I'm planning an August trip with my girlfriend. We'll arrive in town early on a Sunday morning and depart for the US the following Monday around noon. Given that we'll have 8 full days there, I basically have two questions:

1. Should we spend the whole time in Sydney? (FYI, I was there once about 10 years ago. My companion has never been.)
2. If not, what's a good side trip? Gold Coast, rainforest, Melbourne, Auckland?

I'd greatly appreciate any comments. Thanks!

Hey smg77,

I think that stretching the whole vacation out in Sydney would be a bit wasteful. It also depends on what your pleasure is. Given Australia's size, you could do a split between Sydney and the rainforest, or keep it to city tours. In Sydney, if you do just one thing, go for the Bridge Climb, about $70 US, try to book in advance for the late afternoon/early evening climb to get both daylight views and a night view. Way cool 3 hours. Spend an evening touring around the backpackers areas (interesting sights), and the obligatory tourist run of the Rocks and the Harbors. The aquarium is world class if you're into sharks and such. With the exchange rate being about $2 AUS to $1 US, the Westin is a great hotel, in the old GPO (post office) building. Best guide book for the young (at heart or in age) IMHO is Lonely Planet.

Have fun

I agree, to go all that way for Sydney and its beaches, would be a stretch IMO.

A flight to Cairns for the Daintree Rainforest Hike/tour.

or

A flight to the outback for a two day adventure at Ayers Rock and the Olgas.

at least,

drive out the the Blue Mountains about an hour west of Sydney.

I've never done it, but I believe there are some wineries within driving distance where you could stay over also.

If you want more info, email me.

Besides Hiking the bridge in Sydney.

Try to see some performance at the Sydney Opera House (it's not all opera).

The Blue Mountains are pretty neat. You can hike and there are some good inns/guest houses. I also second a visit to the Opera House for a concert. Even if you are not keen on the program presented on the night you choose, the experience is worth the time.

Ok, a Sydneysider's perspective

Bridge Climb is DEFINITELY worth doing, I've never done it, but would LOVE to (I've seen the people on top of the bridge, it's quite funny )

Blue Mountains will be around 0 - 10 Celsius (around 32 - 40 something Fahrenheit), so if you do go to the "Blueys", take some warm clothing (though I realise SEA is much colder in winter). The drive is about 2 hours to Katoomba (which is where the main action is) from Sydney CBD. Though, if you stay a night or two there, stay at this place called Fairmont Resort, Leura (2 miles east of Katoomba), it's very, very relaxing and quite reasonable (especially at current Xchange rates).

The wineries that Sweet Willie talks about is the Hunter Valley. These wineries are excellent tasting wineries and there's plenty of world class stuff on offer (though you might be able to score some off the airline coming over ). The drive is about 2 and a half hours, saying up there for a night is also very good.

Opera House is good, performances there can be so-so, but occasionally good conductors come and bring the best out of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (sorry, it's the musician in me talking).

Get the Lonely Planet, it's a good guide to Sydney and will tell you more than I can in the limited time and space here.

If you want to go elsewhere in Australia, stick to the main cities if price is your concern because the airfare from SYD-ASP (Alice Springs) is about $US200 return per person on 21 day advance purchase, but airfares to the Gold Coast, Melbourne or Brisbane are available on the internet while in Australia, but on weekdays, it might be difficult to get anything cheap (cheapest 21 day advance is about $US200 - like DCA-LGA shuttles I suspect). The internet airfares can be as low as $US33 betw. SYD-MEL.

Exploring the city will take about 2 days, especially if you walk it, it's not a small city area, but there are buses.

Probably the best thing will be to check out the information desk at your hotel when you get here unless you want to go elsewhere in Australia which I don't recommend since you only have 8 days.

I'll second the Westin, it's CLASS...

Enjoy

Regards,

Clement

Take the Sydney Harbour ferries to as many destinations as time allows. I enjoy Manly for lunch and a walk on the beach in any season.

Plan a day sipping your way through Hunter Valley wine country; drive the convict road northbound and stop at Mulla Villa for tea and scones; return on the freeway.

Fly to Cairns and spend at least a couple of days exploring the Great Barrier Reef and the rain forest.

This was my best investment for my 5 week stay in SYD earlier this year!

If you like being active during vacations then 8 days may be a little too long. I would recommend a trip up to Port Douglas and go out to the Great Barrier Reef for snorkeling / diving and also take a drive up to the rain forest.

smg77

There is enough to do in Sydney for 20 days IMHO! My highlights were the zoo, the Chinese Gardens, the Royal Bot. Gardens, Harbor cruise, Tolerance Museum, Opera House, Circular Quay, The rocks, Art Gallery of NSW, Darling Harbour, Sydney Aquarium, National Maritimne Museum, Sydney Tower, walking the streets and taking tours with AATKings and AustPacTours.

If you want a couple days elsewhere try Canberra..the war museum is fantastic and can take all day plus.

Skip Cairns. It is way too good to rush. Plan at least one week or longer to do any justice to it!

The good thing about Sydney is that everytime you fly to Austrailia you have a chance for a stay over in Sydney to pick up what you missed or did not have time to see. Same with Melbourne.

Have fun.

We have been three years in a row and will try again in Feb-Mar 2002.

I'll keep plugging my city until someone tells me to stop it

ranles has put me to shame unfortunately, I've left out a lot in my original post, and his highlights list is excellent. Took it all out of my mouth actually . He did miss two things and one's the Jewish museum, mostly in dedication to the victims of the Holocaust. The other is the Museum of the City of Sydney, which is one the site of the original Government House when the British arrived in 1788.

I'll reiterate the fact that airfares are way too expensive to try Port Douglas and Cairns for only 2 or so days. Perhaps next time you can plan your trip around Port Douglas and the GBReef. Cairns is a 3 hours flight from Sydney remember.

I forgot about Canberra (cos our Aussie politicians are there). The War Memorial is very good and there's always Parliament house if you're keen. It's about 3 and 1/2 hours drive from SYdney CBD.

Regards,

Clement

Im from Sydney and think you need at least 3-4 days but Tasmania is wonderful and dont forget the history there!There are some fabulous B&Bs and homestays and wonderful buildings and bridges or I do second the Barrier reef-Ive never seen anything like it and we have the most wonderful birdlife. they have a breakfast with the birds in port Douglas which is a real hoot!

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Hyatt Diamond/Hilton Diamond/Starwood Platinum/UA1K-Ansett-WHITE/Qantas-WHITE

I vote for dividing time equally between Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart. Can't go wrong.
Qantas has great specials to Hobart from Melbourne and return.

I'll second the Blue Mountains, though it will be winter there in August and on the cool side. I was there this last September for the 3rd-4th time and it was fine during the day, but freezing cold once the sun went down. You're at about 3,000 feet if I recall right. There is a visitors center at the trail access next to the Three Sisters rock formation in Katoomba.

I walked over to Leura (backpackers do these things), maybe about 3-4 miles from Katoomba (though there is a rail station there too). I bought a whole bunch of Christmas presents at the small shops that line the street there.

You can easily get up there by train from the central railway station in Sydney. The timetable for the Blue Mountain line is at:

http://www.cityrail.nsw.gov.au/timetables/index.htm

Melbourne is an easy 12 hour bus or train ride from Sydney (day or night trips), if you wanted to go that way instead of fly. Can you do your airfare as an open jaw (fly into Sydney and home frmo Melbourne)? It might price out to exactly the same if you have not booked it yet.

If I was going to fly to one place, I'd head out to Alice Springs or Ayers Rock. You can pick up some 3 day tours from Alice that include Ayers Rock/Uluru (and The Olgas, and Kings Canyon, my favorite place there), but if you have time restraints probably best to fly into Ayers Rock directly and stay there for a night.

I have photos of all of these places. Let me know and I can e-mail some to you if you are interested.

Gold coast? Would not be on my list. I'd head to the Sunshine Coast and Noosa instead, if you're looking for beach. Good selection of restaurants, hotels, beautiful beach (Sunshine Beach), and national park with superb ocean views. I've seen koalas in the park here before.

If you're looking for something on the quiet side and less touristed, Mission Beach, about 90 minutes south of Cairns, is also one of my favorite spots. I brought friends there in 1999 when we were over for Pan Pacs in Sydney and they loved it there. The beach is 14km (8 miles) long, and not heavily touristed. Even got them to one of the pubs for backpackers night (steak and salad bar for $A2, but we consumed many beers to make up for the cheap food).

Anyway you can stretch out more than 8 days? There's just so much to see that you're barely going to be able to do justice to the country.