Forlorn.of.thee (fa'lo:n ŭv thē), p, my only strength and stay,forlorn of thee, whither shall I betake me, where subsist?
Paradise Lost by John Milton
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Monday, January 25, 2010

One day in boring Sydney...

I think Sydney is boring! Those who don't live in Sydney (especially those from overseas) probably think it's paradise on earth! If you were to visit, I'd really be scraping the barrel to find enough sights to show you or things to keep you entertained. OK, there's a nice blue harbour, but that's about it! I could spend a week in London and not get bored, a week in Rome is not long enough, a week in Paris and one would barely scratch the surface of that city. A day in Sydney, and you've done it all!

If you did drop by, what would I recommend?

Harbour Bridge Walk
Catch a train and get off at Milsons Point (Northern side of the Bridge). Walk across the Harbour Bridge. Cost, the train fare, time 1 hour.

Circular Quay
You've arrived on the other side, take a stroll round the Rocks. This is the birthplace of Sydney, the Old Town. Cost free (maybe buy a coffee), time 1 hour

Opera House
Walk east around Circular Quay, over to the Opera House. Take your camera out! Maybe go on the Essential Tour. Book online its cheaper $29, 1 hour

Manly Ferry
Walk back to Circular Quay and buy a return ferry trip to Manly. Cost $13, it's a 30 minute trip each way.

Lunch in Manly
Buy yourself a packet of fish and chips (throw in some shrimps, calamari and mussels too), sit at a bench on the Corso, feeding yourself and the seagulls. Food and drink, less than $20, u.v. rays - free (hope you remembered the sunnies and zinc cream).

Back to the City
Zoos, aquariums are pretty much standard fare all over the world so I wouldn't recommend visiting them. If you've got transport visit the Koala Park at West Pennant Hills. This is the one where you get to pat and feed the roos, maybe even cuddle a Koala. Entry fee is $19. The cost of a taxi ride is exorbitant!

If you can't make it there, the next best is Wildlife World at Darling Harbour. Entry $32. You get to see the weird and wonderful creatures of Australia. You can while away a couple of hours in there.

Finally, Sydney's own Eiffel Tower, Centerpoint. For $25, you get a 360º view of Sydney from 260m up.



Finally, Opera and Dinner
Hope you've booked in advance. Book an opera online and a table at the Bennelong. Chef Guillaume Brahimi is brilliant! Time, the rest of the evening, cost - breathtaking! But then you wouldn't do it too often ($105 - $270 for one opera ticket, dinner hmm...)

So here it is, Sydney in 24 hours!

10 comments:

Vixel said...

Sounds like a great day out to me! Right now the idea of being in Sydney seems rather appealing, it's freezing here, I'm craving sunshine and warmth! I'm not sure I could bring myself to visit Australia unless I managed to overcome my arachnophobia however!

Constance said...

Sounds a bit like Ireland. Beautiful and quick to see the whole thing.
And you're right about London, btw - 3 weeks would be heaven, and if you also went into the countryside, even 4 could be wonderful with all the old historic houses/castles/gardens.

Anonymous said...

I'd come just to do the last one, sounds fantastic...

Young Werther said...

Hi Vixel, you won't see any spiders (Redbacks under the toilet seat is an urban myth) :)

Hi Aurora, know what you mean. I really miss England. I spent many years up north around the Humber, even the little villages were worth exploring.

Anonymous said...

I agree... This is an extremely boring city...

Anonymous said...

I just had the misfortune of being stuck in sydney for 10 days. There was absolutely nothing to do. There's an opera house and a bridge and the incredibly tacky Darling harbour - there you go, city done. Generic multinational shops, lots of mcdonalds, zero history, zero live music, zero culture, zero interesting architecture, zero historical buildings, zero history. Lots of deeply uniteresting identikit skyscapers. This is supposed to be a 'world class' city? what a joke.

Anonymous said...

The worlds most jingoistic capital So underwhelming. You know it's boring when they say it has a beautiful harbour. Bondi? If you like a place that has no where to park, crap transport, gangs, drunken tourists, overpriced crappy food, then Sydney's the place. Oh yes don't forget to go to the 3 sisters. Guaranteed to cure insomnia.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
I just had the misfortune of being stuck in sydney for 10 days. There was absolutely nothing to do. There's an opera house and a bridge and the incredibly tacky Darling harbour - there you go, city done. Generic multinational shops, lots of mcdonalds, zero history, zero live music, zero culture, zero interesting architecture, zero historical buildings, zero history. Lots of deeply uniteresting identikit skyscapers. This is supposed to be a 'world class' city? what a joke


probly coz you got zero friends to enjoy it with ....... any where is good with the right people dumbasss

Anonymous said...

You need about 200 dollars for the day to buy the simplest things in Sydney! and believe me it won't be "THAT" tasty or "THAT" awesome.

Anonymous said...

ive lived in Sydney my whole life.Its boring ,unimaginative and void of culture.Just make sure if you are a tourist to only set aside a maximum of 3 days to see it then move on to Melbourne and the sunshine coast for the majority of your Australian experience.I will move as soon as its financially viable.Bye shytney