Sydney sails on

This timeless Australian city faced rough seas in the last decade, but its business district, iconic harbour and tourism operators are swelling with optimism

- JEREMY DRAKE

Sydney's harbor is particularly serene this glorious morning. Watching the crests of waves from our bow catch the morning sunlight, the reflected sparkles are hypnotic. A body of water so big, at 55 sq km it could almost swallow the entire island of Manhattan. Also known as Port Jackson Bay, it has forever been a beacon of wonder for visitors and the source of a great sense of pride for residents.

Speak to any Sydneysider who flies into the city after a prolonged absence and they'll tell you there's an indescribable feeling when the tentacled, arterial-like branches of Port Jackson come into view. I left the city a decade ago for a different life in Melbourne, but a cruise on an iconic Sydney ferry is a welcome recharge of the batteries and a reminder that this city will always feel like home.

Like many of the great global cities around the world, the Covid-19 pandemic dramatically shifted its commercial, political, and socioeconomic dimensions. Sydney experienced some of the strictest Covid-related lockdowns in the Western world. Most international visitors were denied entry to the country from April 2020, and citizens abroad were forced into 14 days of mandatory hotel quarantine if they wanted to return. Borders reopened to the world in February this year, but during its longest stretch in 2021, Sydney residents were locked down for 107 days. Household visits were banned and travel beyond a 5km radius was restricted to certain exempt workers.

But today there's an obvious sense of optimism as I beeline for a famous harbourside neighborhood called The Rocks. There's a sense here that life has returned to normal. This wedge of land just below the southern pylon of Sydney Harbour Bridge was named after the construction of its original sandstone buildings. It's in this spot that the families of soldiers and convicts would set up their lives and go on to birth modern Sydney.