12 Days in Oz - Sydney

In Sydney, highlights: Climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, visiting the Opera House, the Explorer Bus, Bondi Beach, Darling Harbour, Circular Quay, Blue Mountain Tour, and Featherdale Wildlife Sanctuary.

Quick Tips:

We visited Sydney in the Australian winter, which was my summer. The weather in Sydney during the winter was beautiful, about 60 - 70F degress during the day and no cooler than 50F at night. You might need a light jacket in their winter, but you'll save a lot of money over the summer prices and there's less tourists.

For tourist information, one of the best places to go is The Rocks Visitors Center located at at 106 George Street. (Just a short walk from Sydney Harbour AKA Circular Quay.) At the center you will find very helpful guides who are multi-lingual. Additionally, there are booking services that allow you to reserve tickets, restaurants, and activities such as the bridge climb. The booking service is complimentary.

Don't forget to try the pumpkin soup, it is really great.

Here's a couple of phrases that and words that can be confusing.

Flat white - coffee with cream or milk, queue - line, lift - elevator, lifesaver - life guard, torch - flashlight or head lamp, passing (like in a car) - take over. One amusing thing I found that Aussies's say, "no worries" instead of "your welcome".

Best Way To Get Around:

In Sydney the roads are a bit confusing, so I wouldn't suggest renting a car. The transportation system is amazing so there really is no need to rent unless you have to leave the city. Aussie's drive on the other side of the rode like in England. Use the public transportation or walk. The streets are clean and safe.

The AMP tower is 304 meters tall and has a huge mall at the bottom. At the top, is a revolving retaurant where you can get a 3 course meal or a buffet dinner.

Once you enter the tower, you'll go to a booth where they check your reservation and then you'll be ushered to one of the elevators (or lifts)where you take your 40 second ride to the top of the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere.

At the top, you enter the dimly lit revolving restaurant. The view of the city is breath-taking at night. The center contains a full course buffet with appetizers, dinner, and dessert. The food is decent, but not great. You are paying for the location and view.

The night we were there, our appetizers included Chinese food such as peking ravioli and Thai food such as satay. The main meal included kangaroo, emu, ham, turkey, roast beef, fish, vegetables, salads, and soup. Dessert included fruit, jello, a wide array of cakes, and of course coffee. After an hour or so, we were starting to get a little bit of motion sickness and decided to leave.

Caminetto is situated in The Rocks area, a short walk from Circular Quay. This is traditional home made Italian food. We dined at the cafe outside the restaurant.

The menu includes salads, pizza and pasta with steak, chicken, veal and seafood. Though we didn't eat them, the rock oysters which are served either hot or cold are a famous dish here. We saw a number or people eating prawn (shrimp) pizza. Vegeterians can get veggie lasagna or stuffed ravioli.

Thursday through Sunday there are musicians that wander around to serenade the diners with Italian music.

The restaurant was rather busy while we were there; however, the waiter was very attentive. We shared garlic bread, my friend got prawns and pasta while I had a vegeterian dish. For dessert we had some tiramisu. The food was great.

The tour we took started with a stop at the Featherdale Wildlife Sanctuary where you could view native Austrlian animals. This zoo is clean and well organized and the staff is very friendly. You can pat or have your picture taken with koalas, kookaburras and kangaroos.

After visiting the sanctuary, you head to the Blue Mountains for a a 4 wheel drive. This a true 4 wheel trip on an unkept road. You'll bounce around in the truck like you never thought possible. (This trip is not for someone who gets motion sickness.) You'll stop to look out at some of the sheer cliffs.

Next, you'll drive up another mountain to a small restaurant which used to be the old post office. Lunch is included with the tour and is authentic Austrlian BBQ steak, grilled pumkin, salad, and soup.

Later you'll head to Katoomba where you can view the 3 sisters rock formation and the guide tells you about the folklore behind the name. Then onto Govett's leap where you can view a beautiful waterfall and hear more stories.

After all this, your guide will stop in an open park where you'll see a flogging stone that was used on the Australian convicts. The guides make coffee and open a box of cookies for you. Then they'll show you how to throw a boomerang and play a the digeridoo an aboriginal instrument made from tree branches that have been hollowed out by termites.

Its a long day, but its you'll see some amazing natural formations and learn a lot about Austrlian history and folklore.

Another thing to note: On a small group trip like this you tend to bond more with the others even if they are strangers to you. I met a two people from Sweden, and 1 from Baltimore MD that I still keep in touch with.

This is not a walk across the bridge, its a climb over the top. Guides will tell you that a climbers have ranged in age from a 12 years old child to a 90 year old man.

You'll need to arrive at least 15 minutes early. Once you check in, you'll watch a short video on the climb. After, in the next room you'll sign some paper work and take a beathalizer test.

Then, onto the changing room where you empty your pockets, and put on your bridge climb suit. Next you meet your bridge climb guide and begin some practive runs on the bridge pieces that they've created inside the building.

After you've completed your practice runs with your group, you move on to get the rest of your gear. Depending on the weather and time of day this could include: fleece, rainjackets, head torches (lamps), gloves, and hats. Everyone gets a walkie talkie so they can communicate with the group leader.

One finished, you move outside and walk to the bridge where you follow the catwalk. At the end of the catwalk, you climb up ladders on the edge of one of the bridge pylons. Once at the top, you climb the actual top arch. Its slightly challenging, but do-able by most people. At the top, you walk across and then back down the same route on the opposite side of the bridge.

We did the night time climb. Neither of us are extremely physically fit. The view from the top, 134 meters above the ocean looking out at the city and the opera house is amazing. You are on the bridge above moving traffic, in the open air. Its an amazing experience.

You are cabled to the bridge at all times so you can not fall. Keep in mind that you can not bring anything on the bridge with you. This is a safety precaution, falling cameras can pose a major hazard to the traffic below. Your guide will bring a digital camera and take pictures of each group member at various points on the climb. You'll get one photo taken at the top for free. Other photos are about $4 US.

The climb itself is about $60 US, a little more expensive at night. Make 3 hours of time on your trip to do something you'll never forget!

Though I mentioned it in my Intro, for tourist information, one of the best places to go is The Rocks Visitors Center located at at 106 George Street. (Just a short walk from Sydney Harbour.)

At the center you will find very helpful guides who are multi-lingual. Additionally, there are complimentary booking services that allow you to reserve tickets, restaurants, and activities such as the bridge climb.

Sydney Harbor is amazingly clean and safe. It's a transportation hub where there are water taxis, buses, trains, boats, and taxis. You are minutes from the Harbor Bridge, the Opera House, the AMP Tower, and many other attractions.

It's very pretty during the day, people watching is fun. At night, everything changes. The city lights reflect in the water, the Harbour Bridge and Opera House light up, and the many restuarants and cafes fill up with both locals and tourists.

This will be one of your favorite spots during your visit to Sydney. You'll find all kinds of food from Chinse to local cuisine to Italian.

I'm not sure how you could miss it, but you'll be sorry if you do.

On our Blue Mountain 4 wheel drive, we met a another American tourist and we all decided to go meet and take the Explorer bus the next day. We saved a few bucks by going as a "family", $35US for the three of us.

As I've mentioned in my other articles, Sydney is a very clean city. The buses are no different. In fact they were amazingly clean and nice, a welcome change in comparison to Boston Public Transportation. Additionally, the bus is climate controlled for your comfort.

This bus makes 26 stops around the city. You can get on and off at your leisure all day. It picks up approximately every 10 minutes. There's a taped narration with history. Some of the drivers will actually announce more historical and folkloric information.

If you want to stay on the bus from start to finish, the full circuit takes 40 minutes to complete. The last Sydney Explorer busy departs from Circular Quay at 5.22 pm, but your ticket entitles you to free travel on regular blue Sydney Buses within the same zone covered by the Explorer ticket until 12:00am.

You can also save a few $'s by purchasing a twin ticket to the Sydney explorer and Bondi explorer bus which visits Bondi beach. You use this ticket within a 7 day period, one day for each bus.

Some of the Sydney Explorer stops include: Sydney Opera House: A must see, daily tours available.

Mrs. Macquaries' Chair: Great photo op, view of the opera house, the city skyline, and Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Hard Rock Cafe: What can I say?

Queen Victoria Building: Amazing architecture, and shopping galore.

Power House Museum: Great for kids. Not for adults, though tourist information says otherwise. One great exhibit for adults in the working model of the Straussberg clock.

Darling Harbour: Beautiful harbour, big mall, restaurants, and some other museums and sites.

Chinese Tea/Friendship Garden: Breathtaking gardens, rocks, and waterfalls right in the center of the city. (A separate review coming soon.)

Sydney Aquarium and many other interesting sites. For more info, visit:

http://www.sydneybuses.nsw.gov.au/sb.explorst.html

Darling Harbour is for people of all ages. You'll find the Harborside Mall, Sydney Aquarium, Imax Theatre, Powerhouse Museum, Fish Market, Maritime Museum, and even the Star City Casino all near by. Not to mention many other museums, gardens, and places to shop.

The harbor itself is pretty to look at, both day and night. The mall contains restuarants, cafes, and all the regular stores. I got a Lowe camera bag on clearance there for about $12US which was an amazing deal. In the mall you'll also find a 1 hour photo developing shop. I was able to get my APS film developed there.

The monorail has a stop at Darling harbor and loops around the city. For few dollars you can ride the full loop or stop off at one of the museums.

The Chinese Garden of Friendship is a short walk from here. It was established to preserve and share the heritage of the many Chinese immigrants to this part of Australia. The garden is beautiful and inexpensive to visit. Stop and have tea at the Tea House.

At night head over to Star City where you can to try your luck at the casino with over 200 tables and 1500 slot machines. Catch movie a one of theatres there or wander around the mall. There's many restaurants including Plant Hollywood and a number of night clubs.