Soon after I booked my flights to Sydney, my very best friend Lexy gave me Peter Carey’s travel memoir, 30 Days in Sydney. I decided to save it until I arrived in Sydney, as I thought it would be rather apt to read when in my new home, as well as the added bonus of reminding me of one of my favourite people in the world, however many thousands of miles away she might be.

After spending many years abroad, native Australian Carey returns to Sydney in 2000, and this memoir is an account of the thirty days he spent in what he deems to be the most beautiful city in the world. I read it on my third day in Sydney, the dawn light streaming in through the shutters in my bedroom, the call of Kookaburras the only sound against the morning stillness. It was the most perfect and poetic of settings to read what is essentially a love letter to one of Australia’s beloved cities.

I may have been in Australia less than a week, but the beauty and charm Carey speaks of when describing Sydney, and the love he has for this city is contagious – and will no doubt resonate with both newcomers and natives alike.

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