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Sydney Travel Guide
Get to Know the Harbour City
The famous Sydney
Opera House defines the look of this beautiful city.
Since the beer will definitely make visitors
to Sydney dizzy, PubClub is hosting a "PreParty" by providing
basic logistical and practical information about the city. For more
on what everyday life is like in Australia, including what pubs and
clubs customs and a dictionary on how to speak Australian, attend to
the Australia
PreParty.
Arrival and Orientation
Sydney is very much like Los Angeles.
It's energetic, has lots of sunshine, warm weather, is close to good
beaches and sports a healthy laid-back attitude.
Sydney Harbor (also called Port Jackson) is not only one of
the city's most scenic areas – and home to the famous Opera
House – it serves as a natural divider between the north part
of the city and the south. Most of the activity is to the south; the
north is mainly residential although there are is an active publife
in suburbia Sydney. The two areas are spanned by the Harbour Bridge;
adventurous travelers can walk over the top of it, 503 meters above
the water.
Sydney Airport is 10K from the center of the city, so getting
into town from a long flight is easy. Most international flights arrive
early in the morning, so it's almost like getting a "free"
day to explore the city. Those arriving from overseas lose a day but
gain it back on the way home. Aussie like to point out that because
of the time difference, you are actually younger when you arrive back
home than when you left Australia.
A City Rail system runs to Central Station, making five stops
along the way. A freeway also connects downtown with the airport.
Shuttle services also run to various parts of the city, and even
to the beaches for around $6. Taxis cost about $20 to the city
center and takes 30-45 minutes, depending on traffic. For those on a
budget, local bus #100 goes to the city center for $2.50 and
runs from 6:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m.
Learning one's way around Sydney is remarkably simple. Just use the
major landmarks as guidepoints. Between the Opera House and the Harbor
Bridge is the historic area of Sydney called The Rocks, a great
nightlife area. Directly inland of this point is the Central Business
District (often referred to as the CBD), to the west of the CBD
is Darling Harbor which includes the Cockle Bay Wharf pub-and-restaurant
area, and the lively King's Cross section is due east of the
CBD. When facing the harbor, by the way, one is pointed to the north.
Accommodations
While it's best to have sleeping quarters
arranged in advance, it is possible to find lodging upon arrival. The
New South Wales Tourist Center in the international terminal
of Sydney Airport is the easiest way to get a room. There are also small
hotels and hostels in the King's Cross area as well as in the City Center.
Getting Around
One of the best
ways to move about Sydney is on the water.
For those in a car, another thing about
Sydney will remind travelers of Los Angeles: traffic.
Driving, as in the case with most major cities, is a hassle.
Sydney is high on traffic and low on parking. An important point to
remember for those who do get a car: Australians drive on the left side
of the road.
Fortunately, Sydney has an efficient public transportation system.
The coolest method of moving around the city are on the ferries.
These green and gold boats, as familiar to Sydney-siders (locals) as
the Opera House, keep the harbor active, going to sights such as the
zoo and Manly Beach north of the city. The prime launching point is
Circular Quay (between the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge). Ferries
not only go to destinations, but they also provide a great way to cruise
the harbor for sightseeing. For $12, a day pass is the way to
go; it provides for unlimited ferry rides as well as city buses.
Water taxis are also available, though at a higher cost than the
ferries.
Speaking of buses, they run all over town. Oddly, they don't
stop at designated places if no one needs to get off there, but they
can be flagged down like a taxi. Service runs from 5 a.m.-11:30 p.m.,
except – get this – 24 hours a day from pub-heavy King Cross
and central city locations. What a great concept!
Sydney also has a CityRail system, with most fares costing less
than three dollars. These, too, run 24 hours, although less frequently
after bar closing time.
One option more loathed than used by Sydneysiders is the Monorail
and Light Rail systems. They are not efficient because they really
don't go anywhere useful and many locals consider them eyesores. The
monorail runs from Central Station through Darling Harbor. The Light
Rail adds Star City (the casino) and the fish markets at Ultimo to the
agenda. City Center to Darling Harbor and Chinatown. The Light Rail
adds Star City and Ultimo to the agenda.
Another option for getting about Sydney is on foot. Because the areas
most tourists are likely to visit are in a fairly compact area, the
weather is usually good and Sydney relatively free of big-city crime,
walking is a pleasant alternative to riding.
The Pubs and Clubs
Drinking in Sydney requires a bit of
local knowledge to blend in with the locals. When out, one must go to
"school" if in a group, know which beers are to be consumed
and which ones are to be left for the tourists. It's also good etiquette
to compliment Australians on everything Australian (see the "People"
and "Pubs and Clubs" section of our Australian
PreParty for details).
There are two distinct types of bar-goers in Sydney, the pubber and
the clubber. They hardly ever mingle together, although some places
in town cater to both, offering a pub in one area and a club in another.
Sydney provides plenty of places to practice these and other social
techniques. The city's party heart beats hardest at these distinctive
areas:
• Cockle Bay at Darling Harbor. Sydney-siders flock
here straight from work on Friday afternoons, due to its convenient
location at the edge of the CBD.
• The Rocks, a short jaunt from Cockle Bay, containing
some of Sydney's best pubs.
• King's Cross, the most colorful nightlife area, Sydney's
version of London's Soho with cool pubs scattered among strip clubs
and prostitutes which, incidentally, are legal in Sydney.
• Oxford Street/Paddington/Surry Hills/Victoria Street, Sydney's
primarily gay area but fun for all. Near King's Cross, It's a very colorful
and fun place to hang out and contains bars that cater to all types
and tastes.
• The Beaches, 15 minutes surfside of downtown, the beaches
are high on Aussies' list of places to play.
The dress code varies according to the type of establishment,
although wearing black is always safe bet. Pubs are more casual than
the clubs, although clubs resist people wearing suits. Cargo pants and
regular club attire is best for entry.
Sydney is a late-night town for clubbers. Some clubs don't close until
6:30 and there are also 24-hour bars."Drink 'em if you got 'em"
for nieghborhood pubs can be as early as 11 p.m (damn that British influence!)
but there's always another bar close by that stays open considerably
later.
2000 Olympic Summer Games Sites and Attractions
The Olymypic Village
hosted many private parties; PubClub was at its Grand Opening.
Could there have been a better host for
the first Olympics than in sports-crazy Australia?
This was actually not the country's first such showcase. Melbourne
hosted the Games in 1956.
The Homebush Bay Olympic Site, 14 kilometers west of the city
center was he Olympics' home during 2000. There were 14 venues located
here, including the 110,000-seat Olympic Stadium, the largest such structure
ever built (point this out to an Aussie and he/she will probably buy
you a beer for noticing). Swimming, basketball, baseball tennis and
archery are among the other sports were cntested here. The Olympic Village
is also located here.
While events were scattered were about town, even spilling into areas
outside of the main centre of Sydney, the village was the heartbeat
of the Games. It is located right at Sydney Olmpic Park.
The Sydney Olympic Park's dominant force is the aforementioned Olympic
Stadium. Yet the real treasure of the area far outlasts the Olympics:
the development of new parks. Sydney has taken great pride in balancing
nature with competition, often having called the 2000 Games the "Green
Olympics." Millennium Parklands, for example, is
larger than Central Park in New York and it replaces, among other things,
a toxic waste dump and landfill.
The Nude Olympics, by the way, are held for one day each January.
They occur not in Sydney but in Maslin Beach on the western Fleurieu
Peninsula, about an hour south of the city of Adelaide in the state
of South Australia.
Temperatures
December-February (Summer): 25-39 C (80-98F)
September-November (Spring): 22C (72F)
June-August (Winter): 17C (63F)
March-May (Fall): 22C (72F)
Time Zone
Sydney is GMT +10.
When To Go
Sydney is pleasant anytime. November thru
January are the hottest months in terms of weather and activity, but
with temperatures hardly reaching below 15C making the winters mild
at worst, Sydney is a fine hostess anytime of the year. The city is
packed for New Year's, has the popular Sydney Festival in January and
the Gay Mardi Gras in March. The latter brings out 750,000 to watch
that parade and it's a party.
 Next
stop on the Party Bus: Sydney Pub Clubbing!
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