Tourism and its Discontents

Tourism and its Discontents

I spoke again yesterday to my English cousin and her French husband. They're about to fly out of Sydney, and are lamenting the fact that they'll have to leave behind the weather, which, I must say, is unusually warm and sunny for this time of year. No word yet as to whether the cousins will also miss their relatives in Sydney. When I asked them what they'd been doing this week, they commented that they'd recently visited Centrepoint Tower. For those of you who haven't visited Sydney before, Centrepoint is a tall, chintzy gold-coloured building that lies in the middle of the CBD. Its revolving restaurant provides tourists with a 360-degree view of the beautiful city and its suburbs. But equally, it enables them to avoid looking at what may well be the city's most heinous eyesore -- that is, Centrepoint itself. A friend of mine once told me that his precocious 5-year old niece had drawn a picture of Sydney, but omitted Centrepoint. When he pointed this out, she remarked, "I left it out because it shouldn't be there." A similar view was expressed by the producers of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, which was filmed on location in Sydney, and which climaxes with an exciting battle wherein an oversized monster tears Centrepoint from its foundations and deploys it as a batting club.

My cousins had lunch at Centrepoint. What did they eat? Well, kangaroo and crocodile, among other things. They were more than a little perplexed that the menu at the restaurant of a national tourist landmark should contain a national symbol (the kangaroo) and a pseudo-national symbol (the crocodile, which of course rose to prominence as an ersatz cultural emblem after being championed by such internationally renowned Australian icons as Crocodile Dundee and the Crocodile Hunter). In fact, the entire experience of eating at the revolving restaurant can be disconcerting to tourists, for whom it's akin to the ultimate bad date: it entices you with its superficial, exotic glamour, gets you dizzy, and then makes you throw up.

I should add that there are plenty of interesting and fun places to visit in Sydney. Centrepoint simply isn't one of them. If anyone wants suggestions for alternate places to see, let me know.