A Multicultural Tourist

HOW MANY DISTINCT MULTICULTURAL EXPERIENCES COULD YOU SAMPLE IN SYDNEY IN THE SPACE OF A SINGLE WEEKEND? TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT THE CITY ONE IN FIVE AUSTRALIANS CALL HOME AND YOU’LL REALISE THE HORIZON IS NO LONGER WHERE YOU THINK IT IS.

Words and images by Greg Barton

I was born in a small town, nowhere you’ve heard of. But it’s a place that, as Australians, you’ll recognise. There’s a pub on the main street. A servo for articulated semis to refuel and keep going. The kind of town where a person’s idea of a multicultural experience - a multicultural choice, if you like - is between Guinness and Emu Bitter. I’ve heard of “multicultural Australia”, sure, but I’ve always regarded it as something that’s off happening to other people. That is, until Australian Traveller decided to make it happen to me.

The AT offices are located in Sydney, and a more diverse cultural setting you’d be hard-pressed to conjure up in this country. My challenge was to visit as many different places as I could, sample as many different cultures, immerse myself in as many wildly varying ethnic experiences as possible - all within a single weekend, and within just 30 kilometres of the CBD. Just to prove that it’s possible. Just to lay the groundwork, I suppose, for future multicultural tourists wanting to remind themselves that their favourite little corner cafe in Valencia, that obscure Dutch pastry, or that series of bizarre dance steps they almost had down perfect in Delhi is only ever a block or two away, waiting to be rediscovered.

“Piece of cake,” I said. “I’ve got a mate in Dulwich Hill, not 15 minutes west of the Sydney CBD, who says in her main street alone there’s a Vietnamese restaurant, a Thai place, a Pakistani joint, a Portuguese bakery and cafe, a Greek souvlaki shop, a Vietnamese bakery, a Korean BBQ restaurant, a European coffee shop with tables on the footpath, a Greek butcher, a pizzeria, a Vietnamese butcher, a Chinese restaurant, an Egyptian restaurant, an Arab pastry and coffee house, a Greek jeweller and a luxury handmade smallgoods shop run by a Russian.”

“Not so fast,” said AT. “Try venturing a little further afield. You might be surprised.”

So I did. And I was.