while not null: Sydney in December

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Sydney in December

Sydney. If you want to take the train from the airport to the city, and want to save almost $14 and explore a bit of Sydney on foot, buy your Opal card at the airport station, and then walk 25-30 minutes to the closest station, which from the domestic airport is Mascot. The walk is not very pleasant: rubbish, heavy trucks driving fast near the sidewalk, waiting at the traffic lights under the scorching sun, but still, when you spend $55 on a Jetstar flight from Gold Coast to Sydney...

Welcome to Sydney!

Walking to Mascot train station.

This shack (the block) is probably worth a million dollars.

This is the other side of the street.

The entrance to the station is here. Can you find it?

Mascot apartments next to the train station with Woolies, cafes, kindy... a 3 bedroom apartment may cost 860k here.

Pitt Street Mall, a Westfield in disguise.

St. Mary's Cathedral

Sydney Tower

Add yellow cabs on the wrong side of the road and voilà you get New York.

The Reserve Bank of Australia Museum is an interesting and free museum right next to Martin Place train station. The early colony and Commonwealth years of Australia were a mess in regards to currency (and railways). First Australian notes were printed in 1913 - 12 years after the establishment of Commonwealth of Australia. The currency thing is now sorted out (railways is not). Australia uses decimal currency, banknotes are very hard to forge and it's ok if you take them surfing - they are plastic... and we make them for 13 countries. :-)

Queensland state government printed its banknotes long before the federal government.

A private bank note, bought by the federal government, and stamped "AUSTRALIAN NOTE".

This 1000 pound note was very easy to forge and soon after issuing it was restricted to inter-bank use. Also, the sheep.

Five Australian Royals - first ask the public what they would like to call the new currency, then decide that you don't like any of their suggestions and come up with something stupid yourself, start making designs, roll back when you start receiving death threats from the public, use 'dollar' - now everyone is happy.

The year is 1963. In 1966 the new decimal currency "dollar" will be introduced: 1..12 pence -> 0.833..10 cents, 1..10 shillings -> 10..100 cents, 1 pound (20 shillings) -> 2 dollars.