My First Taste of Rebellious Wanderlust in Sydney, Australia

Sydney has often been described as a magical land, one of prosperity and one of great mystery with a melting pot of culture. Mark Twain once stood in the harbour, overlooking the crystal waters and noted that on “natural impulse… gave God the praise.” Funnily enough, a local that was standing by, in typical Australian manner, promptly righted his observation, saying “God made the harbour… but Satan made Sydney.”

I’ve often pondered this on my many adventures in the city. From the scattered red light district of King’s Cross, to the angelic mouthfuls of Banana Bread under the Harbour Bridge on a quiet Sunday morning. I have to say that yes, the underworld is alive and well in Sydney, Australia. Co-existing in the sprawling city are the heavenly highs of cream filled pastries overlooking a tropical metropolis, to the hellish Monday morning traffic (or any other time of the week, really), filled with anxious tourists and the adept stoicism of Sydney-siders fighting their way through the concrete jungle that has its own accent.

I began my travels in Sydney at the ripe age of eighteen, armed with nothing but an Australian boyfriend and a lust for the world-class city. It was in the midst of this that I discovered the vital boroughs, the remarkable holes-in-the-walls and the less acclaimed that almost reigned supreme over any travel magazine’s top 10 destinations in the city. I was astounded.

Sydney is so much more than the main attractions, than the posed picturesque views you’re so accustomed to seeing. It’s not a perfectly posed city just waiting to be explored, but a painting that’s still in progress, with colors and hues splattered across its sprawling canvas. It’s a brilliant Van Gogh that never sold.

For the travellers, the dreamers and the lovers that follow the road less-travelled and thrive on the feeling of possibility in the air, Sydney is your city.

Sydney is also much larger than one would imagine, but so much more beautiful, too. When you’re faced with a diverging road in Sydney, Australia, get off the travelled track, like Robert Frost has suggested, and discover the blooming beauty of local art galleries, boutique coffee and an untouched coastline. It made me think that if you were only to closely follow the printed words of Travel writers and brochures of the city with cheesy names, you’d be underestimating the strong city and missing out on what truly compromises it.