Welcome to Sydney
I’m sitting here with Simon, a former Bloomberg’er who ran the electronic trading business out in Sydney, and I’ve ordered an emu and kangaroo meat pizza aptly named The Coat of Arms. Australia is one of only a hand full of countries that eats its own national animals – the two national animals on the coat of arms being the emu and the kangaroo. Not to mention, the place we’re eating is called the Australian Heritage Hotel Bar. Can you image the same situation back in the US: casually wolfing down bald eagle tacos at a restaurant in the Patriot Hotel. Seems almost cannibalistic.
…I’d order it again.
Not 10 minutes pass after sitting down when, unexpectedly, the Syndey Bloomberg sales team sits down for lunch next to us. Again, proof that the world is smaller than you think… I spoke at length with Huy, a very enthusiastic team leader who gave me great detail on where to visit in Vietnam. After lunch I was fortunate enough to bypass the notorious Bloomberg security detail to check out the local office [view below]. They have only a few hundred employees in Sydney compared to the roughly 6,000 employees back at HQ in NYC.
For me, so many things in the Australian experience are exactly the same as in the US. When I showed up in Sydney on Friday these locals were in the middle of a Santa-Con type party, a hugely popular all day beer fest in Santa outfits, which is coming up in NYC this Saturday. The official day for Santa Con in Sydney is also the 15th but these people just happened to be dressed up regardless because people in Australia love to dress in costume for their parties. It’s not uncommon in The Rocks or Potts Point to see large groups of people in transit dressed for an 80′s themed party or a CEO’s and Office Hoe’s party. Ask your Aussie friends, they’ll respond by wondering why Americans don’t have more of these costume parties.
After running into this group, I ended up at a bar in regular clothes, no costume, with a buddy who writes for the sports section in the local Irish expat newspaper. Yes, they have enough expat Irish in Australia to warrant a sizable Irish newspaper.
Sounds like a kids TV show but its a very ritzy and expensive harbor area with a multitude of yachts, high end restaurants, and Russell Crowe’s apartment.
In Sydney I’m staying with Jay who works at Goldman. He used to be my client in NYC before he took a promotion that relocated him to Sydney. During the week he is at work 24/7 so while I was wandering around Sydney I came across this gem at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
It’s name is: Untitled – by Stephen Birch. That’s fine, really, what could you call it?
And lastly,
Australians are, as you know, notorious binge drinkers. You can find these anti binge drinking advertisements throughout the subway system. Thought I’d share this one with you as the best one of the lot.
Off to a quick pit-stop in Melbourne and then off to miner’s paradise in Perth…