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There’s a shared quiet down here at the water’s edge. While the rest of the city is buzzing, standing here at the Ives Steps feels like being part of an unspoken agreement. We’re all just watching the lights of Luna Park flicker and spill across the water, looking up at the massive steel arches of the Bridge that seem even bigger from down here. Watching the harbour stretch out toward the Parramatta River, you realize how much life is tucked into these bays and inlets. It’s not a secret, and it’s not meant to be—it’s just a beautiful, honest slice of Sydney at night, and I’m glad to be sharing the view with a few others who appreciate it just as much.
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There are no kangaroos in Austria. We're talking about Australia, the world's smallest continent. That being cleared up, let's dive right in! Australia is a sovereign state under the Commonwealth of Nations, which is in turn overseen by Queen Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Australia and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth. The continent was first sighted and charted by the Dutch in 1606. Captain James Cook of Britain came along in the next century to claim it for Britain and name it "New South Wales." Shortly thereafter it was declared to be a penal colony full of nothing but criminals and convicts, giving it the crap reputation you may have heard at your last cocktail party. This rumor ignores 40,000 years of pre-European human history, especially the Aboriginal concept of Dreamtime, an interesting explanation of physical and spiritual reality. The two biggest cities in Australia are Sydney and Melbourne. Sydney is more for business, Melbourne for arts. But that's painting in very broad strokes. Take a whirl around the panoramas to see for yourself! Text by Steve Smith.
