Sydney and Melbourne Australia
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mewkus
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g'day, sydney here.
walk around the rocks, harbour bridge, opera house, botanic gardens, darling harbour, catch a ferry to manly, grab a few beers, eat fish and chips on the beach. you can spend a weekend wandering around the harbour and galleries / museum. taronga zoo is also worth a day. its still summer so head to the beach. bondi is the world famous touristy one but you can head up or down the coast and find your own stretch of coastline if you are so inclined (trains go up and down the coast or rent a car). plenty of snorkelling, surfing, and other water activities. scuba diving is ok but you really want to head up to the barrier reef for that. to get out of town, the south coast is pretty nice down kiama way.
for bushwalking, sydney is surrounded by national parks north, south and west and the ocean on the east. close by and easily accessible is the blue mountains (katoomba to start with) and theres lots of bushwalking around there. people get lost there and have to be rescued all the time. we had a case last week where a kid was lost in the bush for 3 weeks and found one kilometer from his house in bushland. anyway, you won't have any problem finding bushwalks around sydney, they are well travelled.
food is ok. pick a country and you'll find its restaurant. the centre of the city has pretty much been taken over by asians so standard options are some form of asian or pub fare (steaks and burgers and schitznels etc). plenty of posh restaurants too but thats up to your budget and tastes.
a lot depends on your age and interests. where are you staying in sydney? renting a car or public transport? you want to party or do grown up stuff? our trains are ok to get out of town and buses are regular and will shuttle you around the city but we don't have a metro or any sort of super efficient public transport like that.
i've been to melbourne a lot and it's a cool city, most of my guilds have lived there so i've been down for lots of guild piss ups. the women are hotter. it has a good cafe / restaurant vibe and the public transport is decent if confusing. can't give you much more outside what i do when i'm there which is visit galleries and getting pissed in st. kilda with guildies and talk about games.
i'm heading off to san diego for 6 weeks for work so i was planning on starting a thread like this myself. have a good trip and if you need more info let me know.
walk around the rocks, harbour bridge, opera house, botanic gardens, darling harbour, catch a ferry to manly, grab a few beers, eat fish and chips on the beach. you can spend a weekend wandering around the harbour and galleries / museum. taronga zoo is also worth a day. its still summer so head to the beach. bondi is the world famous touristy one but you can head up or down the coast and find your own stretch of coastline if you are so inclined (trains go up and down the coast or rent a car). plenty of snorkelling, surfing, and other water activities. scuba diving is ok but you really want to head up to the barrier reef for that. to get out of town, the south coast is pretty nice down kiama way.
for bushwalking, sydney is surrounded by national parks north, south and west and the ocean on the east. close by and easily accessible is the blue mountains (katoomba to start with) and theres lots of bushwalking around there. people get lost there and have to be rescued all the time. we had a case last week where a kid was lost in the bush for 3 weeks and found one kilometer from his house in bushland. anyway, you won't have any problem finding bushwalks around sydney, they are well travelled.
food is ok. pick a country and you'll find its restaurant. the centre of the city has pretty much been taken over by asians so standard options are some form of asian or pub fare (steaks and burgers and schitznels etc). plenty of posh restaurants too but thats up to your budget and tastes.
a lot depends on your age and interests. where are you staying in sydney? renting a car or public transport? you want to party or do grown up stuff? our trains are ok to get out of town and buses are regular and will shuttle you around the city but we don't have a metro or any sort of super efficient public transport like that.
i've been to melbourne a lot and it's a cool city, most of my guilds have lived there so i've been down for lots of guild piss ups. the women are hotter. it has a good cafe / restaurant vibe and the public transport is decent if confusing. can't give you much more outside what i do when i'm there which is visit galleries and getting pissed in st. kilda with guildies and talk about games.
i'm heading off to san diego for 6 weeks for work so i was planning on starting a thread like this myself. have a good trip and if you need more info let me know.
I lived in Melbourne for roughly 4 years before leaving last year. Beautiful city, lots of culture and has a more "NA west coast" vibe than Sydney. I lived in the city and it isn't that confusing once you understand that the city was planned from the get-go and is mostly set up as a grid, therefore there are several main roads (Swanston, Elizabeth, Queen, Lonsdale, Burke, Collins) that service the whole city and things generally happen along them. If you love coffee shops, Melbourne is the place to be.. lots of coffee shops where you can sit and do girl watching or just be a hipster.
Taking into consideration that you are into hiking, you could try something different and explore the city on foot. Melbourne is also famous for her laneways which has lots of interesting art and graffiti along the walls.. and not those dodgy back alley crap.. so if you are into that, just explore the city slowly. Unless rules changed, Melbourne has a vibrant busking scene too.. usually lots of buskers on the weekends to entertain you as you explore the city.
There isn't really anything much out in the suburbs unless that is your thing. There is St. Kilda beach that has your regular beach activities and is similar to Bondi Beach in Sydney. Lygon Street near the city has more coffee shops and excellent bars, pubs and italian food. There is also the Queen Vic market with things to see and cheap weird stuff to buy. Southbank is the "new" place to be with crown casino but it's generally meh (other than at the hour every night where they have a fire show beside the river).
If you are looking for a weekend getaway, you can hop on the train from Flinder's station and head to geelong, ballarat or warrnambool where you can hike as those places have nature reserves nearby, wiki those places. For more tourisy stuff, there's philip island or yarra valley. For hiking that is close by to the city, there is dandenong ranges. If you really really dying to hike, there is the grampians about 2-3 hours away from the city.. far but I guess you can get tour buses to get you there if you don't wanna rent a car.
Hope this helps!
Taking into consideration that you are into hiking, you could try something different and explore the city on foot. Melbourne is also famous for her laneways which has lots of interesting art and graffiti along the walls.. and not those dodgy back alley crap.. so if you are into that, just explore the city slowly. Unless rules changed, Melbourne has a vibrant busking scene too.. usually lots of buskers on the weekends to entertain you as you explore the city.
There isn't really anything much out in the suburbs unless that is your thing. There is St. Kilda beach that has your regular beach activities and is similar to Bondi Beach in Sydney. Lygon Street near the city has more coffee shops and excellent bars, pubs and italian food. There is also the Queen Vic market with things to see and cheap weird stuff to buy. Southbank is the "new" place to be with crown casino but it's generally meh (other than at the hour every night where they have a fire show beside the river).
If you are looking for a weekend getaway, you can hop on the train from Flinder's station and head to geelong, ballarat or warrnambool where you can hike as those places have nature reserves nearby, wiki those places. For more tourisy stuff, there's philip island or yarra valley. For hiking that is close by to the city, there is dandenong ranges. If you really really dying to hike, there is the grampians about 2-3 hours away from the city.. far but I guess you can get tour buses to get you there if you don't wanna rent a car.
Hope this helps!
mewkus
Blackwing Lair Raider
- 887
- 2,661
the platypus enclosure at the aquarium at darling harbour has 3 platypii behind the glass so they are visible. i watched them swimming around for 20 minutes, they are an awesome animal.
also as you are staying at darling harbour, go to the james squire brewery for a drink. they make a nice porter.
as for the accent, i'm hoping it will help me with the ladies when i head states-side next week
also as you are staying at darling harbour, go to the james squire brewery for a drink. they make a nice porter.
as for the accent, i'm hoping it will help me with the ladies when i head states-side next week
In Melbourne there is no time to sleep, a city where culture buffs, fashion lovers and foodies all have their niche. Discover cafes, bars and boutiques in city lane-ways. Enjoy the vibrant riverside atmosphere from south bank and visit Federation Square, where creative and cafe culture meet.
There's a big casino in the middle-ish of Melbourne (Crown Casino) that I lost 500 AUD in. Also some strip clubs nearby that I did not go in, seeing as I had lost the 500 AUD.
Haha - yes, I think so. There's a bunch of them (including Spearmint Rhino) along King St. directly across the river from the casino. I didn't go in so can't say whether they live up to the Spearmint Rhino in City of Industry, CA (which is probably one of the best strip clubs I've ever been to, though it's been ages). If I were to go back I'd go in just for the novelty of seeing Aussie strippers.
I've actually found Australian beef tastes "different" from US beef. Not as good to me, but maybe my taste buds have been ruined by hormone injected, corn fed, Kid Rock listening beef.