Sydney (Australia) > Reviews (46)

I've lived in Sydney since 2005 and I have to say it's the most wonderful city. There really is something for everyone here.

First, there's the obvious Opera House and Harbour Bridge. The Opera House is the most amazing building when you see if for real. I really didn't think that much of it until I moved here and stood outside of it. If there's nothing showing there that you fancy seeing, then I'd recommend one of the tours. They offer 1 hour tours for about $30 that will take you behind the scenes and into a couple fo the theatres. They'll teach you about the building of the Opera House, why it cost over $100 million and took 14 years to build when it should have taken 4 years and cost $6 million. There is a bit of disruption to the tours at present as the complex is being renovated to the original specifications of Jorn Utzon, the original architect who walked off site in 1966 and, sadly, never returned to Australia and never saw the Opera House finished.

Then there's the harbour bridge, known locally as the iron coat hanger. It's nothing over spectactular, it's a bridge that goes from one side of the harbour to the other and that's about it. The more energetic among you can climb the bridge for a huge price. Bridgeclimb offers two different climbs. There's the original one which goes up one side, crosses the arch at the top and goes back down the other and the Discovery climb which goes inside the bridge. The climbs are expensive, costing around $185 depending on the time of day you climb. Believe it or not, they do climb 24 hours a day. I did the orginal climb when I first moved here and, I have to say, it was well worth it. The views are fantastic from the top of the arch, even on the rainy day that I did it. For up-to-date prices and times, go to www.bridgeclimb.com.

Circular Quay (the harbour) houses lots of cafes/restaurants. They can be pretty pricey, an average main course will cost you about $20-$40 depending where you go but, I have to say, the food is great and the view is even better, the harbour is simply stunning when it's lit up at night, even the bridge. There's also coffee, lunch and dinner cruises offered by Captain Cook or Matilda Cruises. For information and up-to-date prices, go to www.captaincook.com.au or www.matilda.com.au.

Close to Circular Quay is Darling Harbour, which also has some great restaurants and is also home to a small shopping mall, Wildlife World, Sydney Aquariuim and the Maritime Museum. The maritime museum there is great, you can board an exact replica of the HMS Endeavour, the boat that the original fleet sailed here on in 1770. At the other side of Darling Harbour is the Chinese gardens, which is absolutely stunning. It's so peaceful in there, and yet you look up and realize that the city is just across the road. It'll cost you about $6 to get in, but it all goes to the upkeep of the gardens. For an extra $10 you can even hire a Chinese costume and walk around the garden in it.

Shopping - for the shoppers out there, the city is pretty good, if a little expensive.

The Queen Victoria Building (QVB) is a must. It has lots of boutiques and cafes and, admittedly, is expensive. However, it's worth seeing. It's been tastefully renovated to what I can imagine it would have looked like when it was built in the 1880s. In fact, some of the floor tiles are actually original. If you want to have a good look round the department stores, then David Jones and Myer are the main ones. I'd recommend going to either Eastgardens or Bondi Junction shopping malls, the latter being the better of the two, both of which are easy to get to on public transport.

For sports fans, Sydney is superb. Just outside the city, at Moore Park, there's the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) and Sydney Football Stadium (SFS) - formerly Aussie Stadium. They offer a tour that takes you behind the scenes of both grounds and there's a small cricket museum as well. For information on tours and events there, go to www.sydneycricketground.com.au. On the same complex is the Entertainment

Quarter, locally known as Fox Studios, as the film studios are next door to it. On there you'll find a few shops and loads more restaurants, a little cheaper than the city with main courses averaging about $15-$30. Also, out at Olympic Park (which is about a 30 minute train ride from the city) there's ANZ Stadium (formerly Telstra Stadium) and Allphones Arena (formerly Acer Arena and, before that, it was Sydney Showground), there's always lots of sports events and concerts going on there, for more information go to either www.anzstadium.com.au or www.allphonesarena.com.au and it'll give you all the info.

Theatres - for the theatre buffs Sydney really does have some great theatres. Aside from the Opera House complex, there's the Lyric Theatre, close to Darling Harbour. There's also the State theatre and the Capitol theatre, which are both Victorian theatres that have been beautfully restored to their former glory. For information on what's on, go to either www.ticketek.com.au or www.ticketmaster.com.au. Both services offer online booking and will e-mail tickets to you.

Wildlife - Taronga Zoo is a short ferry ride away from Circular Quay. They have lots of native animals and lots of endangered species and have a huge conservation programme. They have several shows each day involving a variety of animals so that the keepers can teach you about them. If you buy a ticket from the ferry terminal, it'll cost around $45, which includes return transport and entry to the zoo. On Darling Harbour, there's Wildlife World and Sydney Aquarium. Personally, I don't favour them, the animals are in very small enclosures behind plastic/glass and I just don't think it's the right environment for them. From Circular Quay and Darling Harbour, you can take a whale watching trip. The trip costs about $90, but is well worth it. It lasts for 3 and a half to 4 hours. I've done it a couple of times and it's just wonderful to see those amazing creatures in their own natural habitat. The second time, we also saw a pod of dolphins who put on a spectacular show for us all around our boat which was truly fantastic to see.

The other place I'd recommend is Warratah National Park. For anyone over the age of 35, it has one very famous resident - yes, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo was filmed there.

Beaches - my advice here is AVOID BONDI BEACH. Quite honestly, it could be Blackpool or Brighton. Yes, it's a pretty place, but it's over commercialised and not really worth seeing. The only time I would recommend going is to start the Eastern Beaches walk, which is well worth doing. It's a walk that takes you over the cliff tops (don't be put off, it's actually pretty flat fo most of the way) to Tamarara, Bronte, Clovelly and Coogee beaches,all of which are much nicer than Bondi. The beach I really would recommend you visit is Manly. Manly is a 30 minute ferry ride from Circular Quay on the northern beaches. It's a beautiful place and, for the surfers among you, it still has a great surf. The other beach that's worth a visit is Palm Beach, where the TV series Home and Away is filmed. It's about a 2 hour bus ride from Sydney. The journey itself is beautiful as the bus takes the coast road and the beach is extremely pretty. If you go up there on a Wednesday, you'll even get to see some of Australias most famous actors filming.

The Royal Botanic Gardens is beautiful. Just at the side of the Opera House, you can pick up a small quaint little train that will take you around the gardens, stopping at various points for you to hop on and off. The train costs $10 for the day so, in my opinion, it's a bit expensive for what it is. The gardens contain lots of rare species of plants which are intersting to learn about, and fruit bats which hang from the trees. In February, they have the open air cinema, which is quite an experience to go to. Through the gardens you can walk up to Mrs Macquaries chair which is a carving in a rock where Elizabeth Macquarie, wife of governer Lachlan Macquarie used to sit watching the boats come in and out of the harbour. Close to the Botanic gardens is the Domain and Hyde Park, both of which are also worth a visit. There's also plenty of museums and art galleries which have some amazing exhibitions.

Another good thing to do is the explorer buses. There are three of them. Two are run by Sydney Buses - the Sydney Explorer (red bus) goes to all the main attractions in the city centre and the Bondi Explorer (blue bus) goes out to the eastern suburbs to Watsons Bay, Bondi Beach, Coogee, Randwick Race Course, Fox Studios/SCG/SFS and back to the city through Paddington (another great shopping place full of boutiques). If you stop off at Watsons Bay, then a meal at Doyles fish restaurant is a must. The restaurant overlooks the bay and has a stunning view and great food. If, like me, you're a vegetarian, don't worry, they'll accommodate you. The other bus is run by City Sightseeing and is an open top bus that does the same route as the Sydney Explorer.

If you really want to do the Aussie thing here, then you really should go for breakfast in one of the many cafes. The majority of them are open from 7am serving almost everything you can think of.

If you want the traditional English bacon and eggs, you can have it, but they also serve things like fruit salads, cereals, pancakes and much much more.

The Rocks - between Circular Quay and Darling Harbour is The Rocks. It's a quaint area with cobbled streets and is lovely to walk around. At weekends, from 10am to 5pm, they have a wonderful market with all kinds of different stalls, including arts and crafts, photography, Aboriginal art and an awful lot more. There's also Paddy's Market at Haymarket (China town), but I find that it's just like any other and is really nothing special.

Transport - The city is actually very easy to get around, although the transport system here can seem a bit complicated at first. There's two main bus stations in the city - Railway Square

and Circular Quay. Every bus that comes into the city goes to either one or the other of those stations. Over the years that I've lived here, I've found that the drivers, on the whole, are very helpful and well used to tourists who don't know where they're going. The thing you need to be aware of is that on Monday to Friday 7am to 7pm, to try to speed things up at peak times, more and more areas are are now prepay, which means you can't buy tickets on the bus, you have to buy them from local ticketing agents. Don't be put off by this, each prepay stop has a huge, unmissable purple prepay sign with the addresses of all the nearest agents listed on it. At the moment, two of the buses - the number 10 shuttle bus and the 333 from Circular Quay to Bondi Beach - are prepay for the whole of their route. These buses are both have "prepay only" plastered all over them, so you'll easily recognise them.

The trains, I have to say, leave something to be desired. Quite frankly, I could probably get out and push the thing faster but, that said, they get you from A to B and are relatively cheap. We also have the Monorail. I remember hearing Clive James saying on TV documentary he did here "It goes from downtown Sydney, to downtown Sydney, via downtown Sydney" and that really does sum it up. At about $5 per trip, it's expensive and you can easily walk to where it goes.

If you're going to be here for a while and using public transport, I'd recommend that you buy the My Multi tickets, which are valid for 7 days from the first day you use them. They're available from all bus, ferry and train terminals, and any shop displaying the purple prepay sign. They come in various bands and the agents will advise you which one you need. There's also the My Bus, My Train and My Ferry tickets valid for single or 10 journeys. For information on transport, you can either go to www.131500.com.au www.sydneybses.info or telephone 131500. For ticketing info and prices, go to www.myzone.nsw.gov.au.

If you're staying in the city for any length of time, then I'd highly recommend a visit to the Blue Mountains. It's about a 2 hour train ride to Katoomba or Leura (the two main towns there) and there's usually plenty of accommodation there. The train ride is fabulous, it's like going back in time, with sations that look like something out of the 1800s and both Katoomba and Leura are lovely towns.

All in all, Sydney is a great city with great nightlife and really does offer something for everyone and I would highly recommend visiting here to absolutely anyone. For more info on events in the city, go to www.sydney.com.au there's heaps of information on there.