Day 3: Cremorne Point & Kings Cross

So turns out where I'm staying in Potts Point, is part of the Kings Cross district which is actually a "Red Light District." Meaning that it is where a large concentration of Sydneys prostitution, strip clubs and adult theaters are located. Needless to say, it's not the best place to be at night, but at the same time, gives some me some hope. On my first day, I was worried about how many tobacco and cigarette shops I saw and thought all of Sydney might be like that. I think that the number of these shops really just correlates to the kind of "places of business" that are also found here. Once I went into the Central Business District of Sydney, there were way less of these types of shops. What I did see more of, however, were business men and women, smoking in groups outside of their offices, but not a lot of people alone smoking in this area. Which leads me to believe, in this district at least, that smoking is more of a social act rather than an addictive one. After spending the morning and lunch time here, I took a ferry to Cremorne Point, which is across the Harbour, to get a better view of the city and the Opera House. It was amazing that just a 5 minute ferry ride can be the difference between a huge sky-rise tourist city, and a national park. About an hour later, I went back to my hostel for the afternoon. What I noticed over the past couple days is that the hostel where I'm staying is mostly German "Long Termers." So a huge percentage of them have been staying there for months, and they completely take over every common area in the hostel. What I also learned, is that the percentage of Germans who smoke is about 20% more than the US percentage, which is no different at this hostel. So while the hostel itself, indoors, is smoke free, the roof which was advertised as "A rooftop terrace used for BBQs" is actually where 20 people gather after work every days for hours to smoke. I actually found a pack of cigarettes sitting on the couch in the TV room, which I have attached a picture of in the "Photos" page above. I was honestly shocked to actually see that everything I researched about cigarettes in AU was true. They passed a "Plain Packaging Act" in 2011, which allowed only one dark shade of green to be used on the packaging for any cigarette brand, as well as the words "SMOKING CAUSES LUNG CANCER" along with a picture of a dying person. Truly, I though it may have been an exaggeration when I did my research, but seeing it now up close is pretty scary. When I asked the girl who owned the pack of cigarettes about it, who was German, she said "I mean yeah, this is how they're packaged back home too, and I think in most countries as well?" It genuinely hadn't occurred to me that while the US does have extremely low smoking rates, that we might be the only country not utilizing plain packaging, which may be keeping us from decreasing the smoking rate even more. As for the price of cigarettes here, which range from around $25-$30, they ate outrageously more expensive than cigarettes in the US, but everything in Sydney including food, clothing and transportation is also extremely expensive. A "cheap" nice lunch ranges from $17-$25 and dinner ranges from $35-$50 per person. So really, I don't think the price is really helping decrease smoking all that much. It sure helped when the taxation was first added, but now people have just gotten used to it.