Life In Australia

I carried on walking down Pitt Street and passed the Radisson Plaza hotel on the opposite side of the street. It is one of the more exclusive hotels in Sydney and I wondered if any celebrities were staying there.

As I stopped to wait for the lights to change at the pedestrian crossing, I noticed a guy with a wide angle lens camera slung over his shoulder. I then heard a girl ask him if he’d got some good photos. He said, “Yeah, not bad!” Then he asked her if she lived in Sydney. She said, “No, I live in Melbourne, but I rehearse in Sydney.” I then looked at the girl - she was tall, slim and blonde but I didn’t recognise her as the photographer obviously had. She was carrying a clutch of bags, all from designer boutiques - it looked like she’d already been on a shopping spree and it was only about 10.30 in the morning! I noticed that the lady she was with was wearing a pair of very expensive designer sunglasses - she could have been her mother - they looked alike, although the “mother” was not as tall as the “daughter.” I didn’t recognise the “celebrity,” but that’s no surprise really - I sometimes flick through the celebrity gossip magazines in waiting rooms and see pages filled with people I don’t recognise. All I can say is that it definitely wasn’t Kylie or Danni Minogue!

I walked further along Pitt Street, passing another exclusive hotel - the Sydney Harbour Marriott, and I felt the call of Starbucks! Usually, I have drank at least three cups of tea or coffee by this time in the morning, so I was experienced a bit of caffeine withdrawal. Also, going to Starbucks is a bit of a treat for me now, as my local Starbucks closed down at short notice last year, as did most of the Starbucks outlets in Australia. Only a few remain, including the one in Alfred Street, near to Circular Quay, which is where I headed.

After enjoying a chai latte in Starbucks, I crossed the road and started to explore the area around Circular Quay. I found some very interesting things that I hadn’t seen before. More on those in part 3!