Walking through immigration was too casual. Frequently experiencing the US port of Entry, this was a welcome change. The immigration officers were courteous and very helpful. Ironically, it was more strict while leaving. I guess they don't want people to leave :).
After the immigration check, I took a short train ride to downtown Sydney. Trains were double-decker and clean(if you think Indian trains suck, travel in NYC trains).
Sydney downtown was completely abandoned on weekends, baring the circular quay, which is a major tourist attraction(Opera house & harbour bridge). The total population of Sydney is 4 million(including the suburbs), compare that to 19 million in new york city.
The city is very costly. A water bottle costs 4 USD (1AUD = 1 USD), is very expensive. A subway sandwich is 10 $. you can't have a lunch for less than 15 or 20 bucks. That's too much money for a tourist on tight budget. A local train ride from international airport to downtown Sydney each way is 15.6 dollars. In NYC it costs 2 $s
I visited opera house, which was beautiful, harbour bridge, took a captain cruise sight seeing cruise, which was fun. Overall Sydney seemed like a nice place to live in, with less population, good job opportunities and cleaner city than NYC. Think of it as NYC, minus the population + pollution + expensive.
I guess, now that I have a permanent residency of Australia, I might get tempted to move to Sydney. But I guess, I should finish my MIT degree first
