Best of Sydney

As a part of my Best of Australia recommendations, I'll take you through my recommended things to do, places to see and restaurants to visit in Sydney, Australia's biggest city.

Sights

• Opera House – you can walk around it (free) or take a tour (~$80)
• Harbour Bridge – I don’t recommend the bridge climb ($175+). You can climb the pylon for $10, that is a must do.
• Customs House – in Circular Quay… just walk in the lobby to see a small scale model of the city under the glass floor. Only takes 5 minutes and is pretty cool. It gives you a good perspective of the city
• Bondi to Coogee coastal walk – 6 km paved path. My favorite thing to do in the city
• Ferry from Circular Quay to Manly Beach - $12 round trip, awesome views of harbor and back of Opera House
• Botanical Garden – free. Find the trees where all of the bats sleep.
• Hyde Park – free. Middle of the city. Have a picnic or walk around late at night. Check for food, art and music festivals that sometimes come here.
• World of Wildlife or Taronga Zoo – both are cool… WoW has only Aussie animals and is more accessible. You can touch some of the animals. Taronga is massive and you get there on a quick ferry ride. It takes hours to see everything and includes animals from all over. Best zoo I’ve ever been to.
• Bondi Beach – relax in the sun and take some surfing lessons (~$75+) if you have time

Other options if you have time

• Featherdale Wildlife Preserve
• Blue Mountains tour
• Sydney Tower
• Manly to Spit coastal walk
• Chinatown
• Restaurants
• Din Tai Fung (dumplings)
• Madang (Korean)
• Mamak (Malay)
• Pancakes on the Rocks
• Longrain (Thai)

Nightlife

• Opera Bar – awesome location just next to the Opera House. Full view of the bridge as well.
• Sky Bar (top of the casino) – great view of the Sydney skyline at night
• Ivy – upper crust club where everyone dresses to the nines, there are lines to get in, cover charges and high priced drinks. Very popular but if that’s not your scene, stay away
• Surry Hills – my neighborhood to go out. There are lots of bars within walking distance: Clock Hotel, Flinders Street Bar, White Horse, Beresford, Crown
• King’s Cross – crazy nightlife area. Just look for the massive Time Square-esque Coca-Cola sign. If it’s 10 pm or 5 am, there’s always something going on here. Think Bourbon Street meets the big city. I always had a good time going there. Best bars: Goldfish, Sugar Mill, World Bar, Hugo’s, Piano Room
• Coogee Bay Hotel – this place gets a lot of bad press because it used to be a pretty rough place. It was my local pub and it is really big. There is a beer garden, dance club, and sports bar all located within the bar. It’s a great place to relax and get some pub food during the day as well.

Accommodation

• I only stayed at the Circular Quay Marriott, so I can’t offer any other specific recommendations. Staying in the CBD (central business district) is going to be more expensive, but you won’t have to take as many taxis or buses to see the sights. There are a couple of hotels that overlook Hyde Park that looked good, but again, you’re going to pay more for those.
• Staying near the coast is nice as well, but accommodation can be hit or miss. Some places are geared toward backpackers and won’t be as nice. They also can be too close to pubs which can cause noise at night. There are some really nice places with access to and views of the water. If you want, just check with me before you book and I can give you a more specific opinion.

Best of Australia

Over my time in Sydney I have had multiple friends send me questions on the best things to do in Australia. I didn’t get to see the entire country, but did get to sight-see along most of the east coast. I played tour guide when both friends and family come to visit me during my time in Sydney in addition to my own explorations.

One of the frequent questions I received was about trip duration. On a two week vacation, do you have time to visit both New Zealand and Australia, or Fiji and Australia? My answer is absolutely not. I did not get a chance to go to NZ, but from friends that have been there I know that you need at least a week, if not more, in NZ. So assuming you’re going to focus the entire trip in Oz, here is what I would recommend.

First of all, there’s no way to see the entire country in two weeks. Let me put it in perspective. There are far fewer tourist centers in Australia compared to the US, but imagine trying to see NYC, DC, Miami, New Orleans, LA, San Francisco and Chicago in two weeks. Yes, you could probably do it, but you’re not going to get the full experience.

The three must-sees in Australia are Melbourne, Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef. They’re all on the east coast, so let’s narrow your trip down to that section. You’ll probably fly into Sydney, so we’ll start there.

If you’re not used to international travel, especially flights over 10 hours, you’re going to be majorly jet lagged when you land. You’ll fly out of LAX in the evening and land at SYD in the morning, totally missing one day. Keep that in mind as you plan your flights. I found that the best way to beat jet lag is to sleep as much as possible on the plane (with the help of Ambien if available) and do a lot of walking/sightseeing on the first day. If you sleep during the day after you land, you’re only prolonging your pain. Fight through it and you’ll be better for it.

I’ve broken each area down by how many days I would spend there. Click each link for more detailed information. Note that I only accounted for 12 days – if you’re truly doing a 2 week vacation you will need some buffer time to book flights or spend extra time seeing things you like. Click on each for details.

• Sydney – 5 days
• Melbourne – 3 days
• Great Barrier Reef – 4+ days

Crowded House Concert and Flugtag

Earlier this week I got an invitation from Steph to go see Crowded House in concert.  Crowded House, now what did they sing again?  "Hey now, heeeeeey now, don't dream it's oooover!" I got on YouTube to hear some of their other songs which were vaguely familiar at best. I still thought it would be a good time, so I accepted.

The concert was at Hordern Pavilion and was one of the more interesting places I have gone to see a concert. The venue was tucked into the 'Entertainment Quarter' of Fox Studios, near Centennial Park. As we entered Hordern, it reminded me of a circus tent with bleacher seating on three sides and a stage at the other. The entire middle of the venue was just flat concrete for standing room only tickets, which is what we had. The crowd was a bit older on average, as expected since they were most popular in the mid to late 80's.

Crowded House is an Aussie/New Zealand band (depending who you ask) and have a big following. Everyone around us knew most of the songs and were singing along, except for the annoying couple beside us that were either texting or talking during the ENTIRE show. The set was pretty long and included 5 or 6 songs in the encore, totaling about two hours. I must admit, by the end I was definitely ready to go.

I'd still recommend seeing Crowded House live, even if you don't follow them. The band was very engaging with the audience, letting them finish popular lines for them (and most were very happy and able to join in). One of the best parts of the show was when the lead singer announced that a contest winner was going to come out on stage to sing a song. They had posted a 'backing track' on their website with the instructions to write lyrics and submit yourself singing them, with the winner performing them live. It must have been a pretty amazing experience for the girl that won. I've never seen that at a show before but would like to see other artists do the same.

Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I didn't get any pics or video :(

On to Sunday...

The highlight of the weekend was the Red Bull Flugtag. (FYI - Flugtag is German for Air Show) I attended the Red Bull Soap Box Derby last year in Atlanta... and somehow forgot to post about it. This is the original Red Bull event and has been held since 1991. I first heard about it a few years ago and have had this day marked on my calendar for months. The event bounces around to different cities throughout the year and had last been in Sydney in 2008. I got really lucky that I was here at the right time.

The basic idea of the Flugtag is this: you enter a design to Red Bull and they select the top 40 to be contestants.  There are 4 people per team and there are certain craft dimension and weight restrictions.  Three people push and one rides the creation off the pier and into the water.  Your team gets points for creativity, design, style and choreograph of the pre-flight dance.  Four judges rate each team out of 10 and you get an extra point for every meter the pilot gets from the edge of the pier.  The world record was set in Minnesota earlier this year at 63 meters (most didn't make it more than a couple though).

I met up with Steph, Mark and a few of Mark's friends for a day in the sun. Here's a video of The Flintstones team's routine and launch:


We walked around for a bit through the staging area and then found a seat in the grass really close to the ramp.  Here are a few of the pictures of the day:

July, July!

So the title references a Decemberists song, but the post isn't about that. Here's my July so far...

I met up with Carol and Daniel (aunt and uncle of my ATL friend, Laura) for the 4th (of course we didn't get a day off, but at least it was on a Sunday). They're members of a 'Meetup' group of American ex-pats that had a party in Centennial Park for Independence Day. I met a few cool people but mostly stayed around the few I met at Carol's Texas Hold 'Em party a few months ago.  It was weird to celebrate the holiday with strangers in a cold place, but everyone else was kind of in the same situation.

A few weeks later my friends Tim and Erin actually made it to Sydney and survived the whole trip without a scratch (at least physically - King's Cross may have caused a few scars). The weather wasn't the best but we did the Coogee-Bondi walk on their first day, took the ferry to Manly and then finished the night off with a drink just below the Opera House.

I still had to work during the week, so I left the two of them to wander Sydney on Monday. We met up for dinner and of course Tim iced me the first chance he got. It's ok because I got him back the next day.  They went to Taronga Zoo and took a bus trip to the Blue Mountains where they got some really cool pictures.  I'm going to have to make my way up there when it gets warmer.

Tim really wanted to see the reef in Cairns but Erin was a bit skeptical about getting a plane ticket on such short notice (~$650 vs. the $400 I paid to go there back in April).  She also "isn't that into fish" so I advised her not to go.  Instead she spent her time shopping around the city (despite the prices).  When Tim got back into town on Thursday I gave Erin a much needed "break from boys" at the Marriott where I spent my first few weeks in the city.

So the weekend... we went to Surry Hills and King's Cross on Friday night.  I was really looking forward to showing them what all of my hype was about, but it wasn't that crazy the night we went out.  (September edit: King's Cross had 737 arrests on Saturday night - I told you it got crazy).  On Sunday we hiked at my favorite spot - the cliffs at La Perouse.  We saw a seal sunning itself as it floated in the water (we thought it was dead at first) and got some really good pics of Tim being.. well... Tim.

On Saturday night I got us a hotel room in downtown Sydney at the Marriott again and we went to The Ivy which did not go over well.  I got a call from my British friend Dan who met up with us at 3 Wise Monkeys, a backpacker bar with a live band.  That made up for it and we had a good time. 

On Sunday we decided to rent some snorkeling gear at a dive shop in Coogee since it was a nice day.  Snorkeling... in the middle of winter - only in Australia.  The water was definitely cold, so I'm glad we rented wet suits as well.  We took a short walk from Coogee Beach over to Gordon's Bay, but I wasn't that impressed with the amount of fish we saw.  Erin chilled out with a bottle of champagne on the shore while Tim and I explored.

Pinky and the Brain went off to New Zealand for four days which brought my life back to normal.  I found out that I was going to miss my high school reunion at the end of the month because of project delays (boo) and worked a lot of overtime.  The only upside was the wired cable that was hooked into our conference room in the office.  Nat, a fellow cycling fan, and I watched Le Tour recaps every day at 6:30.  When Tim and Erin got back into Sydney the inevitable fight erupted between the two of them.  They did well to hold off for that long, but I think it's safe to say if Erin goes on vacation with Tim again, it will be planned to a T.

I'm glad I had some visitors and though I know I'll be home in a few weeks, it made being away a lot more bearable.  And anyone else that is tempted to visit... the project's now finishing in February so get down here!

Apartment hunting

Wow, it’s been a hectic week. So, about the apartment... I limited my search to Coogee because it is near to some of my coworkers so I can get rides in the morning, near things to do and places to eat, and most importantly, near the beach. My only catch was that I needed to find a furnished room, which ended up being harder than I thought it would. Whenever I got a chance at work I called real estate agents and responded to postings online and only came up with one hit - $400 per week (very average for Sydney) for a one bedroom place. Since that was pushing my company’s budget, I started looking into shared apartments.

I only came across one in the area so I sent an email inquiry. Dani, the leasee and I talked a few times and agreed upon an interview time.  I took a bus from work to Coogee and walked to the house.  The hills of Coogee and the fresh ocean air reminded me of Valparaiso.  I walked up to a fairly old house and a black lab greeted me at the door. +1.  There's nothing really impressive about it, but it felt comfortable.  I probably wouldn't Dani was a really relaxed girl, exactly what you'd expect a person to be like when they live in a beach town.  We got on really well from the get-go.  +1.  The bedroom for rent was big and furnished, nothing fancy but liveable for the next 6 months.  +1.  Oh yeah, and it takes less than 10 minutes to walk to the beach.  +5.  That was enough for me and I got a pretty good vibe from Dani that she was interested in picking me for the room.  A few days later we locked things down and I moved in over the weekend.

Over the weekend I had one goal and one goal only - to hold a koala.  I heard from someone (now I don't remember who) that said the Sydney Wildlife World.  I made plans to meet up with Chris in Darling Harbor on Saturday, but we still had Friday night to think about.  We made it back out to the Cross and had a little trouble getting into the bars.  There were a lot of people out that night and a lot of dudes.  I found a few girls by themselves that were cool enough to let us accompany them to a bar (unfortunately, that was the only way to get into those places when a lot of people were out).  We hung out with them all night and until they ditched us and took a taxi without a word.  Shady.

Even so, no worries, mate.  I walked around downtown Sydney for a bit and then met up with Chris again on Saturday and we hit up the Sydney Wildlife World.  I bought a ticket that included the Sydney Aquarium and Tower tour for $69 (at a significant discount).  It was pretty cool as the pictures show - especially the kangaroo pen.  Unfortunately there was no koala holding allowed and I later discovered that it is illegal to hold a koala in New South Wales.  Big fat fail.  It was still a good time and a place worth seeing if you have a few hours to waste.

As you can see, all animals in Australia are very laid back.

Right near da beach

Since I'm going to be here for so long, I don't feel the urgency to jam pack my weekends, which is good and bad.  It gives me time to relax, but at the same time I feel lazy.  I'm in Australia and it's beautiful outside.  GET OUT AND DO SOMETHING.  A few different people sent me a story from the New York Times, so I had a list to start with.

On Friday night I met up with Chris and Eric, two consultants from my company that I hung out with in Miami a few weeks ago.  They're on another project in North Sydney and agreed to come and meet me at my hotel since I was phone-less and had free drinks in the Executive Lounge.  We went out to a pub at the bottom of my hotel after a while and a random Aussie named Michael befriended us.  He invited us to go out with him and his friends from there to George Street, which is the place to go in downtown Sydney.  We went to a place called The Ivy that had $9 drinks - yikes.  Somehow, I think I'm going to have to get used to this.

Michael and company ended up leaving early, then Eric and I got separated from Chris.  We looked for him for about a half an hour and then left.  Eric caught a taxi and I was free to roam back to the hotel.  I struck up a conversation with two girls that were walking in the same direction as me and we came to an unforseen crossroads:

Girl 1: "So how old are you?"
Me: "Guess."
Girl 1: "21."
Me (shocked/mock insulted face)
Girl 2: "20."
Me (even more insulted face)
Girl 1: "19?"
Me: "Really?  Come on.  I'm 28."
Girl 1: "Wow, so you're pretty much a pedophile right now." (jokingly)
Me: "I guess that makes you all like 20?"
Girl 2: "18."

Lesson learned: be whatever age they want you to be.  Joking aside, they were cool (one of them was named Georgia!) and pointed me in the direction of my hotel without any more blows to my ego.  The underagers being out and about are definitely something I will have to get used to as you will see on Saturday night (read on).

Unfortunately I had to work on Saturday morning, so I hung around the hotel lounge until about noon.  I took a recommendation from the consierge and decided to take a ferry to Manly Beach.  Before I left I had a mission to get a new mobile phone. Eric advised me before I left to talk to AT&T about unlocking my BlackBerry so it could be used with other carriers. It was a pretty simple process, so all I had to do was swap out SIM cards. I bought a Vodafone card at a convenience store near my hotel since they allow pre-pay and contract plans. I opted for the pre-pay, so I just had to log in online with my new ID and put money on it, then I was ready to go.

The wharf was a short walk from my hotel and the ticket to Manly Beach was only $12.00 round trip.  The half hour ferry ride ended up being the best part... the view of the opera house and the harbor were amazing.  The water was calm (I hear it can toss the ferry around sometimes) and the weather was 80 with a breeze.  The beach was nice as well.  There were surfers everywhere and yes, I did see some topless sunbathers.

I strolled from one end of the beach to the other, which took about 35 minutes each way.  The water was a little too cold to get in, plus I didn't want to set my things down unattended.  I thought about trying to get into a pickup game of volleyball, but it looked like some kind of tournament was going on.  I still hadn't talked to a soul all day, so I made an effort on the way back to the ferry to talk to a girl that was also alone (ok, so I creeped her for about 50 meters until I was sure she was alone, too).  Her name was Lise and she was from Sweden.  I thought I had found a new Carolien until she told me she had lived here for a year and her visa was up.  She had to go back to home in two days. Nuts. We ended up talking the whole ferry ride back to Circular Quay and then got a drink at a pub in The Rocks, which is a restaurant and market area between my hotel and Harbor Bridge. We exchanged information just in case - I've learned that by now. We talked about meeting up that night but since it was her last night in town I was pretty sure she would be celebrating with friends.

I talked to Chris and we planned to meet in King's Cross, an area recommended by some people on the previous night. I heard it could get a little dicey late at night, but we were going out together so it shouldn't be a problem. Chris had been there quite a few times so he knew where to (and not to) go. Even so, I walked up to a few girls and asked for recommendations. Yes, they turned out to be 18. They threw out a few namse and then said there was also a place called Sugar hill where all of the cougars hung out. At first this threw me off, but then I thought... a cougar to an 18 hear old is probably around 28. I'll keep that one in mind.

We hit up a few pubs and then found cheap drinks ($5) and stuck around for a bit. Lise and I tradied texts while all of the young'uns walk by, to a point where I felt uncomfortable and creepy. Adding to that was the fact that they were all wearing tube dresses a la Jessica Dos (who looks really good in them I might add).  Imagine this dress but two inches shorter on a girl not quite this hot and 7 years younger.  I'm not saying they were skanky or anything... we'll just call it skimpy.

So Chris and I are sitting in this bar and 3 cops stroll in and start taking pictures and documenting things.  A waitress comes by and randomly puts a plate of pizza slices on our table.  I asked one what was going on and he started interviewing me.  I wasn't sure if I was about to be in trouble or what.

Cop: "Did you get a menu?"
Me: "Um, no..."
Cop: "This is a restaurant.  You should get a menu."
(Note - it was around 11:30 pm at that point)
Me: "Uh, ok."
Cop: "How did you get this pizza?"
Me: "The waitress gave it to me."

He started lecturing about how they were operating outside of their license and I was starting to regret asking him what was going on. It was a crackdown on the restaurant, and I felt kind of bad that I contributed to the evidence.  Can I do a takeback on that? I don't think it's realistic to expect a restaurant to serve food until the wee hours of the morning, but I don't know the rules in Australia.  The owner or manager was running around, sweating bullets and the cops stayed for a good hour interviewing the cook, waitresses and paitrons.  We left after a while to try something new.

We bounced around to a few places, but we had to be picky.  The area used to be the red light district and many reminders remained.  I'm pretty sure I saw a few (unattractive) hookers on the street and there were a few strip clubs here and there.  A few had pretty good names - The Ba-da Bing, The Pleasure Chest - way to go, marketing team.  We finally decided on a bar... wait for it... Sugar Hill.  It had a short line and the cover was only $10.  I'm sure if we had females with us we could've gotten in for free.  Just as I suspected, it wasn't a cougar bar - everyone just wasn't 18.  There were a few older people in there, but the music was good so we decided to stick around.  I bumped into an Aussie named Kirsty and we danced with her and a few friends for most of the night.  She lived in Coogee and promised to give me recommendations on places to live.  Check off another beneficial friend to have in Australia.  Also - an Australian accent bumps you up a number on the 1-10 scale.

On Sunday I was supposed to meet Eric to go on a walk between Bondi and Coogee Beaches.  These two beaches are the other 'it' sunspots in Sydney.  Eric called me to meet up and I texted back an hour or so later, then made my way to the beach.  I didn't hear from him, so I ventured on the walk myself.  Almost immediately I heard American accents, and two California girls named Tiffany and Tori started the walk at the same time as me.  They were on vacation, so no luck on the long term friend front, but we kept each other company and had a good time.  The hike was beautiful, taking you right along the coast for some breathtaking views of the ocean (see picture).  You also can go through a cemetery and venture into beach neighborhoods.

It probably wasn't a good idea to do the 2 hour trek in flip flops because #1 it started on the sand and that chafes and #2 there were lots of hills and stairs.  We survived though and rewarded ourselves with dinner at a cool spot on Coogee Beach that had 7 bars, one of which was called The Aquarium.  It was getting dark and a bit cooler, so we didn't even go down to the beach itself. After dinner I took a bus home and hit the sack early.  I made 6 friends this weekend, though most won't be here long enough to hang with.  I'm not sure what I'll be doing next weekend but I have a few ideas: climb the Harbor Bridge, visit Darling Harbor, and oh yeah, find an apartment!