So you're thinking of coming to Sydney ...
Here are various things to help you plan your trip:
A few facts to get you started …
... and you are wondering how to get into town
How to get around town
What to do while you are visiting
What to eat
A few facts to get you started ...
When planning your trip keep in mind that the continent of Australia is as big as the United
States, so it is deceptive how far apart things are. There are 20 million people in all of
Australia, of which five million live in Sydney.
Sydney is about the latitude of North Carolina so you know right away that it never snows in
winter. Summers can be quite warm and last from the end of November to March. Winters are cool,
and sometimes the weather is raw, like a cold and rainy autumn day--unpleasant but never a freeze
yourself sort of day. Although Australia is largely arid desert and is often suffering from water
shortages, it can also rain for days on end. Sometimes it rains quite hard with a tropical
fierceness.
What does Sydney look like? Here are some live webcams:
http://www.x-zone.canon.co.jp/WebView-E/sites/java/sydneybay_j.htm
http://www.therocks.com
... and how to get into town
The airport is on the
southern side of town. They call the
city center the “CBD” which stands for “central business district” and it is in
the CBD where most of the big businesses are located and where the big tourist
sights are located. If you are heading
to Manly to visit us be sure to ask the taxi driver to go over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. If
you don’t, the driver will probably take the tunnel under the harbor where,
needless to say, the view is not as good.
When going over the
bridge be sure to look to the right and you will see
the Sydney Opera House. The tall
buildings ahead of you as you cross the bridge are North Sydney and you will
realize from the company names on the buildings that it is the technology area:
companies like Cisco, Novell, and Microsoft are located in North Sydney.
If you are packing and
start to think "egad what am I forgetting?!" remember that you can
buy pretty much everything here. Just be
sure to bring your a long book for the flight. Oh, and your passport. Walking
shoes are a must because although
Sydney is a big city there are many bushwalks in the area. It is also recommended to bring something
nice for an evening out.
How to get around town
Once you are in town
you can get ferry, train and bus information from the transportation
information site
http://www.131500.com.au/.
The website is conveniently also the information number: 13 15 00.
Ferries:
www.sydneyferries.info
Buses:
www.sydneybuses.nsw.gov.au
Trains:
www.cityrail.info
What to do while you are visiting
First you should probably get a guide book and not rely on my advice but since you have ignored
my advice, here are some links to things in Sydney.
Information about Sydney is here
http://www.discoversydney.com.au/ and here
http://www.citysearch.com.au/ and click on Sydney.
The Royal Botanic Gardens are very large, maybe half the size
of Central Park and the whole thing is
is beautifully cultivated.
Sydney Opera House is the famous icon that represents Sydney.
From the website you can see what’s playing in the many theaters and buy tickets to a show.
Hyde Park Barracks Museum has exhibits about the criminals who were sent
here, many of whom were Irish farmers or inner-city Londoners and almost all had
committed small crimes--remember that murderers were hanged--so most of the
people “transported” were petty thieves. The museum also has a memorial to the Irish famine.
The Art Gallery of New South Wales
displays modern and classic art.
The Australia
Museum is a natural history museum with some rather fun exhibits and some quite antiquated ones. The
newer exhibits are generally more fun than the older ones.
The Powerhouse Museum lists itself as having educational exhibits and uncomplicated
science. It is very kid-oriented and has lots of hands-on elements.
The Sydney Observatory and its gardens are a little
bit of Victoriana in the middle of the city. The observatory has two telescopes
and they are open most evenings for star viewing. One telescope is completely computerized and the
other is very “Baron Munchausen” in that it is moved
through gears and manual cranks. Both
telescopes are in towers topped by domes, the domes rotate to expose different
parts of the sky; the older one has gear teeth all around the bottom of the
dome.
What to eat
Cuisines vary here in
Sydney. There are a strong Asian
influences along with French and Italian. Restaurants can come in many types. When ordering in
Sydney remember that an “entrée” is what we would call an appetizer and that the thing Americans call
an “entrée” is called a “main” here.
New Australian.
This
refers to many different styles of cooking but generally the food is fresh,
with an emphasis on local produce. You
will see mango or avocado in salads. These restaurants will often serve large salads as a main course, there
will be a choice of types of fish and usually a lamb dish and a chicken
dish. The food will be French or Italian
basics with strong Asian influences.
Old Australian. That’s
the Aussie barbecue. This will be mostly
meat put on a grill. There will probably
be no spices on the food, not even salt or pepper, and no sauce of any type. Beer will be plentiful, salads will be made
mostly of iceberg lettuce, vegetables will be steamed
and also unseasoned. It’s basic,
meat-eater’s delight.
Thai. Thai restaurants are to
Sydney what the Chinese Restaurant is in New York. There is one in every neighborhood and all
are at least reasonably good, few are spectacularly good.
Pizza. The Australian pizza is
very different from American pizza. First off they cook it more than in the US so that the cheese is
brown. Next they put different toppings. Common pizza types include goat cheese and
lettuce, ham and pineapple, or tandoori chicken. I have never seen pepperoni and if you want
“plain” you must order margherita.
Indian. The Indian food is
generally prepared by people who are really from India. They serve the same sort of Northern Indian
cuisine we are used to seeing in the States.
Italian or Greek. Sydney
has a large Greek and Italian population who came to escape Europe in the 1930s
and 1940s. As a result there are many
mom-n-pop restaurants and people in Sydney have developed a taste for good
Italian and Greek food.
Pub Grub. There will be “potato
wedges” which are spicey fries served with sour cream
sauce and marinara sauce. I haven’t had
any but they look good. You will also find fish and chips, pasta and soup. Most everything
will be fried, of course.
Hamburgers. Many
places will server hamburgers but be warned, any time you see a hamburger on
the menu be prepared for a burger that is made from a thin patty (think Macdonalds). A favorite
burger topping is “beet root”, or in American “beets”. Americans can happily go a lifetime without
eating beets, Australians must have them every week in
some form or other.