For the last 6 weeks I’ve been playing tour guide for friends from exchange: I had two girlfriends visit from Melbourne and England, and my boyfriend from Denmark. It was really fun to play tourist in my own city and country, so I thought I would spend the next few blogs writing about a few places I went to, to give some holiday ideas for day trips or more lengthy ones (at a cheap price). Enjoy!
I thought I’d start with Sydney, so here are a few weekend, weekday, and night activities to make this place seem even better! I’ve tried to pick some not so famous ones to be a bit original – it’s more fun for the locals that way too! Hehe.
1) The Coogee to Bondi walk. I hadn’t actually done this before this month but it really is beautiful. It takes close to 2 hours (walking at a chilled out speed) and follows the coast right along. The views are beautiful, the people are beautiful and you can reward yourself at the end with lunch, ice cream or boost juice, and of course, a swim at some of Sydney’s most famous beaches!
The walk is free, and from 29th October to 15th November, there is a “Sculpture by the Sea” exhibition. Like its name suggests it’s an art show displaying sculpture from Tamarama beach to Bondi, right along the coast. It’s really popular and beautiful!
2) Teppanyaki dinner. Australia, of course, is known for its multiculturalism, and living in Denmark, our multicultural food was one of the things I missed most. I took both the Europeans out for Teppanyaki – essentially a Japanese BBQ style meal where they cook it in front of you. BUT, in order to get your food, you have to catch it in bowls, your mouth, and so on, so it becomes a hilarious night out! – and they both loved it! It’s also not too expensive (we paid $33 for seafood, beef, chicken, rice, salad and so on), were definitely full by the end of it, and had a dinner out to remember!
3) Palm Beach/Barrenjoey Lighthouse walk. This is my hidden gem! This is a beautiful walk straight up a headland at what can be called Sydney’s most northerly point. From the top there is an amazing view in both directions – one right up the coast line to the Central Coast, and the other way shows the peninsula of Palm Beach, unique in that is has ocean on one side and bay on the other. For Home and Away fans, this is also ‘Summer Bay’! If you go on a Wednesday, you can catch a glimpse of the filming!
4) Taronga Zoo. I was a bit ho hum about heading off to the zoo, something I haven’t done since I was little, but it was actually really great fun! I’d recommend not going on a weekend because crowds can be crazy, and avoid school holidays if you can. But we went when a new baby elephant had just been born and it was so cute! We also saw a seal show and a talk on spiders (fascinating for the non-Aussies to see just what creatures we do have hidden here!).
Not only is the zoo famous for its animals, but the view from Taronga is just spectacular! It looks directly across at the entire city, and you can jump straight on a ferry from there back to the city.
5) Speaking of ferries...Have a walk around Circular Quay – there is the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Opera House, amazing views of the Harbour Bridge, and the Botanical Gardens. If you walk all the way around the Gardens to Mrs Macquarie’s Chair, you’ll get the tourist photo of Sydney: the Opera House directly in front of the Harbour Bridge. There are also tonnes of ice cream shops around the ferries, you’ll hear some Aboriginal didgeridoo playing (and can buy one if you’re keen!), and there are a few tourist shops to stock up on souvenirs.
Plus, here you’re right next to The Rocks – the oldest part of Sydney, where almost every second shop is a pub. Go on a pub crawl! I guarantee you’ll love it! End up at Pancakes on the Rocks (a 24 hour pancake shop), and you’ve had yourself a great night!
There’s also cycle and ghost tours you can do to learn a bit of our history (yes, Australia does actually have history!). The Harbour Bridge climb also starts here – which, although expensive is one of the things to do here – it’ll knock your socks off. One of the cheaper ways is just to walk across the Bridge itself – it’s a really pretty view!
There are of course, hundreds of more things to do in Sydney. As I said, these are a few that aren’t overly done, and give a really beautiful perspective on Sydney. We live in a pretty amazing place, and it’s really nice to be able to show it off (and see more of it yourself!). By the way you don’t need visitors to do these things with – just go! :)