I'm at ICN (seoul, south korea airport) and on my way to Australia - please send any recommendations for things to do - I have the whole weekend to myself there

I'm staying in City Centre near Hyde Park

11/4/2010 6:13:37 AM

First off, don't forget how to spell Center...or Hide for that matter.

Just sayin'

11/4/2010 7:21:48 AM

just don't fly quantas! their planes be broken

11/4/2010 8:21:09 AM

You could visit my friend

11/4/2010 9:06:57 AM

Go to Darling harbor. Go to the opera house. There's bars all over the place. Just pick one, you can't go wrong.

11/4/2010 9:09:42 AM

ride to the top of the AMP Tower / Golden Bucket ... great view

11/4/2010 9:21:45 AM

do an australian chick and make her talk dirty

11/4/2010 9:24:50 AM

Don't let dingos eat your baby.

11/4/2010 10:21:06 AM

Go to Blue Mountains.
Go to Bills to have famous Ricotta Hotcakes (pancake). The cafe is located in Surry Hills, Darlinghurst, and Woollahra.

11/4/2010 10:33:39 AM

flush a toilet and watch the water spin the other way

11/4/2010 11:42:10 AM

Go to the beach! You can go to Bondi Beach, spend some time on the beach, and then walk along the cliffs to Coogee Beach. The first part of the walk is like a greenway, but the second part of the walk puts you right along the cliffs for some great views. It also passes through a cool cemetery right on the water. You could also go to Manly beach instead which requires you to take a ferry across the harbor (which is very cool too).

Some of the best night life is in "The Rocks", which is near Circular Quay (not too far from where you are at). If you want to stay near George Street and Central Sydney, 3 Wise Monkeys and Scruffy Murphy's will probably be the most lively.

Darling Harbor is cool to walk around too, sometimes they have events going on during the weekend.

11/4/2010 11:51:06 AM

If you don't mind spending AUD200 or so, climb the harbor bridge! I really loved it.

If you go to Bondi Beach, try pork/beef ribs at the Hurricane's Grill & Bar (restaurant)/Express (takeout)!

11/4/2010 12:43:56 PM

Kings Cross is a short walk from Hyde Park. Good entertainment.

Hit up Bondi, Coogee and Manly beaches.

Go to the zoo and royal botanical gardens.

11/4/2010 3:47:33 PM

^^ you can also get into fights walking back from dinner while getting ice cream at McDonalds

11/4/2010 4:28:06 PM

Bondi beach will be about a 15 minute cab ride from where you are. the Harbor Bridge climb is well worth it. also some nightlife in the Darling Harbor area - walking distance from you.

was there about this time 5 years ago. November is a good time to go.

man, time flies.

[Edited on November 4, 2010 at 4:52 PM. Reason : ]

11/4/2010 4:52:12 PM

eat some steak sandwiches, drink some beers, and find a shorty to go down under

11/4/2010 9:01:25 PM

thanks for the legit recommendations from the few of you

in my hotel and finally work is slowing down a bit - i'm planning on doing the harbour bridge and the opera house tomorrow

it's pretty cold for the beach - unless you meant to go just to go see it

tonight i just want a good meal and a good bar

11/5/2010 12:46:01 AM

i'll also say the harbour bridge climb is worth it. as far as food, i'm not really sure what to recommend. i remember being not so impressed by the food anywhere in australia...although hot chips and gravy are always good. ice cream cones at mcdonalds were 30 cents and when i used to live there, 30 cents equaled about 15 US cents. my high school friend visited me last christmas and was amazed by the free refills at restaurants. i don't remember refills costing anything when i was there, but watch out just in case. the zoo is also pretty cool. you have to take a ferry to get over there, but it's a nice little ride across the harbour.

11/5/2010 11:21:17 AM

Dear God - i feel the need to save you.

Check out this place...http://www.australianheritagehotel.com/ for the best beer selection in the country. Their pizza is awesome - be adventurous and go for one of the ones with crocodile, kangaroo, or emu.

That area, "The Rocks", is where the convicts were initially sent and has the oldest bars in the country. There are a ton of cool places there, but start at the Australian Hotel (i'm sure you know that hotel has a different connotation there).

Harry's Cart http://www.harryscafedewheels.com.au/Home.aspx?element=1&category=1 is awesome. It's a little out of the way (kind of downhill from the red light district towards the city centre) but its open 24 hours and is an absolutely essential experience in my opionion.

The harbour bridge is cool, but i wouldnt do it again. The Opera House is best from the exterior - i wouldnt feel the need to go inside again.

I actually really liked the botanical gardens which are also right by the opera house. I ate lunch at the top of that tower that was mentioned, and it was awful. The experience in general wasnt anything special.

Darling Harbour was pretty cool - food will be pricey though. The restaurants on the harbour overlooking the opera house are all awesome, but really expensive.

You probably dont have time for the Blue Mountains, which is unfortunate, but the city centre is fun.

and yeah, Bondi and Manly beach are cool to see even in the winter.

[Edited on November 5, 2010 at 12:13 PM. Reason : k]

11/5/2010 12:12:30 PM

Quote :

"^^ you can also get into fights walking back from dinner while getting ice cream at McDonalds "

Yea, that was the most entertaining part of my Sydney stay! Do you miss living in Australia?

11/5/2010 2:28:17 PM

Went to the Aussie hotel and had the kangaroo pizza - it was delicious

Booked the twilight climb for tomorrow for the Harbour bridge

I love this city - everyone is drinking all the time

heading to darling harbour tonight to grab some beers

11/6/2010 3:33:45 AM

I love that people are talking about the fights. When I started reading some of the places being recommended that's what I wanted to post. Has anyone ever gone to Scruffy Murphy's and not gotten into a fight, or at the very least had one break out right next to you?

11/6/2010 2:13:18 PM

Nice - glad you enjoyed.

11/6/2010 2:14:07 PM

I just got back from Syndey two weeks ago. I'll try to summarize some of things we did, though I realize you only have 1 day left.

Opera House - tour (~AU$30) is worth it if you're interested in construction/architecture. The concert hall is amazing, but the actual opera theatre is very underwhelming

National Maritime Museum - museum is free, but worth it to pay (AU$20) to explore the HMAS Vampire destoryer and HMAS Onslow submarine. - http://www.anmm.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=1210

Australian Museum - AU$12 iirc - Not that great as far as museums go. Guess it would worth worth the cheap price if you have the time and like history

Aquarium - not worth the money or time unless you really like wildlife. They have *lots* of native and non-native fish, but the whole thing seemed really cheap and cheesy to me. You can walk through a tunnel under the shark (no large sharks, sorry) tank and under the dugong (seacow) tank.

Wildlife World - we didn't go, but it's right next to the aquarium at Darling Harbour. Our guess was it was set up a lot life the aquarium. Instead I definitely suggest Featherdale Wildlife Reserve if you want to see the native wildlife

Featherdale Wildlife Reserve - AU$23, about 45 min outside of Sydney center. It would probably be easy to find a company to bus you out there. It was part of our Blue Mountains tour. Basically a tiny zoo with all the native animals. You can pet and hand-feed kangaroos, wallabies, emus, and koalas. http://www.featherdale.com.au

Bondi Beach - meh, tourist beach and not a lot to see but stores/restaurants and a beach. Getting there will require you to figure out their bus transit system, which, in our experience, wasn't very easy or friendly.

Manly Beach - take the Manly ferry (maybe AU$4) from Circular Quay (pronounced "key") over to the town of Manly. From there walk down to the beach. If you're looking at the water, to your right you'll see a walking path that you can walk to view the rocky shoreline and it will take you to Shelley beach. If you're an outdoorsy person and want to hike and see some awesome cliff views take the trail past Shelly beach up to the parking lot on the hill. Keep going till you hit the fence at the edge of the parking lot, and then follow it ot he right. Soon you'll come to a trailhead that heads up into the cliffs. You'll end up seeing a sign that warns you that there are no rails/enter at your own risk. Very nice cliff views. If you keep following the trail and hit another of the same sign facing a stone wall/hole, that's the start of the nature reserve. From there's it's at least another 30-40 min walk to civilization, you may just want to turn back there.
You can see it better on the map here, http://www.walkingcoastalsydney.com.au/brochures/manly_lagoon_to_north_head_and_the_spit.htm

Taronga Zoo - about AU$50 with ferry ticket included. Has all the animal that Featherdale does, minus the dingo, plus lots of the usual zoo animals. You can walk with the kangaroos, wallibies, and emus, but you can't pet or feed them. You can feed koalas only during a certain period of the day. Probably takes about 4-5 hours to see the whole zoo depending on your pace, so probably better to have an entire day.

At AU$200 the Harbour Bridge climb did not interest us. We were there for 7 whole days, so that much money for 4 hours wasn't worth it. I guess if you only have two days to find stuff to do and waste money that would be a good choice

The Rocks - few things to do, walking tour (AU$30) shows you around and talks about the history. Sat&Sun they have an open air market in the middle of the rocks http://www.therocks.com/index.cfm?menu_id=3601



tl;dr SUMMARY:
- go to Featherdale Wildlife Reserve to see the native wildlife (~2 hr?)
- go to National Maritime Museum to tour warship and submarine (~1.5 hr)
- go to Manly/Shelly Beach to see ocean and hike (you can do this after 5pm, which is when everything of interested closes. keep an eye on when sunset is)

11/6/2010 2:59:09 PM

thanks - i'll actually be in sydney until wednesday and then headed to melbourne wednesday night - then coming back to sydney for the weekend again for some meetings monday and tuesday

11/6/2010 9:45:38 PM

You'd have to be crazy to not do the Harbour bridge climb - coolest thing I've done during this trip to Australia / Malaysia / Hong Kong

Very impressive!

11/7/2010 5:32:10 AM

Whatever you do, don't disparage the boot. It is a bootable offense.

11/8/2010 9:35:17 AM

In Melbourne until Friday now - much much more low key city - on the plus side the first place I went had makers mark

11/10/2010 5:50:21 AM

I've been to Melbourne a couple times. The largest and most famous cricket pitch is located there (it's like yankee stadium here). I went to the top of the Rialto Tower (tallest building in Australia i think), and the view was great but nothing super crazy. I spent a lot of time walking around the city and the parks. The trolley system is really screwy, I NEVER saw anyone buy a ticket when I rode them. In fact, I think most people looked at me weird when I tried to figure out the pay stations.

Here is the blog entry I wrote on my first trip to Melbourne: http://mikeallover.travellerspoint.com/17/

11/10/2010 2:13:22 PM

Find a barbie and throw shrimp on it.

11/10/2010 2:15:21 PM

^ They're called prawns, mate.

11/10/2010 2:54:32 PM

I actually liked Melbourne a lot more than Sydney, but part of that was because I went there first, spent more time there, and because of the people I met/hung out with there.

If you want bars, the ABSOLUTE best thing to do is spend a night (preferably with some other ppl) going to the "alley bars." Walk around downtown and explore the alleys (less sketchy than it sounds, I promise) and go to random bars. For a slightly less ballsy move you can find decks of playing cards with 52 random alley bars in a lot of gift shops. Pay attention to the alleys as you walk past in the daytime too because there's some incredible art/construction/graffiti in some of them. Otherwise, Pugg Mahones is a pretty good Irish pub, depending on the night/live music.

I was a pretty big fan of the St. Kilda area. The beaches aren't too bad, there's a nice strip (Carlisle St. I think) of cafes/bars/shops, and you can catch a great shot of the Melbourne skyline from the pier, or even better from the ferry to/from Williamstown. The Esplanade ("the Espy") has great live music most night and the clown-faced entrance to Luna Park alone is worth the quick ride over to St. Kilda.

Federation square is a must see for all of the art and performers who are usually out. Right outside of downtown the botanical gardens aren't quite as good as Sydney, but it's a nice spot for a walk/run and some people watching. Queen Victoria Market is HUGE and worth a trip even if you're not interested in buying anything. Plus you can't go wrong with any of the museums in town.

Unquestionably the best day I had in the 7 months I was there was the Melbourne Cup, which unfortunately for you was last Tuesday, but if you're ever back you HAVE to go. Get dressed up, get piss drunk, harass all of the beautiful Aussie's in their silly hats. But, Melbourne is known for its sports so check and see if there's anything going on: cricket at the MCG, rugby, aussie rules, tennis at Rod Laver, etc. and there are festivals going on all the time so look into that too.

Hope this helps!

11/10/2010 3:02:19 PM

When I went three years ago, I spent an evening in the 'establishment' next door to scruffy murphy's. That was a very interesting night.

11/11/2010 6:54:06 PM

heading back to sydney tonight - i had some jugs at scruffy murphy's the other night

11/11/2010 8:58:04 PM

^^^^

whoops.

Find a prawn and throw shrimp on it.

11/12/2010 12:06:33 PM

whaddya think of the aussie girls? Are they cute? Been thinking about visiting but really just to meet the girls their accents are the best

11/12/2010 3:57:12 PM

In general, they were more fit and much less obese than the US.

11/12/2010 4:40:35 PM

yesterday my ceo offered me a 1-2yr spot to build out our APAC business - would be based in australia (likely sydney area) because it's the only country i could sell my wife on

starting in 3ish months - thinking it over

11/15/2010 5:40:53 AM

do it.

11/15/2010 8:36:09 PM

Manly is a pretty awesome town. Ride the ferry to the north side of Sydney and go on a drive up the coastline. Some of the prettiest beaches are up there. I used to live on Newport beach.

11/16/2010 8:34:17 PM

yeah i spent this past sunday/monday in manly and it was great - was at the novotel right on the beach - went on a 10k run along the coast and the hills wore me the crap out - we climbed some large mountain with an amazing overlook

this was the path - give or take http://tinyurl.com/3a2tll7

saw some penguins by the beach late at night too - first wild penguins i've ever seen

11/17/2010 1:27:43 AM

so this has become a bit more serious - the rough plan if we choose to take it is to move into a corporate apartment late january - we'd keep our townhouse in ATL and not rent it out

my company will probably bring my wife on to work with me to build out our APAC business as well - that's the part we are still working on and is rather unknown right now - at the job she just left she did basically the same thing i do right now

11/22/2010 5:45:49 PM

^^ you saw penguins?

i'm so jealous. part of me just died a little.



I told my mom one day, that if i was a sad, dying child with cancer or something, I wanna hug a penguin before i die haha

11/22/2010 6:03:43 PM

so a bit of an update - heading back on friday for 2 weeks (split between sydney/melbourne/auckland) - while i'm over there i'll be apartment hunting in melbourne as opposed to sydney like i thought before

looking in the kew junction area as that will be near the area where we open our office - for people that have lived in melbourne is there anything in general i should be aware of other than the prices seem to be a bit on the higher side - i'll be looking for at least a 2br/1ba that is a walk or short tram ride away from the office so i'd like to stay in kew/camberwell if possible i think

2/8/2011 8:54:01 AM

Quote :

"yeah i spent this past sunday/monday in manly and it was great - was at the novotel right on the beach - went on a 10k run along the coast and the hills wore me the crap out - we climbed some large mountain with an amazing overlook this was the path - give or take http://tinyurl.com/3a2tll7 saw some penguins by the beach late at night too - first wild penguins i've ever seen"

Ya, we hiked from Manly Beach to Shelley Beach then out to the North Head Army Barracks. There's a trail that overlooks the Pacific Ocean east of Shelly Beach. I think the penguins nest on the beach near the area marked as Old Quarantine Station.

Never been to Melbourne, but good luck!

2/8/2011 1:41:48 PM

Sausage rolls and vegemite

2/8/2011 3:49:23 PM

So is this thread about Sydney, Australia, or is it OmarBadu's blog?

I'm confused.

2/10/2011 8:44:46 AM

it was about sydney - now it's about me moving to melbourne - glad you can follow

2/11/2011 8:14:53 AM

So I can't post about Sydney, Australia, in this thread anymore?

2/11/2011 8:17:43 AM

of course you can - leaving today for 19 days

2/11/2011 8:36:14 AM