Sydney, Australia
Sydney, Australia - Nov 28 - Dec 09, 2022
Getting downtown from the Airport is easy. Other than by car, taxi ride or shuttle you can use public transportation like bus or the AirportLink train.
Getting on and off from the Airport station though will increase the cost of the trip (by bus or train) as the ticket price comprises of a Gate Pass of Australian Dollars (AUD) 16 per person (also called station access fee) and the rail component which is only AUD 2.65 (off peak).
To avoid the station access AUD 16 fee, we walked to the closest train station in Wolli Creek, which is about 1.9 km away. The airport has a footbridge and cycleway at Terminal 1 that takes you out of the airport area and from there is a short pleasant walk to Wolli Creek station. As soon as the blue footpath ended, we crossed the bridge, took a right through Cahill Park, followed Brodie Spark Dr. and after taking a left on Discovery Point Pl we arrived at the train station where we boarded T4 train.
The walk took us about 20 minutes and is easy even if you carry a piece of rolling luggage. We did the same route when we got to the airport to fly back home, all together saved AUD 64
Best attractions in Sydney
Opera House
It is Australia’s biggest cultural attractions, an UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most recognizable buildings in the world. The building is shells shaped (or sail-like roofs), with “fish scale” tiles. It was the first thing we wanted to visit as soon as we arrived and almost every day and evening after. We enjoyed strolling around during the day and in the evenings, climbing up and down the Monumental outdoor stairs and being part of the crowds of locals and tourists relaxing and having a good time.
Sydney Harbour Bridge
Nicknamed “Coathanger”, the iconic bridge is the world largest steel bridge and another most photographed attraction in Sydney. You can climb it, a top Sydney adventure, or you can walk across it. We walked the bridge on foot, it is just a 1.5 km walk that offers panoramic views of Sydney Harbour and Sydney Opera. The Bridge Stairs to get on the pedestrian walkway are located in the Rocks area a short walk from Circular Quay. On the other side of the bridge you could either go down the stairs or take the elevator.
Luna Park
Few hundred meters from Milson Point where we finished the bridge walk was Luna Park, an amusement park and tourist destination for the children but not only. There is no cost to enter the park, only for the rides. We passed through the entrance, a giant smiling face of the Moon, and walked slowly through the main section of the park enjoying the cheerful vibe of the place.
Wendy Whiteley’s Secret Garden
Very close to Luna Park we found Wendy Whiteley’s Secret Garden, a small and peaceful little garden where you could relax with a book in the shade, walk the little zig zag pathways or admire the green diverse vegetation.
Darling Harbour
Darling Harbour is a special place that touched our hearts. From Chinatown in the North to the Pyrmont on the West and King Street Wharf on the east side, the Harbour bustles with activity, events and street dancers. It is a place to watch free fireworks every Saturday and to enjoy the restaurants, pubs and ice cream shops. At its centre is the Tumbalong Park, with a large playground and water fountains that is used also as a venue for important celebrations in Sydney. At the time of our visit they were installed a huge TV screen for people to watch Australia's soccer games at the World Cup.
In the heart of Darling Square, The Exchange is worth a photograph as well. It is an iconic distinctive six storeys civic centre and library, designed as a spiralling hive, wrapped in 20 km of sustainable sourced timber.
Close to Darling Harbour, in Blackwattle Bay, Pyrmont is Sydney Fish Market, known to be the largest one in the Southern Hemisphere. You could spend few hours here observing the wholesale action and the working wharf or enjoying the amazing treats and meals at one of the cafes, restaurants, bakery or the other shops, inside or on the terrace. We got there late but with enough time to sample one of the tasty meals at the Fish Market Café. Sydney started the construction of a new, more modern fish market set to open in 2024, we hope to visit again when is finished.
Chinese Garden of Friendship
Located between Darling Quarter and Darling Square, the Chinese Garden of Friendship is a short walk from Chinatown. The Garden was built as a symbol of friendship between Sydney and city of Guangzhou in China and imitates the design of the classic private gardens of the Ming dynasty. It is an oasis of tranquility in the middle of the city. Wondering the network of pathways that connect the 17 pavilions, we enjoyed the exotic plants, the lake filled with Koi fish, the rock sculptures and the Dragon Wall, made of glazed terracotta from China. The price of a ticket is AUD12 but it was well worth the visit.
The Rocks
The Rocks is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Sydney where the European settlers first arrived in 1788. It is a place where you could stroll around the cobbled streets, shop for art and fashion in fancy, cute boutiques or mingle with the locals on Saturdays and Sundays through bazaar like markets.
St.Mary’s Cathedral
Situated close by Hyde Park, St Mary’s Cathedral is free and open to the public every day. With a gothic revival architecture this historic building is one of the most beautiful in Australia.
Hyde Park
Being close to our hotel and having a central location we passed through Hyde Park almost daily. It is designed with a series of cross paths and a main paved alley shaded by mature tall Hill’s figs. Scattered around are monuments, fountains and statues with two major monuments being more noticeable: Archibald Fountain at one end and the Anzac Memorial with its Pool of Remembrance at the other end.
State Library of New South Wales
As Angela always enjoy visiting libraries whenever we have the occasion, we stopped here on our way to the Botanical Gardens. The State Library of NSW is located in Sydney Central business district and is the oldest library in Australia. It has a large heritage reference and research library open to the public in its Mitchell’s building but also galleries and exhibition spaces with permanent painting collections.
A heritage listed building form 19th century with a Romanesque design, Queen Victoria building is today a great five level shopping centre with unique stores, high end boutiques, coffee shops and restaurants. Its two mechanical working clocks, The Great Australian Clock and the Royal Clock add to the distinctive charm of the building.
Paddy Markets
Paddy’s Market currently located below Market City shopping center started as an open air market for sellers, traders and farmers in the 18th century, with merry-go-rounds and sideshows. Now is a great place to go shopping for souvenirs, produce, clothes. The prices for everything are much more affordable than any other shops or grocery stores.
Royal Botanic Gardens
Royal Botanic Gardens stretches on 30 hectares of themed gardens: tropical gardens, succulent and herb gardens, oriental and rose gardens, a Southern Africa and an Oriental garden, a Fernery and flower gardens of begonia, camellia, orchids and many other. The free entrance every day and its proximity to the Sydney Opera makes it a popular spot for both locals and tourists. The Visitors Centre located near the Botanic Gardens Café provided us with a map of the gardens and must see unique plants. We planned half a day to visit but got in love with it so much that we visited again on another day. For us was special because we got to see unique Australian trees and wildlife like the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Rainbow Lorikeets, and lots of Water Dragons lizards. We were ecstatic about seeing for the first time a White Ibis bird with its long curved black beak but later discovered that they are actually very common, somehow like our Canadian goose.
Wild Life Sydney Zoo and Sea Life Aquarium
Wild Life SydneyZoo and Sea Life Aquarium are centrally located in Darling Harbour close to one another. Buying a combo ticket to see them both will save you some money.
Wild Life Sydney Zoo is one of the best places in Sydney to see iconic Australian animals like cute koalas, Tasmanian devils, the wombat, wallabies, cassowary or to walk amongst the kangaroos in the Kangaroo Walk-About area. You could also have your photograph taken with koala in the Koala enclosure but we visited Koala rooftop where we were close enough to the sleepy koalas and took lots of pictures so we did not need to buy the Koala Experience.
You can easily spend 3-4 hours or more visiting both attractions as while inside, you can turn back to see the exhibitions again. We went back quite few times to get a glimpse of the platypus but it stayed hidden during our visit. We felt like kids visiting all the amazing exhibits, having a hard time to leave.
Sydney Harbour Tall Ship Cruise
One of the must-do water activities in Sydney is to discover Sydney Harbour from a Tall Ship experience. Sydney Harbour Tall Ships company offers all kinds of affordable cruises to choose from, Lunch, Afternoon, Twilight, Pirate Cruises. We booked the Sydney Harbour Tall Ship Afternoon Discovery Cruise because it fitted our schedule. It was a 90 minutes’ cruise for only CAD 63 per person but worth much more. Southern Swan, our ship, was an 1850 style ship, a three-masted topsail schooner, built in Denmark that changed ownership from Dutch to Canadian and from 2007 Australian.
The cruise started from Campbell’s Cove Jetty at The Rocks and it toured around Sydney Harbour so we had lots of opportunities to take photos of Sydney Opera, Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Harbour from the ship. The captain and the crew were very friendly and made us feel like we all were a big family. We were offered free little snacks like grilled chorizo sausage slices and spinach & cheese pastries, very tasty and cooked on the ship during our trip. They also sell beer or wine or you could have water for free. Toilets are also available on the ship. You could help with steering or with the sails, I volunteered for the sails. For brave people they offer a mast climb experience, for an extra price of AUD 30. We didn’t try it but we watched a lot of people having fun doing it.
Visit the Museums
For interesting things to do in Sydney, visiting the museums should be on top of everybody’s list.
Free museums in Sydney
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Located between Hyde Park and Royal Botanic Gardens, it is the most important gallery in Sydney and displays a vast collection of Australian, European and Asian art.
A contemporary museum, often described as a science museum, is located close to Chinatown. Its diverse collections display arts, science, space technology, steam engines and at the time of our visit we could also explore the Gucci Garden Archetypes multimedia exhibition presented exclusively at Powerhouse Museum. The museum is open daily 10 am to 5 pm and Thursday is open late until 9 pm. It was an interesting place to spend a couple of hours.
Chau Chak Wing Museum at University of Sydney
The museums collections include art, animal science, ancient cultures, Greek and Roman artefacts and even a Mummy Room.
Centrally located, close to Hyde Park, Australian Museum is more focused on nature, science and culture. Its unique permanent collections, displays and the many interactive workshops for kids make it a popular free attraction in Sydney.
Museum of Sydney
The museum can be found in the heart of Sydney, 300 meters from Circular Quay and close to Sydney Botanic Gardens. The museum displays collections and exhibits about the colonial and contemporary history of Sydney.
It is a place to enjoy Australian, Aboriginal and international contemporary art that is closely located to The Rocks and Circular Quay.
Displays an interesting collection of images and archaeological artefacts found at The Rocks
Australian National Maritime Museum
The only museums in Sydney we had to pay an admission fee, the Maritime Museum offers a lot for the money. A "See it all" ticket costs AUD 25 and gives you access to all the exhibitions inside and outside. MUSEAUM is conveniently located in Darling Harbour
Inside you can learn about the Australia’s maritime history, about the original settlers and refugees stories of arriving to Australia by sea or see Blackmores First Lady ship, used by australian Kay Kotee, the first woman to sail solo and unassisted around the world. It is also used for temporary photographic exhibitions; we were lucky to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition.
Outside you can get on board and explore historic vessels: three famous tall ships, James Craig, Duyfken and HMB Endevour, a destroyer HMAS Vampire and a submarine HMAS Onslaw.
At the entrance we received a map with the location of each ship but you have to be careful not to miss James Craig tall ship which is located a bit further away from the others, currently berthed at Wharf 7.
The volunteers on all the vessels were very friendly and offered a lot of information and stories making our visit a memorable one.
Australia’s capital, Canberra, is a city like no other we have visited before. Canberra was carefully planned from its inception on previously undeveloped land as a compromise following the dispute between Sydney and Melbourne to become the national capital. It is home to many federal institutions, national monuments and museums.
We travelled to Canberra with Murray’s coaches. It is a 3.5 hours trip and the return ticket cost AUD 94 per person. The buses are extremely clean, have toilets and the seats are assigned. Wi-Fi is available, the driver provides the password at the beginning of the trip.
New Parliament House
The Parliament building is home to the Commonwealth Government and the two houses of Parliament, the Senate and the House of Representatives. We visited with the intention of just taking few pictures from outside but as we got closer we realized it was open for the public free of charge and without having a pre-arranged tour. The building has an unique architecture and is also called Capital Hill as is part of a natural hill. Once inside you immediately notice how modern and spacious it is. You can easily spend few hours here learning more about the House and the flag history, see the Senate and House of Representatives rooms, see art collections or explore the gardens.
Old Parliament House
Next we visited the Old Parliament House which was the seat of Parliament of Australia until 1988 and now is home to the Museum of Australian Democracy. The building was designed by John Smith Murdoch, the first Commonwealth architect and some of the interiors still have their original furnishings. On first level you can visit all the offices and rooms related to Parliament functions while the upper floor is dedicated to the Press office. It is a great place to learn about Australian democracy and visiting just feels like stepping back in time.
National Gallery of Australia is free to enter but we still had to stay in line to get our tickets issued for statistic purposes. With the general entry ticket we could visit the national art collection, most exhibitions and the Sculpture Garden. The art collection includes Australian and Aboriginal art and some authentic and unique sculptures even some Auguste Rodin pieces, famous abstract painting of Jackson Pollock and also few classics like Rubens, Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas, Picasso.
As the name suggests, Australian War Memorial is Australia’s national memorial for members of armed forces and supporting organizations who died or participated in wars. To get to the Memorial we walked the impressive Anzac Parade, a commemorative way with a red gravel central area. Other smaller war memorials are lined on the sides of the Parade. Inside the main Memorial we were lucky to attend the Last Post Ceremony, an emotional event held daily in the afternoon.
Outdoor activities in Sydney
Day trip to Blue Mountains
Blue Mountains is a natural wonder destination being surrounded by a UNESCO-declared World Heritage National Park. Located about 100 km away, Blue Mountains is a very easy trip from Sydney. It is a 2 hours trip by InterCity BMT (Blue Mountains Line) train from Central Station to Katoomba and an one way ticket costs AUD 6.51.
Tip. The first and last wagon on all the trains are deemed “quiet carriages” meaning that chat and noise should be kept at a minimum.
Our planned itinerary was to walk from Landslide Lookout (a short walk from Scenic World) all the way to Leura Cascades and to reach all the lookouts in between, Malaita, Eagle Hawk, Vaniman, Orphan Rock, Solitary, Katoomba Falls, Echo Point, Spooners, Giant Stairway, Tallawalla and Bridal Veil. Most of the lookouts are along Prince Henry Cliff walk, a beautiful walking trail that offers scenic views of the Jamison Valley and three waterfalls.
The trail starts at the Scenic World main entrance and is very well marked, we just followed the signs. Generally, it is considered a moderately challenging route. Up to Echo Point is an easy pleasant walk and many tourists do just this section of the trail.
Echo Point Lookout is one of the best places for panoramic views of the famous Three Sisters Rock and of Jamison Valley. It is a destination for most tours so it can become really crowded with tourists. Echo Point Visitor Information Centre is located steps away and provides advice on how to spend your day. There we received a map and more information about our itinerary.
Once we reached the bottom of the stairs we turned on to Dardanelle Pass, passed Lila Falls and continued through Leura Forest and then on Federal Pass. Here we found out that the trail to Leura Falls was temporarily closed. So instead we continued on Federal Pass which changed into a series of steps, not as dramatic as the Giant Stairway but probably a similar number, which we accomplished by taking many short breaks.
On our bush walk we enjoyed the specific Australian vegetation, like tall sassafras and coachwood trees but also sclerophyll forest vegetation containing majestic eucalypts towering above lush ferns on the forest floor. We also saw lots of yellow crested cockatoos and some king parrots. The area is also home to some small Australian mammals such as possums or wallabies but they usually only come out at night.
Once we got up all the stairs we stopped at Jamieson Lookout for another break and a snack and watched once more the beautiful vistas in front of us.
Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk
It is one of the most scenic and popular walks while in Sydney. Instead of starting in Bondi we preferred to start from Coogee as we wanted to spend more time on Bondi beach at the end of our day.
To get to Coogee we took bus 374 from Central Station. The bus trip takes about 30 minutes. You can find information about bus schedules at Transport NSW website. A ticket costs AUD 2.75 and you can pay either by Opal card which is a card that you can keep and reuse or you can pay by contactless payment if you have an American Express, MasterCard or Visa and just tap on and tap off, which is what we did as was the most convenient and easy way to travel in Sydney. Google Pay, Samsung Pay and Apple Pay are also accepted and from what we've seen, widely used.
The walk is about 6 km long and is a very well maintained route, easy for all ages and all fitness levels. It is a combination of mostly paved and wooden pathway and occasional stairs. It takes 2-3 hours but we spent way more as we stopped many times to admire the ocean, explore the cliff tops and to take pictures. The route winds around five beaches (Coogee, Clovelly, Bronte, Tamarama and Bondi) and even by a heritage listed cemetery close to Bronte beach, the Waverley cemetery.
One tip about the facilities on this walk, there are toilets at all beaches and you will also find drinking fountains and refilling water stations.
Heading closer to Bondi Beach after we walked under a few overhanging cliffs, we spotted the stunning beach from far away. As we got to the southern end of it we passed by the famous Bondi Icebergs rock pool, an historic landmark in Bondi beach which consist of a main pool and a kids pool and is open to the public throughout the year.
Bondi Beach is about 1 km long and is very popular with surfers, one end of the beach being actually reserved for surfboard riding. We have seen yellow and red flags defining the safe swimming areas and the beach is packed with professional lifeguards. We spent some time on Bondi Beach to dip our feet in the ocean, have a snack and to watch people swimming, sun bathing or surfing. We returned from Bondi beach with bus 333 to Circular Quay.
Manly Beach coastal walk
Manly Beach is one the most famous surfing beaches and a popular destination for visitors. That is why we included it on our must see attractions and places in Sydney. Getting to Manly beach is easy, it is a 25-30 minutes ferry ride from Circular Quay Wharf 3 to Manly Wharf. The trip is as scenic as any Sydney Harbour boat tours and you can have good picture shots of the Sydney Opera as well as the Sydney Harbour bridge. A ferry ticket costs AUD 8.04. We only had to pay for our return as the ferry was free of charge until 12:00 at noon following the date of Australia’s soccer game in the World Cup ( Australia in the end barely lost to Argentina who later became the world champions). Actually all the public transportation was free that day until noon.
Back to Manly beach we walked along the entire length of the beach on the boardwalk which is lined with majestic Norfolk pines. The same as on other beaches we found enough toilet facilities and water drinking fountains.
From the northern end of the beach we wanted to walk to the Manly Wormhole but we lost our way through city streets in search for it and found ourselves in inaccessible points having to turn around. We decided to look for it on our way back. We continued our coastal walk towards Freshwater Beach and from there we followed the Curl Curl Boardwalk to South Curl Curl Beach.
Curl Curl Boardwalk has a length of about 1 km and it is an easy walk offering breathtaking views of the ocean and the rugged coast.
On our way back we decided to try again to find the Manly Wormhole. From the north end of Manly Beach we stepped down from the promenade onto the beach and walked around Queenscliff Sea Pool. After climbing down and up the cliff we found it.
Manly Wormhole is a tunnel in the rock created, it seems, by local fishermen as a shortcut to Freshwater Beach rather than through natural erosion. Walking through it takes you to a flat rock platform where you are rewarded with beautiful ocean views. Inside the tunnel you have to watch your step as the sea water got in and created little mossy pools making it slippery.
Sydney has a lot to offer to all kind of travelers and it should be on top of everyone's destinations wish list.
We hope one day to return to Sydney but before that we are looking forward to visiting other parts of amazing Australia.
Very nice and impressive.
ReplyDeleteWow, we'll presented. And a joy to read.
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