters or summers. Seasons are opposite as compared to most parts of the globe. Winters are from May to September and summers are from October to April.

I explored various parts of Australia during my stay here. I went to Melbourne, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Canberra, Port Stephens, Hunter valley, Blue Mountains, Bowral, Kiama, Perisher etc. This country gave me opportunity to spot Kangaroos, Koalas, Whales, Emu, Wombats, Tasmanian devil, Penguins, Sea Lions, Dolphins and above all Polar Bears. Overall there are lot of options to explore in this country, from white sand beaches to snowy mountains to exotic places and outbacks.

In Sydney, I explored almost every famous part of city such as Sydney Opera House, Harbour Bridge, Darling Harbour, Manly, Bondi Beach, Sydney Tower, CBD area, Wollongong, Licehardt etc.  Few of my unforgettable days in Sydney were the New Year’s eve at Sydney Opera House, A. R. Rehman Musical night at Paramatta Park, Badminton competition at Sydney Olympic Park etc.  

People believe in enjoying life here. If it is a bright sunny day, people go out on beaches for sun bath or surfing or adventure sports. There is much to learn from them about their fun-filled cool attitude.

Infrastructure wise, still there are areas of improvement especially with respect to coverage of public transport system. Distances are huge within Australia, which makes  it pretty difficult to move around by buses and trains. Dependency on air travel is quite high for longer distances. Even within cities, coverage of public transport system is limited. Water is scare in most parts of Australia except Sydney. 

My stay might not have been as comfortable had Aparna not joined me in Dec 2009, prior to that my friends including Prerit, Sudhir and Shruti were my support system and made life easy for me. I will thank all my other friends as well for extending their help and support during this period. I will also love to thank my organization for sending me to such a wonderful city and country to work as SAP EHS Consultant. 

On the whole, I am enjoying my stay at DOWN UNDER.