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Last updated on March 6th, 2018 at 12:31 am
AUGUST 4: It’s RIGHT NIGHT at the Bellevue Hotel, Paddington. Organised by actress/documentary maker Chloe Traicos. From 8pm. All welcome.
AUGUST 10th-13th: Commenter 91B30, a US serviceman, is in Sydney: “My wife and I are coming to Australia via the trip available to servicemembers that you linked to several months ago. Could I ask that locals offer any advice about seeing the city? I am really looking forward to our trip.” Please post advice in comments, and stay tuned for notification of a pub visit during which we may buy a drink or two for Mr. and Mrs. 91B30.
AUGUST 13: THE THINGS!
The SMH’s Pat Sheil explains: “Built out of the wreckage of Jimmy and The Boys, THE THINGS perform everything from Aretha to Zappa, leavening the mix with some of the most horrific drinking songs ever written. They are not, by any assessment, very nice.
“The support act is none other than the softest working man in show business, Mr Warren Brown, who will reduce the audience to tears with his dobro ukulele interpretations of the work of George Formby.”
AUGUST 14: Mark Steyn in Sydney, live on stage with Owen Harries and Janet Albrechtsen. Hit the link for details.
AUGUST 17: Mark Steyn in Melbourne. Again, hit that link.
AUGUST 22: Rejoice as Amrozi, Ali Gufron and Imam Samudra achieve glorious martyrdom. Venue to be announced; BYO virgins.
AUGUST 30: Bring your polystyrene sauce and fibreglass stuffing to celebrate 1,000 days of plastic turkey deliciousness! More details as the date draws near.
- 91B30
How much time do you have? You want to see the outback? Take a plane to Broken Hill – still in NSW but you will see the desert, as well as a terrific mining town that is also an artist hub, and meet lots of friendly people
It’s a 3 hour flight from Sydney but worth it!
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2006 07 31 at 12:56 PM • permalink
- 91B30,
It’s hard to not have a good time in Sydney. The Opera House is a good place to start. Right next to it is the Botanic Gardens, and on the other side of Circular Quay is ‘The Rocks’ area. It’s all great stuff.
From the Quay, I suggest catching the ferry to Manly, then walking to Manly beach, have lunch in Manly somewhere (tons of restaurants) then catch the ferry back.
As for the wilderness, I suggest hang the expense and fly to Uluru. You won’t be disappointed.Posted by daddy dave on 2006 07 31 at 01:27 PM • permalink
- Aussiemagpie-we basically only have 4 days. We arrive late on the night of the ninth and leave on the 14th, so we have the 10th-13th to see what we want to see. I will look into flying to Broken Hill one day, though, sounds like what we want to do.
Daddy Dave-what you describe sounds like a good trip for a day. How far is Uluru? We still have time to look at alternatives, so we are open.
- Yum-yum, a plastic turkey fest! A Grim Milestone Feast!Posted by Mr. Bingley on 2006 07 31 at 02:17 PM • permalink
- Will you hand out the First Annual Josef Gobbles Award for Outstanding News Achievement in the Field of Media Excellence at the party, Tim, to mark this grim milestone? (And maybe 91B30 and his lady should make the presentation.)Posted by andycanuck on 2006 07 31 at 02:22 PM • permalink
- 91B30
Take the harbor tour from Darling harbor.
Spend an evening at the Rocks
Take a ferry From Circular Quay to the north side and see the zoo.
Botanic Gardens if you like that – I do.
Try Kings Cross if you don’t have anything better to do.
Bondi beach if the weather is decent.
Forget flying anywhere.
- Jimmy and the Boys, now that brings back some memories of some great nights out at the old Cronulla Workers Club!
I wonder if Joylene Thornbird Hairmouth is still on keyboards?
Posted by Harry Buttle on 2006 07 31 at 03:17 PM • permalink
- If you do fly into Broken Hill, there is a camel farm about 20 minutes north of Broken Hill – a camel ride in the outback chasing roos and emus is pretty cool. It is right outside a dusty little town used to film a Mad Max movie. I’m not sure 4 days will give you the time to do this, but enjoy every minute while you’re here. We’re from the US and were lucky to be expats here for the last 3 years in Melbourne.
- Have a great time in Oz, 91B30 (and I know you will). One question though–when is somebody going to come to Auburn so I can have a pub night?Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 07 31 at 05:50 PM • permalink
- My Turkey Dinner Bush action figure (the turkey’s he’s holding actually is plastic–it’s wonderful) arrived last week so I’m loaded for bear, er, turkey for Aug. 30 and the Grim Milestone Feast.Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 07 31 at 05:57 PM • permalink
- 91B30
I recommend a trip to the Blue Mountains on one day. There’s lots to see. Have a browse through some of these sites for a few ideas.Katoomba and the blue mountains are about 100 km (say 60 -65 miles) inland from Sydney and in this region you will see our dense ‘bush’, and an abundance of bird life with fabulous views.
We always take our overseas relatives and friends to the mountains as part of their visit.
Next port after that would be the central coast but with only four days in Sydney probably only one day out of the city would be feasible.
Enjoy your trip.
- 91B30 Wilderness?
You won’t find any of the real stuff in the time you have. My guess is that you won’t get out of the Sydney region.
But the good news is that 2 hrs drive / 1 hr train journey west of Sydney CBD is the Blue Mountains National Park. Katoomba is sort of the centre. The towns are OK, but the great attraction are the bush walks. But you must walk down into the valleys, away from the tourist-ridden rim area.
I would reccommend Pulpit Rock, Govett’s Leap and Grand Canyon walks; the last one if you only do one. If you are reasonably fit, the estimated times on the web site can be cut by about 1/3.
Posted by Stop Continental Drift! on 2006 07 31 at 07:03 PM • permalink
- 91B30 – 4 days. That makes it tricky.
I’ll second the Manly Ferry Trip, Opera House, Blue Mountains, Harbour Tour from Darling Harbour, the Rocks.
I’ll also add (if you’re up to driving) heading to the Northern Beaches, and Ku-Ring-Gai Chase. About 20 miles north of the CBD.
Berowra Waters Inn with it’s fly-in Seaplane service is closed till September – Rats.
If you wish to explore outside the Sydney region, take a Bus or train to Canberra : there’s the Australian War Memorial, one of the world’s finest military museums, plus the usual Culture Vulture stuff, the National Art gallery (with a misty garden restaurant), and the only Australian capital city where you do get the odd Kangaroo on the roads at dawn and dusk. I can provide Native Guide services. I live only about a mile from the Kumberra Wine Centre (Free Tasting, and Vineyard Tours available).
The trouble with Canberra is that the journey there is fairly boring – lots and lots of not very much, just native forest for most of the 200 miles. A trip there will consume at least 1 day, so maybe not worth it.
I think that the Manly-Rocks-Circular Quay-Darling Harbour area will make for a very full 3 of your 4 days, and a 4th in the Blue Mountains will complete your tour.
Wish you guys were here longer.
All the best, Zoe (feel free to e-mail me – I’ll give you my number so you have some local contact in case of emergencies)
- 91B30—If you get out to Uluru/Ayers’ Rock, make sure you bring a chisel. The locals love it when you take souvenirs…Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 07 31 at 08:23 PM • permalink
- Well, I had a Mel Gibson night last night (without the drink driving)and champagne.. and
Today is my Birthday!!
i*i*i*i*i*i*i …. blows candles out!!
Tim, I would like a birthday kiss for my pressie….
p.s. Mel Gibson should know better not to blame the Jews, and do what all Australians do… blame the government instead…..LOL
- 91B30 – We’ll all be hoping your trip lives up to your expectations.
Go to any surf club in Sydney (all of Australia really), grab a beer, sit and look out over the Pacific Ocean. The best views in the country and we won’t charge you a cent (except maybe for the beer altough we can probably organise a freebie or ten).
If you come north to Queensland (which is really the best bit of the best place on earth) go snorkelling or scuba diving off one of the outer reefs of the Great Barrier Reef (the best bit, of the best bit, of the best place on earth). Enjoy!
- I really appreciate all the great advice so far-except for Richard (lousy officer, trying to get me a booting).
I think Zoe has laid it out for us with the four days she set out.
I really want to see the war memorial and military museum, but I just don’t think we will have the time.
- 91B30 – If you have been serving in the Middle East you will not want to go anywhere near the desert. Stay close to liquid at all times. Namely the beaches, the harbour and cold beer.Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2006 07 31 at 10:28 PM • permalink
- Pity your not here longer to come over and see the west coast (which i think at least competes with Stickit’s best bits…) :o)
It could potentially be feasible if you really wanted to do a day trip to Canberra… When we visited the US a couple of years ago, we were flying from Tucson to Orlando and so I arranged for us to touch down in Dallas for 6 hours, hired a car and drove into have a look at the grassy knoll, did a tour of the old Texas School Book Depository etc, before zipping back and jumping on the plane…
But you’d want to fly down to Canberra (only half an hour or so, to give u the most time to go see the war memorial, tour Parliament House etc before flying back up…) but your right it might not prove feasible if you just want to hang out in divey old Sydney… If you would like a bit of culture, there is always Redfern or Lakemba you could go visit??? :o)
I was watching a Globetrekker show the other night on Foxtel about Sydney, and the lady on that did a tour out to the Blue Mountains with some company, I think she did a motorcycle tour of Sydney, went to a performance at the Sydney Opera House one night??? if you have things like broadband and eMule or similar programs for downloading movies and documentaries over the net you might be able to search for and download some travel shows that had an episode about visiting Sydney????
- 91B30 — hey, come on, how much trouble could you get in? Heck, one of Australia’s own writers, A. Bertram Chandler, shot the damn thing into space (“The Mountain Movers”) and he didn’t get into any trouble…Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 07 31 at 11:52 PM • permalink
- Forget Sydney.
Melbourne voted Australia’s top destination
Melbourne is Australia’s favourite destination for style and romance, shopping, international sporting and cultural events, theatre, world class restaurants and for interesting cafes, bars and nightclubs. That’s the finding of a recent survey by Roy Morgan Research.
Posted by walterplinge on 2006 08 01 at 12:55 AM • permalink
- #30. Only someone who comes from the place would say that about Melbourne. This time of the year it’s freezing cold, not to mention the local moonbat population.Posted by HisHineness on 2006 08 01 at 01:10 AM • permalink
- #32- wanna talk moonbats? I just spent a week in goddam Newtown- it’s like Berkley on acid, only dirtier and with more winos.
(And I then had to drive through Northern NSW, and the pinko plod up there will lock you up if you run over with your LS400 some dreadlocked, bong-addled feral blocking the road by weaving all over it on a rusty Malvern Star; what’s this country coming to? It used to be regarded as a national duty to cull introduced pests and vermin).
- #13 – Brought up in Auburn. Spent 30 years there all up. Not much of a choice for the pub night out though, it’s only got one. I presume you are talking about Auburn S Aust at the start of the Clare Valley?Posted by Whale Spinor on 2006 08 01 at 01:23 AM • permalink
- The problem with Aust as a tourist destination is that its big, you don’t want to spend all your time on planes, stick close to Sydney and look at doing a Harbour Bridge tour (climb), have a look at the Rocks, Taronga Park zoo for some wildlife, probably Bondi if the weather is good for a beach, Doyles at Rose bay for a top class Seafood meal and then either a harbour cruise or catch the ferry to Manly and back if you are feeling cheap.Posted by Harry Buttle on 2006 08 01 at 02:02 AM • permalink
- If you go to the Blue Mountains, don’t miss the Toy and Railway Museum at Leura – though Tim will undoubtedly curse it for its Evatt connection. Still, it’s hosted royalty.
And nearby at Faulconbridge is the Norman Lindsay Home and Studio, where you can see more paintings and statues of naked pneumatic women than you’ve ever seen in your life. This was where the 1994 Hugh Grant movie Sirens was filmed, with Sam Neill playing Lindsay, and Elle Macpherson and Portia de Rossi as models frequently getting their kit off.
Posted by David Morgan on 2006 08 01 at 02:28 AM • permalink
- Now Tim, your loyal readership has been very patient. BUT – when are you going to tour one of these piss-ups? The Rolling Pig-out (TM) we could handle on our own, but surely a chap of your standing could lead the First Australia-wide RWDB Rolling In the Gutters Piss Up. (FARWDBRINGPU hmmm – we can work on that; maybe ‘Forward Bring Piss’ for short?)
Maybe we could time it to co-incide with some lefty dead-beat touring the country on a lecture tour or such.
Posted by Stop Continental Drift! on 2006 08 01 at 03:30 AM • permalink
- There’s an 0815 flight out of Sydney to Uluru (QF726) – say that’s the 10th. You’ll get there by lunchtime then you can do the tour, watch the sunset, have a nice dinner and a sleep and catch the 1205 (QF727) flight back the next day which will get you to Sydney at 1530 – the 11th. Swap who gets the window seat and you’ll both have seen large swathes of wide, brown land – depending on the cloud cover – whereas I, travelling from the north when I travel, only ever get to fly over in darkness. Pisses me off, I can tell you.
So, anyway, that’s the 11th and you get back to Sydney at 1530. Check into your hotel and then go down to Circular Quay and see the Opera House and the Rocks. There are some very nice hotels right at Circular Quay or close by.
Next day – the 12th – whip on up to Katoomba, visit the Three Sisters and take a walk down the Giant Staircase into the Jamieson Valley. Come back up via the funicular thingy, go back to your hotel and maybe visit Chinatown in the evening.
On the 13th take a ferry ride to Manly, have lunch there and then ride the ferry back to town and visit the Art Gallery – or try the Taronga Park Zoo instead. They have a nice platypus house. I presume there’s a ferry from Manly that still goes there but it’s a long time since I was a resident of that city so I could be wrong. Could be wrong about the platypus house too though I doubt the zoo folk would have let that go into decline.
Next day will be the 14th and you’ll be off. Have a lovely time whatever you decide to do.
I was thinking Broken Hill was pretty awful but I had it confused with Mt Isa.
- I actually posted a handy tourist guide for visitors to Sydney a little while ago, at the request of a crew-member of the USS Kittyhawk; it’s still mostly current.
- #35- Of course, there’s the bridgeclimb! You have to climb the bridge.Posted by daddy dave on 2006 08 01 at 10:24 AM • permalink
- #34–Whale Spinor, I think our Auburns are half a world apart. Mine’s in California.
Belated best wishes, l,618.
Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 08 01 at 12:28 PM • permalink
- 913B0,
I dropped a dollar in Tim’s begging bowl with instructions to buy you a drink when you hit Sodom Sydney next week.
You are visiting the wrong coast, sir, but that’s a discussion for another time. Enjoy your stay, welcome to Oz, and especially, thank you for your service.Posted by Pedro the Ignorant on 2006 08 01 at 01:15 PM • permalink
- I want to thank everyone who posted travel advice for my wife and I. I think we are going to try to take two days to see what there is to see in Sydney, then go to the Blue Mountains for a day and maybe try to go to Canberra for a day (cause I really want to see the War Memorial and Museum). I wish we had more time to see some of the rest of the country, but at least it will give us an excuse to come back some other time.
- Spruiking rubbish again? Wot is this, product placement? Is there a cut in this for us? Where’s the blood red islamo-fashionista- baiting beef?Posted by Miranda Divide on 2006 08 01 at 08:45 PM • permalink
- That all sounds nice. My prediction is that you’ll make these plans, then won’t leave Sydney the whole time. Sydney has that effect on people.Posted by daddy dave on 2006 08 01 at 10:38 PM • permalink
- 91B30
If you go to mCanberra, don’t confuse the War Memorial & military museum for the (new) National Museum. The latter is a very political correct place.
Posted by Stop Continental Drift! on 2006 08 01 at 11:45 PM • permalink
- I checked flights on the Qantas website and 91B30 could do a day trip to Canberra for $218 return on Saturday 12 August, leaving Sydney at 0720 on QF803, arriving Canberra 0815. The return flight could be at either 1700 (jet) or 1930 (turboprop). Qantas is the only airline flying SYD-CBR.
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Thanks.