[hieppo]

Fellow Australian members,

I will be heading over to Australia for a week or so after my visit to Singapore in January. I will be landing in Syndne and probably make camp there since it is the nearest to my close family friends.

What I would like to know is what is there to do around Syndney for tourist? I don't really like to do tour and such but if it is real good then I may consider.

How far to travel to get away from the city to visit more nature?

What beach is good, clean and beautiful scenery ?

What and where is good to eat?

Anything helpful is appreciated.

Thanks

 

[CHY]

Replying to Topic 'Australians?'

I hear that Bondi Beach is cool.......

 

[solarbear]

Replying to Topic 'Australians?'

Want to go visit Sydney:

Bondi Beach - tourist mecca - nice cafe's (eat at Nando's Chicken!) & good beach BUT very crowded
Manly - busy but not quite as touristy - Manly Aquarium is pretty good too - fish and chips at the very end of the cafe strip is reccommended - taking the ferry over gives you some good sights of the harbour
of course you have the Rocks, Opera House, Circular Quay, Darling Harbour, Queen Victoria building, Botanical Gardens, the Museum, even maybe the Casino


when I lived in Sydney I used to drive down to Stanwell Tops for a fairly scenic beach without crowds
it took less time, even though it was farther, than going to Bondi or Marouba

 

[applejax]

Replying to Topic 'Australians?'

Wherever you go, I would like to see some pictures!

 

[RodneyJ]

Replying to Topic 'Australians?'

Hi Hieppo,

Solarbear gave some great advice for you...

You can walk around Sydney and look at the sights Like the Habour bridge and the Opera House, Circular Quay, the Rocks area. Catch a bus to Bondi Beach, (very Touristy though).

Catch a ferry from Circular quay to the Sydney Zoo, great views of the harbour from there and close to Manly as well !

Darling Harbour is always popular for the Tourists, some good shopping and restaurants !

Or rent a car, grab some maps and do some driving yourself, a couple of hours in any direction from Sydney will take you to some beautiful National Parks and nice clean beaches without an pollution whatso-ever !

Hoping this info helps !

 

[Steve 6er]

Replying to Topic 'Australians?'

I'd love to go to Australia. So does my wife, it's one of her "have-to-go-theres".

Personally, I'd like to once in my life do one of those outback walkabouts. I have to get in shape before I do, though...

A couple of pics from my part of the world...

Not the outback of Alaska, but in these Tolkien-inspired times, I guess they could joy someone.

Later dudes. Oh, sorry...mates!

 

[applejax]

Replying to Topic 'Australians?'

Oh, nice! Let's start a new thread in the lounge!

 

[solarbear]

Replying to Topic 'Australians?'

QUOTE

Originally posted by RodneyJ


            Hi Hieppo,

Solarbear gave some great advice for you...

You can walk around Sydney and look at the sights Like the Habour bridge and the Opera House, Circular Quay, the Rocks area. Catch a bus to Bondi Beach, (very Touristy though).

Catch a ferry from Circular quay to the Sydney Zoo, great views of the harbour from there and close to Manly as well !

Darling Harbour is always popular for the Tourists, some good shopping and restaurants !

Or rent a car, grab some maps and do some driving yourself, a couple of hours in any direction from Sydney will take you to some beautiful National Parks and nice clean beaches without an pollution whatso-ever !

Hoping this info helps ![/b]

Thanx for the vote of confidence RJ. Yes, I strongly reccomend renting a car and going either south or north to empty beaches for a couple of days. For example, we go to the south coast of NSW on holidays. Hopefully they will continue to keep the bush fires under control, a week or so ago it was pretty well alight.

 

[RodneyJ]

Replying to Topic 'Australians?'

QUOTE

Hopefully they will continue to keep the bush fires under control, a week or so ago it was pretty well alight.[/b]

Hi Solarbear,

Yes it was pretty scary there for a while...

I live at Gosford on the Central Coast, and we had alot of smoke and ash blowing over to us with the wind.

It was being carried from the Fires at Berowra and the Northern parts of Sydney.......

In my opinion was worse than 1994 !!

Looks like the worst of it is over now, but theres still over 2 months of Summer to go !!

But to Potential Tourists, don't let these things scare you away !!!!!!!!! :hoho

 

[solarbear]

Replying to Topic 'Australians?'

Gosford is a great spot to live, I am jealous. I have friends from Newcastle and last time we visited them we stayed with their freinds in Gosford and went out to this really cool restaraunt/bar across from the footy stadium, the one you can drive boats up to.

I live in Beckom (population 80: dog population about 700) a small little hole near Ardlethan (500people) it is sorta half way between Wagga and Griffith. I think it was 41C today. Not a good day to play touch football!

 

[shoomer]

Replying to Topic 'Australians?'

dont forget to keep your eyes on the mazda6 around!

 

[hieppo]

Replying to Topic 'Australians?'

Great info guys. Very helpful. Keep the info coming. I will print this thread before I head off in January.

BTW, when you suggested in renting a car to drive around? Is the Mazda 6 available for rental yet?

Seriously, how long a drive are we talking about to hit other hot beaches and national park? What about park conservation and such? What about other cities near Sydney, how many hours are we talking about driving?

I was thinking of renting a vehicle too but it depends if driving does not become a task since I am on vacation remember. I don't want the hassle of driving if I can just sit back and relax. Unless I am driving a Mazda 6. It is kind of weird since I would have a better time to stay in Canada and wait for my new Mazda 6 (which suppose to arrive sometime when I am on vacation ) than to go off to another continent.

Again thanks for all the info, keep it up.

Hiep

 

[solarbear]

Replying to Topic 'Australians?'

There is alot within 2h drive of Sydney. I wouldn't get too carried away.

 

[shoomer]

Replying to Topic 'Australians?'

I don't think you can rent a Mazda6 since most dealers have run out of stock in australia, backlog orders are up to Febuary. So no one can get any discount in buying at the moment.

you might be able to rent the new Toyota Camry which comes close to the Mazda 6 or if you want to spend more, rent a BMW.

There are couple of beaches near the city of sydney, like Bondi Beach, just 20 mins away from Central or the Manly Beach in the North which is about 1 hour away from the city, or the Coogee beach which is 30min away in the east of the city.

as for the National Park, you probably have to take 2 hour drive to get there.

cheers!

 

[hieppo]

Replying to Topic 'Australians?'

BTW, is your steering wheel on the left or right side? Also what side of the road do you drive on? Is there any quirky traffic rules I have to watch out for?

 

[Steve 6er]

Replying to Topic 'Australians?'

These bummers have the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car. "No, on the right side", they say to defend themselves.

"Exactly my point," I say"...on the wrong side!"

 

[solarbear]

Replying to Topic 'Australians?'

Yes we drive on the left side of the road.

Like any country the traffic signs, lights and intersections are probably different from you own. I found coming here from Canada to be very confusing... tons more lights to look at than in Canada. Also you have the fun of a roundabout.

Sydney's roads are particularly confusing, very little planning to them. I wouldn't reccomend driving to your hotel from the airport. I'd suggest after walking around for a few days hiring a car from the hotel.

Biggest problem is that you have to constantl shift lanes.

It would take 2-3 days to see all the sights in Sydney. If here on New Years you'd be nuts not to take in the fireworks.