A quick stop in Sydney - Australia

Sydney is, without a doubt, beautiful.  The main reason we tacked on Australia was to pay good friends of ours a visit - they live and work in Sydney.

Sydney garners a lot of attention - we also wanted to see what all the hoopla was about!  With a precious few days in town, we definitely couldn't 'do it all', so we picked a few experiences and worked with them.

The Opera House - original, I know :)

We left Osaka at 10pm bound for Sydney, AUS - 2 flights with a 4hr stopover in KL.  We used our PriorityPass to access this upscale spa lounge in KL for free (our CIBC travel credit card offers this perk).  Their big buffet breakfast, showers and sleep-able chairs made for a great airport stop!

Sleeping in an airport lounge in Kuala Lumpur

The Japan-to-Australia time zone shift, combined with the red-eye flight really zonked us out - it took us several days to unwind.


Our friends had forewarned us about how expensive the city is... booking our condos months in advance reinforced this - it was hard to find a budget-friendly place for our family of 5 to shack up for the night!

Mclaren anyone?  Sydney is full of Maseratis, Mercedes, Ferraris, Lamborghinis in town... Sydney's got money!

Sydney has a lot to offer - it's no wonder people love it!

• Great food
• Easy on the eyes
• A major metropolis
• Awesome climate 
• Beachy culture
• Huge waterfront and inner city beaches
• Lots of multi-use/pedestrian paths
• Relatively multi-cultural

Beautiful Jacaranda trees in full bloom

At a glance, we liked Sydney.  At a glance, it's family-friendly... but costs may be prohibitive.

Getting Around Sydney

We enjoyed walking the city streets - the city is pedestrian friendly, but pedestrians don't always get the right of way. 

We had planned to use a hop-on/hop-off tour bus to get around, but we ultimately rented a car so we could visit with our friends at their family "country home" in the Blue Mountains (a ways out of town)... so we just used our car.

As it turns out, unless you're parking at Darling Harbour or the surrounding tourist-mecca, street parking in Sydney isn't quite as bad as it's made out to be online.

Wide lanes on highways, pretty city drive with views

You might ask why we didn't use public transit... well... Sydney's public transit costs here high for 5 people  - solo travelers will like it better though!

For example, a return fare from Zetland to Darling Harbour for our family of 5 was going to cost more than parking right on site (see the tip in this section).

We found the parking rules and signage in Sydney to be quite clear - 2P means parking for 2hrs.  4P means parking for 4hrs.  Effective dates and times were clearly listed on all inner city signage, so we knew well what we could get away with.

Because we were busy all day, out and about, we were able to use street parking for our second place instead of paying for parking.

Tip

We found that pre-booking parking spots in the downtown lots was a real enabler.  Several lot owners offer discounts lik this.  You are guaranteed a spot during the hours you specify at a reduced rate.  If you have a few extra minutes during your booking, check retailmenot.com for a coupon code that will further reduce fees.

Also, on-street parking is well-organized - the hornets won't sting if you park overnight and into the 2hr or 4hr parking zone effective times the next morning - ie: you can park until 10am.

Anecdote

I had booked our car with a smaller rental agency called Jucy (popular with youngsters) and I didn't notice that the outfit had no airport pickup counter or that they close daily at 5pm - I trekked out to their near-airport location only to find their location closed.  Uber saved the day, but the delay was a real pain in the butt for our weary young travellers :(

Staying In Sydney

This said, presumably because we booked so far in advance, we found 2 condos in Zetland that fit the bill with full, beautiful kitchens, 2brs and stunning views of the city - we were pretty pleased with ourselves!   

Airbnb.com is thriving in Sydney as are HomeAway.com and Booking.com. The city has "gone vertical" in much of its inner-city areas, so accommodation density is high - the units we stayed in were, however, both spacious and offered great views from upper high-rise floors.

Condo #1

Groceries - food prices were good - our kitchenette got some use!  Coles is the grocery chain we saw the most of in town... lots of inner-city locations.  Smaller shops were overpriced.

Condo #2's garden courtyard between towers

Family Fun In Sydney

Groupon is good in Sydney for food and activities... We highly recommend families check the mobile app for stuff going on in town upon arrival!

The Entertainment book is also good in Sydney, but costs AUS$70... good if you're in town for a while.

If you're going full-fare, but still want to do some organized activities, prepare to open your wallet... nice 'n wide :)

Sydney has green spaces with playgrounds peppered here-and-there all over town - some are basic fields with little landscaping and others are full-blown playgrounds.

Inner-city parks and green spaces

Tip

I'd recommend a surf on Google maps once you've figured out which neighbourhood(s) you'll be staying in.  Look for parks and other free outdoor activities for kids and mix those experiences in with your more tourist-y ambitions to fill some family time.

Bondi Beach

We collectively had just enough gas in our energy tanks to hit Bondi beach on our first day - apparently a Sydney "must-see".

Because we had a car, we visited Bondi (pronounced "Bond-eye") by car.  We stayed for 2.5hrs and parked onsite.   We heard more foreign languages at the beach than English - clearly a tourist destination.

Bondi beach - an inner city swimming hole

Healthy 20-something beach runners jogged the shoreline among the posing-for-a-photo-shoot girls and kids indulged in the cold water.  The beach is undeniably gorgeous - surfing, volleyball, running, frisbee and tanning are top activities.

We found the beach nice to look at and well-maintained/clean but the water was physically polluted with candy wrappers and other garbage... and it sort of had a "funky" smell...  Only surfers went in the water with us.
 
Cheryl and I always bring a deflated volleyball and pump with us when travelling - suffice it to say that the ball got inflated and used in some 1-on-1 pepper, but, unfortunately, we couldn't strike up a game of 2's like we did in Hawaii.

Chelsea getting geared-up

Getting industrious while watching the surf schoolers

Cheryl also went for a jog on the walkway that borders the beach and happened upon the "Sculptures By The Sea" travelling exhibit.

Sculpture

More sculpture

And more...

Bondi was everything we expected this renowned inner-city beach to be.

 

Darling Harbour

We walked the harbour for quite a while...

Cool museums

Clean, organized and pretty waterfront

High-rise bliss - tourists mixing with new-age biz-types - an odd coupling

Tons of construction - lots of buzz in Sydney

We visited 'The Rocks' - an old-school downtown neighbourhood packed to the hilt with restaurants and shops - nice to look at, but nothing really tempted us.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge

You can book a tour to hike right up the archway of the Sydney bridge.  It's costly, but it's clearly a fun thing to do, as evidenced by all the famous people that have done it.  Be forewarned  that the ascent and descent are very slow - perhaps frustrating for fit people.  Also, note that you can't bring your own camera - the operator takes your photo for you... and then kindly sells it to you at the end.

We chose to climb up the Bridge Pylon Lookout instead, as a family.  There's a family rate for 2 adults and up to 5 kids.

The views are nifty and there are some historical exhibitions inside the pylon - it's well done and gets you over 50% of the way up the bridge in altitude - not bad.

Wonderful views!

The stair-climb isn't very tough - this is a definite family-friendly activity.

Rooftop fun!

Fires!!

We happened to be in Sydney during a series of serious wildfires throughout NSW.

It inflicted major devastation on people and property - very scary.  Smoke filled the air in Sydney - right into downtown.

Fire!

In Summary

We could have used more time in Sydney :)  Budget travellers beware - there are ways to leverage public facilities, discounts and other clever ways to travel on a budget... you'll need to use all your tricks in Sydney.

We couldn't, in the limited time we had, put our fingers on the pulse of Sydney, but from what we gathered, "Sydneysiders" like to eat out, they work hard/play hard and they love the avant-gardeness of their space and are striving to be a world-class city - and it is!

Sydney reminded us of Toronto.  Our Sydneysider friends describe the "BBD mentality" of those who live around them - always looking for the Bigger, Better Deal and drinking from life's urban fire hose.

It's pretty, it's polished, it's fun, it's friendly... and it's very expensive.