Sydney - The Sites
When many people go to visit Sydney, the first thing they want to see is the famous Opera House, and why not, it's a unique building. Right beside the Opera House is the famed Sydney Harbour Bridge, as impressive a bridge as there is in the world. This post is not going to cover either of those since so many people already have it on their radar to go see these sites. Some people, including us, like to get a hop-on hop-off bus tour when they get to a major city. These are convenient ways to get to know more about a town, and help you get your bearings when you arrive. While we took a bus tour of the city, I will recommend that you don't when you get there. If you want to you will certainly enjoy it, but the heart of Sydney is not big, and can easily be walked with a map that is located at most hotels. They do have a very detailed public bus system, which should be easy for most Americans to use since all of the routes are in English, if you feel like moving without walking, or you can take the subway out to the suburbs.
Our first night in town we learned that Sydney was hosting their annual winter Vivid Sydney light festival. A unique event that lights up the different neighborhoods of the town with awesome light displays, the shows are completely free and lasts for more than a month. You could spend a week in Sydney, and have a different show to view each night. Over three nights we made it to three different light shows including the Sydney Opera House, The Rocks, and Darling Harbour. Once one of the main ports in the city, Darling Harbour is now one of the trendiest neighborhoods in Sydney. Both sides of the harbor are lined with expensive stores, fine dining, and other attractions like the Sydney Aquarium. The next neighborhood beside Darling Harbour is Chinatown. I need to emphasize this as well as I can, I've never seen a Chinatown like this other than when we were actually in China. I have been to Chinatown in Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, and Washington D.C., and none of them feel anything like Sydney's Chinatown. Obviously there is a reason for that, China being much closer to Australia than North America or Europe. This Chinatown is more than a street or a block, it is multiple city blocks with hundreds of thousands of people still speaking Chinese on a daily basis. There is the Chinese Friendship Garden in the heart of the neighborhood, and the locally famous Paddy's Market, a multi-floor flea market that sells any real or knockoff item you can imagine that feels just like the Silk Market of Beijing. The streets are lined with restaurants, so many so that you wonder how they stay open. Look for the stairs that go down if you are looking for inexpensive meals. The below ground restaurants know they have to offer better prices to compete with the street-level restaurants, and the food tastes great.
Another fun activity everyone should check out is the Sydney Fish Market. Listed as the third largest fish market in the world, the shops that line the market's edge are overflowing with seafood of every kind imaginable. Inside you can walk from shop to shop, and buy some fresh fish to take home on your own, or you can order from the buffet style serving lines at each shop. You don't have to worry about it being fresh either, you can watch as they get the fish out of the tanks and cook it in a matter of minutes. Be warned, you are not going to be the only people in there. The market is overflowing not just with seafood, but with tourist buses dropping off their passengers for a lunch. While you are in the market look for some of the wild creatures you may not have seen in the United States. Wendy and I saw a tank with crabs sitting in them. They were so large I thought it must be a distortion of the water that makes them look that big. I asked the worker how big those crabs were, and he said between 5-6 kilograms. Priced at $160 a kilogram, you were going to have to put down nearly $1000 to buy one. He said they were so big you couldn't cook them at home, and the seafood stands had special hydraulic saws to cut through the shells. On the opposite side of the market is a treat for all Southern travelers like us. Vic's Meat Market is a high end butcher shop with a Southern barbecue restaurant attached. Not only is their barbecue really good, they have a variety of sauces you can try from a traditional ketchup based sauce, to a South Carolina mustard based sauce. These guys really put some time into learning how to make barbecue the right way, and have one of the best slogans I've ever heard, "Put the South in your mouth!"
If you're looking for something to do during the evening, consider checking out a local sporting event. Australia has several professional sports leagues including Australian Football, Rugby, Soccer, and Basketball. The most popular sport in the country is easily Australian Football. Wendy and I decided to take a night to go check out the local Sydney Swans, clearly a more intimidating animal in Australia than America, as they took on the Western Bulldogs. Australian Football is like nothing you have ever seen before. In what looks like a combination of every sport ever played, and then some other weird stuff thrown in, but it's definitely a spectacle to behold. While we only got to see one game, I think I picked up the basics of the rules. There are 18 men on the field from each team. There are at least eight officials on the field, and two trainers who are running around in the action at all time. Add it up and there are well over 40 people on the field at once. The field is enormous, more than 150 meters long and wide. The players can either toss the ball back (like rugby), kick it forward (like soccer), or run and dribble it (like basketball). If a player catches the ball from one of his teammates inside of the 50 meter line they can try a free kick towards the double set of goal post. Inside the middle goal posts is six points, while a kick through the outer posts is only one point. There is a clock, but it's apparently only for your amusement as the referee on the field decides when each quarter ends. Some went for 25 minutes, another went for 30 minutes. If the ball goes out of bounds, don't worry, the official will throw it back in over his back while facing the crowd, of course. All of that being said, the game was unbelievably fun to watch. The players were constantly in motion, and the thousands of Australians there clearly know what they were seeing because they were all into it. The players are hitting at wide open speeds, but somehow no one got hurt during our game, which we are glad to say the Sydney Swans (our new favorite Australian Football team) won in a decisive manner. The games in Sydney are held at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Located on the outskirts of Sydney, it is a fun half hour walk from the Hyde Park area to get there.
While this is not all of the things there is to do in Sydney, it's a really good start. You could easily plan a week around the historic and modern sites the city has to offer, but if you wanted to you can see the city well in 4-5 days. As a young man my father used to tell me stories about working in Australia for several years in the 1970's, and how much he wanted to return. After visiting, I can understand why he liked it so much. I hope that everyone will have an opportunity to visit this modern city, and understand why so many people from around the world look forward to visiting there each year.
Another fun activity everyone should check out is the Sydney Fish Market. Listed as the third largest fish market in the world, the shops that line the market's edge are overflowing with seafood of every kind imaginable. Inside you can walk from shop to shop, and buy some fresh fish to take home on your own, or you can order from the buffet style serving lines at each shop. You don't have to worry about it being fresh either, you can watch as they get the fish out of the tanks and cook it in a matter of minutes. Be warned, you are not going to be the only people in there. The market is overflowing not just with seafood, but with tourist buses dropping off their passengers for a lunch. While you are in the market look for some of the wild creatures you may not have seen in the United States. Wendy and I saw a tank with crabs sitting in them. They were so large I thought it must be a distortion of the water that makes them look that big. I asked the worker how big those crabs were, and he said between 5-6 kilograms. Priced at $160 a kilogram, you were going to have to put down nearly $1000 to buy one. He said they were so big you couldn't cook them at home, and the seafood stands had special hydraulic saws to cut through the shells. On the opposite side of the market is a treat for all Southern travelers like us. Vic's Meat Market is a high end butcher shop with a Southern barbecue restaurant attached. Not only is their barbecue really good, they have a variety of sauces you can try from a traditional ketchup based sauce, to a South Carolina mustard based sauce. These guys really put some time into learning how to make barbecue the right way, and have one of the best slogans I've ever heard, "Put the South in your mouth!"
If you're looking for something to do during the evening, consider checking out a local sporting event. Australia has several professional sports leagues including Australian Football, Rugby, Soccer, and Basketball. The most popular sport in the country is easily Australian Football. Wendy and I decided to take a night to go check out the local Sydney Swans, clearly a more intimidating animal in Australia than America, as they took on the Western Bulldogs. Australian Football is like nothing you have ever seen before. In what looks like a combination of every sport ever played, and then some other weird stuff thrown in, but it's definitely a spectacle to behold. While we only got to see one game, I think I picked up the basics of the rules. There are 18 men on the field from each team. There are at least eight officials on the field, and two trainers who are running around in the action at all time. Add it up and there are well over 40 people on the field at once. The field is enormous, more than 150 meters long and wide. The players can either toss the ball back (like rugby), kick it forward (like soccer), or run and dribble it (like basketball). If a player catches the ball from one of his teammates inside of the 50 meter line they can try a free kick towards the double set of goal post. Inside the middle goal posts is six points, while a kick through the outer posts is only one point. There is a clock, but it's apparently only for your amusement as the referee on the field decides when each quarter ends. Some went for 25 minutes, another went for 30 minutes. If the ball goes out of bounds, don't worry, the official will throw it back in over his back while facing the crowd, of course. All of that being said, the game was unbelievably fun to watch. The players were constantly in motion, and the thousands of Australians there clearly know what they were seeing because they were all into it. The players are hitting at wide open speeds, but somehow no one got hurt during our game, which we are glad to say the Sydney Swans (our new favorite Australian Football team) won in a decisive manner. The games in Sydney are held at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Located on the outskirts of Sydney, it is a fun half hour walk from the Hyde Park area to get there.
While this is not all of the things there is to do in Sydney, it's a really good start. You could easily plan a week around the historic and modern sites the city has to offer, but if you wanted to you can see the city well in 4-5 days. As a young man my father used to tell me stories about working in Australia for several years in the 1970's, and how much he wanted to return. After visiting, I can understand why he liked it so much. I hope that everyone will have an opportunity to visit this modern city, and understand why so many people from around the world look forward to visiting there each year.
Post a Comment