"Sydney" a Sydney Travel Page by M0B1US

Sydney has to have one of the most stunning settings of any city in the World - does it have the most beautiful harbour in World? Tell me about a better one if you can...!

For me, Sydney's major highlights are all easily accessible from Circular Quay, Sydney's major ferry hub in the middle of downtown.

From here, you can take in the stunning vistas of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House - the two structures that arguably define the city Sydney to the international stage!

I absolutely loved the 7 months I spent living here and made some awesome friends over there including some from VT - check out the fun we got up to on New Year's Eve 2002.

I shall miss Sydney terribly and know that I've have to revisit this wonderful city some time in the future!

Take a Ferry!

It doesn't matter where you go, although the choice is huge as Sydneysiders use their harbour and river as a major highway and commuter route!

A highlight would be a trip out to Sydney's award winning zoo, Taronga which is on a forested peninsular in the harbour - why not try a behind the scenes tour of the Zoo and feed the Giraffes, get up close and personal to a Koala and stroke a Wombat!

As part of my Sydney and Australia pages I intend to write up some tips on how to go about living here for a while - I was here on a one years working visa...

We did the usual route of staying in a backpackers in King's Cross for a week before finding a great apartment in the newspaper, then there's things like sorting out a bank account, health, getting a job etc - all of this I will impart with tips about these experiences...

Walking! I lived right in town in the historic suburb of Woolloomooloo - from here it was a 10 min walk into town via Hyde Park, 15 mins had me at work! I would say I could get to 80% of what's worth seeing in the city in under half and hour just by walking. We sometimes walked all the way out to the Sydney Fish Market which was a 45 min hike, however if taken over the weekend, you can take it at a leisurely pace and stop at all points of interest along the way, walking through the shopping district, Darling Harbour and Pyrmont to get there past dozens of hip coffee shops, any one of which you can stop and replenish your caffeine levels whilst browsing the latest papers or magazines...

The next best alternative has to be the Ferries at Circular Quay - anywhere that huge harbour goes, so do the ferries!

Why not travel out to the south heads at Watson's Bay - travel in the historic footsteps of Sydney's original VT meeting, retrace the footsteps of these pioneers... ;-)

Buses and Trains, both have their pluses, though I find that you often have to wait a while for a bus - the other problem being that you have to already know which bus you need to take and where you're going - when often if you're new to a city, you're not sure! Also beware the timetables - the ones on the stand never seem to match up with those on the internet. Still if you're going out to the eastern suburb beaches such as Bondi and Coogee, the bus is the way to go!

The train has a few good routes and is generally more reliable than the bus. Some of the best trips are out to Sydney's chic suburb of Newtown, or all the way out to the Blue Mountains 100kms away for a mere AUD$13.60 return - how cheap is that!!??? It's also handy for the airport, getting there from the centre of town in less than half an hour!