My bruises have bruises. I'm blaming the cheerleading. Review writing is a whole lot less dangerous....
My bruises have bruises. I'm blaming the cheerleading. Review writing is a whole lot less dangerous.
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Sydney CBD is quite densely populated with lots of tall buildings, so to get any sort of view you really need some height. Sydney Tower provides this quite nicely in the form of an observation deck at 819 feet (250m) up. The tower stretches a total of 1000 feet (304m) with the space above the people deck occupied by a 162 000 litre water tank that steadies the building on windy days and topped off with an antenna. A popular attraction for tourists, the tower has 3 main sections:
1. THE TOWER ITSELF
You can go up the tower, which is good. Not much point in spending $25 million US and 6 years building something that tall if you can't charge people for going up it. Tickets are on the high side of moderately priced: adults cost $23.50 (~ 10GBP) and kids, students and seniors between $14 and $17.50 (~ 6 GBP - 8 GBP) but this price includes the tower and the Oz Trek experience (below). You can almost always find discount vouchers for money off adult and child (but not student) tickets in the free tourist publications such as 'What's On In Sydney', available from the tourist office. There's also a print-off 10% off voucher currently available on the website (link at the bottom).
The tower is open from 9am until late, and though I quite fancied seeing the skyline at dusk, the price persuaded me to go up during the day to have an excellent view of miles around. I went up during my second week here which, with hindsight, might have been a mistake as I was still new to the place and wasn't really sure what I was seeing out of each of the windows - which way Bondi was, whether I could see my (temporary) home, what that great expanse of water was. But since most tourists don't stay here for months like I'm doing, I suppose I had the same experience that most people get.
Lifts take approximately 40 seconds to travel to the top, and these were a rather fun experience as no member of staff travels with you as they do in some other locations. Instead, they press the button for you when the lift is as packed as possible, and jump back as the doors slide semi-shut. I say 'semi' because on the way down we noticed some
small gaps - between the doors and between the side and the floor of the lift. These weren't large enough to drop anything down, or trap a toe or finger in, but they were still quite alarming as no one in the lift could work out whether it was supposed to be like that.
The observation deck at the top is very large and can accommodate, along with the restaurants, almost 1000 people at any one time. We went midday on a Saturday in September and it was busy but not unpleasant, with probably a hundred or so people milling around. This level has binoculars (for hire for a few dollars) and a gift shop which had an excellent selection including some unique items I'm yet to find elsewhere. One of these was on my mother's 'bring back from Australia' wish list so I snatched it up on the assumption if I never saw it anywhere else I'd have to come back up the tower to fetch it prior to heading back to the UK. Prices were the same as in any other shop, including the Chinese Tourist Empires that litter the streets, so I didn't feel ripped off the way you often do when buying from attraction gift shops.
Below the observation deck there are two layers of restaurants and a coffee lounge where we had lunch. There was a very limited selection, the food was a bit stale and prices were high, but having a window seat with that view was worth it. The other two restaurants revolve and as such you can sit there and watch the world go by if you're willing to pay through the nose for it. These restaurants book up ages in advance, and even the buffet one would be outside my budget, but for those who can afford them they are supposed to be worth it for the scenery and the cuisine - evidently they direct anyone with talent down to those two, with the coffee lounge having whatever remnants are left behind.
2. OZ TREK
I think they include entry to OzTrek with the price of your tower ticket because it's not the sort of thing people would pay for separately. Located on the entry level across the lobby from the lifts it is "the largest simulated ride in the southern hemisphere and the only one of its kind in Australia". They like to say that here - hoping you'll fail to notice there isn't that much else actually in the southern hemisphere in terms of major tourist attractions. The ride starts with a small safety video, and then you 'experience' a 'virtual adventure across Australia's cultural history and geography where diverse Australian landscapes are brought to life with a unique integration of 3D holographic technology, animated models and scenic art'. It is as bad as it sounds, and yet you feel you have to go because you've paid for it. I'm not even going to try to describe it, so here's the rest of the blurb:
"You start your OzTrek journey soaring like a sea eagle above Sydney's icons, gliding effortlessly over the Bridge, Opera House and the warm sands of Bondi beach; feel the exhilaration of white water rafting down a tropicalQueensland river; take a mark on the field at a game of Aussie Rules Football; muster wild buffalos by helicopter in the Outback and get right into the jaws of a huge saltwater crocodile! Your OzTrek journey excites the senses with its 180-degree cinema screens, special effects with sensational surround sound and heart-stopping real-motion seating! This ensures your virtual Australian tour is a fun addition to your Sydney visit and it should not be missed".
You're shepherded through in groups, so we got to see other people's reactions to this. A lot of the Japanese tourists didn't seem to understand the commentary so spent the whole time snapping pictures of the fake outback you walk through, and the little puppet-theatre-style scenery the holograms appear in. We also has some little kids with us - they seemed to be the ones who really enjoyed it although one memorable little girl spent the whole of the time telling her obviously weekend-only mother that she absolutely, positively had to go to the toilet this instant. Probably used to weekday nannies taking care of things like this, the mother decided to risk it and we spent the last 10 minutes watching the big screen adventure (with those chairs that move and rock and make you feel like you're 'right there') with one eye which keeping the other one on the two of them to see how the story
Pictures of Sydney AMP Tower
Shadowing Hyde Park
unfolded. We lost them in the mad scramble for the door when it finished, but came across them moments later in the ladies' loos where the little darling was sporting a rather dubious stain on her pale pink trousers.OzTrek just reeks of an in-your-face, Americanised approach to tourism. I just checked the visitor feedback and it includes a comment from a girl from NYC saying "Very fun tour and ride" which I think proves my point - adults have to be on a different wave length to love this, and the ones more likely to be so are the typical American travellers, 'doing' Australia the way they 'do' Europe, spending as much time on their whole trip as I would in one city, and fitting in as many dreadful, tacky stops as possible. It reminds me very much of a 'whirlwind tour of America' I did in Baltimore - like low- budget Disney.
3. SKYWALK
The newest attraction at the tower opened a few weeks after we went. Cashing in on the success of their rival, the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb, Skywalk offers an "exhilarating outdoor walk" 260 m above the city. It's a little more than that, though. You also get to model high fashion protective clothing (like bridge climb) and snazzy safety harnesses (ditto). The kindly inform you in their marketing that their walk takes place at a height twice that of the Harbour Bridge and at the same height as the Eiffel Tower. You get '360 views of the city', but really you get that on the observation deck too, and though the latter is enclosed, the glass has very little impact on the quality of photos that can be taken. Skywalk takes 1.5 hours and costs between $109 and $139 (about 45 - 65 GBP) so it doesn't come cheap, but evidently lots of people think it's worth doing since they run trips all day every day.
OTHER STUFF
The tower is located in the middle of the CBD, very near Hyde Park and within walking distance of both Circular Quay and Darling Harbour. The entrance is located in a small shopping centre, but the neighbouring streets house much better retail opportunities. If you look down from the tower and see a building that is adorned with mouldy green midget gems, that's the QVB, or Queen Victoria Building which is an old arcade with some nice place to spend money. Failing that, Myer and David Jones (the big 2 department stores) and Pitt St Mall are close by - the latter has an amazing food court.
VERDICT
Sydney Tower is a member of the World Federation of Great Towers. Oooh, sounds fancy and like something out of Star Trek, don't you think? I did, until I discovered that Blackpool Tower is also a member of said club. I like views, but I also like to climb things, and unfortunately the only way to gain access to the 1504 stairs that lead up the tower is to tackle them head on and sign up for the annual tower run-up (it's been done in under 7 minutes. That scares me). Despite the compulsory lift usage, however, going up the tour is a must. The views are fantastic on a clear day (and since you'll know the weather before you go up, so you can always postpone if it's cloudy). The tower is very well managed and queues when we went were not long - the only bottle neck was the metal detector for bags and bodies, which interestingly didn't squawk at me belt the way airport ones do. You can easily spend an hour up the tower, and another 30 mins trekking Oz in OzTrek, so you do get something for your money. Comparing it to other towers I've been up - the twin towers in Kuala Lumpur, The Empire State Building, Berlin's Fernsehturm and, yes, Blackpool tower, this is by no means the worst. Given the lack of alternative viewing platforms in Sydney, a visit here is a must, just try and keep clear of any incontinent children with inexperienced mothers.
LINKS
For the tower and the walk (opening times, prices, getting there, background info)
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
Advantages: It's SYDNEY, y'know the one with the opera house and the bridge? Disadvantages: It's a city that not only sleeps but also stops eating hours before bedtime
zoe_page 26.02.2006 (26.02.2006)
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Review of Sydney (Australia)
Nov 24th, 2005
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