Pollyana

So me and my trusty Lonely Planet book are off to Sydney for four days.....
looking for some hints on what/where/how

Good pubs in the centre? (specially ones likely to be showing UK football on Sat night/Sun morning) preferably not plastic & chrome, but ones with a bit of character!
Is there a public transport ticket thing I can buy that does all the trains/buses/ferries - like the Go card or Oyster card?
Anyone know of any good witchy/mystery/astrology/New Age type shops?

Only time I've been to Sydney before was between flights and we only had time to get a ferry across to Manley and back; I'd like to do some kind of longer cruise round the Harbour - any recommendations? do they have anything like Brisbane's kookaburra Queen that does dinner cruises?

Ghost tours/historical tours - anything in that line welcome

I was supposed to be meeting people there but that's fallen through so I need convincing that its still worth spending four days there

sonlymewalter

Sydney is great and if you go to the Rocks there are loads of pubs to chose from including some older type pubs as well as the more funky ones. You just need to look around for em

Not sure about the shops you want to see. I've only visited arty type shops on the Rocks but I'd think they've got one somewhere as there's plenty of choice.

No idea re transport as we normally get taxi's and stay in the city but take a look at this mate http://www.bugaustralia.com/sydney/ga.html

Ferry round the harbour - we used these people and they were reasonable price wise http://www.captaincook.com.au/home.a...D1BB4E99B1C0CD

Another tip: I usually go on line and look for coupons with special offers. There's usually something on line..

You'll love it mate, great place to visit

Pollyana

Thanks

The cruise link looks fab, just the sort of thing I was after

Sherlock Holmes

Can't help at all but have a jolly good time.

OxOz

About 4 years ago we did an evening opera cruise with Captain Cook tours and it was fantastic. Also did an afternoon tea type tour with them.

sonlymewalter

we did the afternoon tea and got a free beer

Sherlock Holmes

how many sugars?

sonlymewalter

TakenThePlunge

Well, i usually catch the games at Scruffy Murphys, as it's name suggests it's not upmarket :-) I don't go quite so much anymore since the daughter started drinking there...apparently i cramp her style.

The public transport all in one ticket is a MyMulti - for a weekly that will get you on unlimited ferry, unlimited bus and train and light rail in the centre only, it's $48 - don't bother with the daily version as that's $20 a day.

There's plenty of cruises that do dinner, one of the best values is the tall ship http://www.sydneytallships.com.au/tw...r-cruises.html - you can throw in an extra $20 and get all drinks and a mast climb thrown in.

The Rocks is the best place to go for historical tours, but the free tour is probably a great start http://www.imfree.com.au/

If money is no object a bridge climb is great, but it does get pretty expensive.

The pubs and eateries around Darling Harbour are a bit of a tourist trap, but Bungalow8 is not bad value.

For new age shops, Sydney is not that well served. Newtown is the supposed place, but it's more just fashion and arts. It is where everyone goes for Goth type stuff though, and there is a nice shop in Enmore Street, the cabinet of Curiosities, here's their ebay page - http://stores.ebay.com.au/Le-Cabinet-des-Curiosities.
There's a great shop in Willoughby, see http://www.heavenlyenergies.com.au/ - but not all that easy to get to. There's also a healing crystal shop in Nurses walk in the rocks, I believe it's called the Crystal Gallery, but it seems a bit touristy.

I'd volunteer to help show you round, but me and the wife are off to South Africa next week for 3 weeks to the sister's wedding.

Pollyana

Oooh thanks for all the info - and the offer! Hope you have a great time at the wedding

Looked up Scruffy Murphys; sounds like my sort of pub so I'll give that a go. Not tragic if I don't see any football but its a good excuse to try a few new pubs
I'd had a browse through google for New Age shops and couldn't find much but I thought it was worth an ask, just in case. Not really into the Bridge Climb thing, I'm not big on heights (or cash!!) but that cruise trip looks good, and the Rocks sounds like the area I want to be heading for

And thats just the kind of transport ticket I was after, off to check it out

Cheers!

fish.01

Great timing on the question Polly...we're going there for a week over the holidays.

The White Rabbit Gallery gallery is free and is reportably really great, not stuffy with good tours: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...uth_Wales.html

Not sure if you are interested but the Musée National Picasso in Paris is closed for renovations so the Picasso collection is on a world tour. Opened yesterday in Sydney.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-1...sydney/3661922


Check out the Hero of Waterloo pub in the Rocks. It has a tunnel that runs from the cellars to the harbour. Story was they press ganged the drunks who woke up too late sailing through the heads for a 12 month stint at sea

http://heroofwaterloo.com.au/history/

You can still see it:

fish.01

The Royal Botanical Gardens are great too !!! Far more than you might think.

http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/welcome..._art/buildings

fish.01

On the edge of the gardens is Australia's largest cathedral, St Marys:

fish.01

Some of the great historic shopping arcades of Sydney are worth seeing:

Strand Arcade:


Queen Victoria Building:

Queen Victoria Building (#173) by Christopher Chan, on Flickr

OxOz

Another peaceful place I liked was the Chinese Garden at Darling Harbour