Australia. Part IMapFebruary 26 — March 1, 2009 Apparently, Emirates isn’t the United Arab Emirates’ only airline—they also have a national carrier called Etihad. I never knew about its existence until I began looking for plane tickets to Sydney. Quality-wise, Etihad is practically the same as Emirates, only they’re based out of Abu Dhabi instead of Dubai. Same new planes, same headrest screens, the works. Everyone is served ice cream on the flight. A round-trip ticket from Moscow to Sydney costs (for reference, a round-trip flight from Moscow to Vladivostok on Aeroflot will set you back , and that’s without any TVs or ice cream). Etihad’s TV screens let you view a map with your current location. For some reason, the map also shows the location of sunken ships, along with the year of their demise. You can see where the Swedish Kronan sank in 1676, or where the submarine Kursk went down in 2000. ![]() Frankly, it’s a bit of a hike to Australia. The flight from Abu Dhabi to Sydney is 14 hours—in that time, your arms and legs start feeling like they’re going to fall off, and your head becomes so fuzzy you can’t remember the names of the five movies you just watched. SydneyMap
Australia has an incredibly sophisticated coffee culture. Every last hole in the wall serves excellent, expertly prepared coffee, almost like in Italy. The first thing I saw in Sydney was a Rotary Club donation box, set up right inside the airport. I had literally just seen their gear-shaped logo outside every single city in Brazil. It’s the same in Australia, as it turns out. ![]()
For next to nothing (by Moscow standards), I rented a Nissan The most noticeable element of Australian architecture of any period is the overhang above the sidewalk. Practically every building has an overhang or canopy of some sort. When it rains, you can walk large distances around the city without getting wet. ![]() To me, Sydney came across as an urbanized resort. Jagged coves and bays increase the length of the coastline here. The city feels like a cross between Stockholm and Montreal. ![]() The waterfront outside the Opera House (the building itself is so hideous that we will refrain from showing it here) is notable for its agglomeration of barriers. At first, a low, pretty granite barrier was built. Then some idiot on a bike must have fallen overboard, so they attached a metal railing to the barrier. But apparently someone’s idiot kid crawled under the railing, breezed over the granite barrier and also fell in the water. So they added a metal fence as a third line of defense, to be extra-safe. ![]() The city is very compact and snug. Even the TV tower is sprouting from the top of some other building rather than standing in solitude on the fringe. ![]() The tower’s observation deck boasts the highest working post box in the Southern Hemisphere. It’s a hundred or so years old. I wonder how high up the highest non-working post box in the Southern Hemisphere is? ![]() The quantity and outward appearance of post boxes can say a lot about a particular society’s culture. The postal system in Australia, like in the US, is very well developed. Post boxes are plentiful and large. If you spend five minutes standing next to one, you’ll see about fifteen people come up to it in that time. And each of them will be carrying bundles of postcards, letters, and packages to be mailed. ![]() Postal workers arrive to collect the bags, but people keep bringing more and more letters, simply throwing them into the open bags. ![]() Australians are exactly like Americans in their love for writing everything out in words in exhaustive detail. A sign is unfolded to inform drivers that on such and such dates, tow trucks will be ruthlessly clearing this side of the street in connection with something or other. ![]() Special stop signs under traffic lights tell drivers exactly where they must stop if the light is out of order or blinking yellow. The three black dots look odd when you’re not used to them. ![]() Trees leaning into the road have been thoughtfully marked with signs which warn bus drivers to keep clear (see also Istanbul). ![]() The pictogram for a bus stop features a person with one foot poised on the footboard of the bus. Here we have a difficult case of formalism: this particular stop is a terminal stop, intended for passenger set down only. ![]() Road work areas always have actual people standing at both ends with stop signs. A person is more easily noticeable than any inanimate structure. The same thing can be seen in Chile, Brazil, Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and other countries which actually care about road safety and road workers’ lives. ![]() Like in Japan, you can encounter people just standing around holding ads, instead of sticking them into the ground and going off to do something useful. ![]() Australia is a wine-producing country, so it would be a sin not to partake of a glass or two here. Australian wines all come in bottles with screw caps, which are a million times more convenient than corks. I hope that at some point Europe will switch to screw caps as well, because it makes absolutely no difference in terms of the product but a huge difference in terms of convenience and ease. ![]() The Sydney trash can. It has one interesting feature. During the day, it stands there all tidy, collecting garbage. ![]() But in the evening, towards seven o’clock, its sections pop open, barely able to retain their contents. As though they become overripe. ![]()
Every single light-controlled pedestrian crossing is equipped with a button. All the buttons are the same: big and metal. All of them have a beeping sound device built into the arrow: the big round area below the blue arrow is a diaphragm. If you hold it down with your hand, blind people will have a harder time finding their way. That said, I didn’t encounter a single blind person, but the lights were beeping everywhere. This sound pollution strikes me as a temporary and ![]() The most awesome thing about Sydney is its ideally designed lampposts. As of right now, these are probably the best lampposts in the world. They’re modular and equipped with track mounts. The bottom part (a couple of meters in height) is simple and neutral. The part that begins above is equipped with tracks on four sides, which can be used to mount absolutely anything, from traffic lights and megaphones to street signs and security cameras. ![]() CanberraMapCanberra is the capital of Australia. Like Brazil’s Brasilia, it’s a purpose-built capital city. ![]() Just like Brasilia, Canberra is boring, drab, and soulless. The city’s only saving grace is that it’s very green. So green you can’t see the buildings. ![]() The log fences are meant to underscore the greenness and eco-friendliness. ![]() A warning about the dangers of texting and driving is written in text speak. ![]() The sign about loose rocks on the road is quite graphic. ![]() The great thing about Australian highways is that it’s possible to make a U-turn every few kilometers. Median openings are announced 200 meters in advance and marked with signs consisting of a white X on a green background. ![]() There’s a pretty large number of wooden utility poles here, but not as many as in the US. ![]() Wildfires are a big problem in Australia, which is why fire danger level indicators are fairly common. The arrow and supplementary message are locked down so that the wind or a prankster can’t move them (the same kind of fire danger signs can be seen in Vietnam). ![]() YassMapAlmost all Australian towns look like western movie sets: a main street flanked by low buildings with colonnades and balconies. Practically the entire country is built in the same architectural style. ![]() Australia puts an incredible amount of effort into combatting fatigue behind the wheel. Roadside signs try all kinds of approaches to get drivers to stop every two hours, rest, sleep, and continue onwards refreshed. It was here that I finally understood the purpose of rest stop signs. ![]() Speed, alcohol and fatigue are killers. ![]() Barrier netting with a twist—to liven things up. This doesn’t just exist in one spot—it’s like this everywhere. ![]() AlburyMapAnother typical Australian gold mining town. ![]() Like in the States, there are signs everywhere warning you that the neighbors are watching and will rat out suspicious individuals to the cops the first chance they get. The set of profiles is endearing. ![]() |
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Australia. Part I. Sydney — Albury
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