Now see a Sydney you never knew existed

Not long ago, I flew over a city with iconic landscape, in a classic six-seater beaver aircraft. That city was Sydney. From the air, it looks like a series of monumental structures threaded together by a constellation of pristine, glamourous beaches and waterfronts.

I’m always wary of beautiful views seen from far above, because the world from a dizzy height frequently appears more perfect than it really is. But in Sydney this sense of awe continues to abide with me when I’m back to being five feet four inches off terra firma.

The reason for my sustained passion has everything to do with the living quality of the city which is gutful, vivid and visceral, exhibiting variations in behavior, outlook and mood. But to tap into the imagination and inventiveness, I am forced to get off the path of the Japanese tourist snapping away at the botanical gardens, and get under the skin of what the locals love.

Meet Marsha Peters. A Sydney girl to the core. What does she do on a typical day? On a Saturday morning, she doesn’t do the Harbour Bridge climb, however spectacular the views might be. In the morning, Marsha drags me to Bills Darlinghurst. A simple classic café in a restored Victorian corner house. Bills is a great place to listen in to the conversations of the groovy Darlinghurst set who, over Ricotta hot cakes, discuss the sculptural installations at Bondi Beach.

So we hop on to two Harley Davidsons and drive to Bondi beach. Jake, my pilot, takes off with a squeal. Artists from around the world have transformed the Bondi to Tamarama coastal strip into a giant park of over 100 sculptures — a fiery dragon and a table made of soil and leaves that appear to fit perfectly at the edge of the cliff.

For lunch there’s the option of world-class restaurants, celebrity chef food, but it’s the experience of lunch at the Sydney fish market that I’m after. Open-air, no fuss, no need for reservations, and pulsing with the theatre of food. This is the largest working fish market in the Southern Hemisphere with over 100 species of fish on offer daily. Around 1000 crates and 65 tonnes of fresh catch are sold here everyday.  Salt and pepper prawns, snappers and barbeque fish are among the delicacies you’ll be wolfing down on plates, sitting cheek-by-jowl, with hundreds of eager gormandisers. 

Next was the Markets by the Moonlight. The night market has handicrafts, colourful paintings, fairy lights, samples of orange vodka being doled out and women dressed like the Queen of Tarts. I’m about to pick up an aboriginal painting on a mask in a store, when a friendly local voice rings out, “That’s not authentic, aboriginals don’t paint on masks, they paint on utilitarian surfaces. If you want to truly support the craft you’ll know that when buying an authentic piece, it will come with a certificate indicating the artist’s name, language group and community, the work’s title, its story and where it was made.”

Later as I stand with an original print in my hand, I realise that the city is built around one of the most beautiful natural harbours in the world, that it has uber stylish small bars, the historic Rocks area, national parks, northern beaches… But that perhaps is where the magic of Sydney lies. No matter how many times you visit, there’ll always be more to discover and to write about. It’s a landscape that seems to accommodate energy. And if we measure the wealth of a society in terms of inventiveness, dexterity, enthusiasm, culture, food, natural beauty and entreprenual creativity, Sydney would come away with a laurel wreath.