Tours From Sydney

When you come to Sydney for your tour to the bush, you’ll want to explore the city itself because it has a wealth of natural, cultural and historic attractions to discover.

Here’s my tips:

Coastal Walks:

There are several opportunities to take scenic walks along the coast in Sydney. My favourite is the Bondi to Coogee Coastal Track. This is a long walk, but can be broken into many small jaunts if you don’t want to do th entire length because there are many public transport links to the several beaches along the way.

Starting from the famous Bondi Beach walkers will pass through Tamarama, Bronte and Clovelly beaches on the way to Coogee Beach. You also traverse rocky headlands over Gordons Bay and several cliff top parks, not to mention the beautiful and historic Waverly Cemetery. All within sight of the glistening blue sea and never too far from cafes and public amenities.

Another great walk is the Manly to Spit walk

Sydney Living Museums

This organisation was until recently called the Historic Houses Trust. They operate several exquisite historic museums and properties in and around Sydney. They’re small museums which focus on particular themes or areas. For example The Museum of Sydney is an expose on the history and culture of the city itself, the Museum of Justice and Police tracks the history of law enforcement in NSW (and considering the city stated as a penal colony, there’s a lot of history in that field).

My favourite Living Sydney Museums property is Susannah Place, a row of terraces in Sydney’s Rocks area which traces back through the layers of history of the occupants of the houses from the early 1800s. But if you’re interested in knowing about Sydney’s history there are 12 museums in their care and all are fascinating.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

It’s pretty hard to avoid the Harbour Bridge, but there is more to do than just look at it. If you want to invest the money, as well as 3 hours of time that you’ll never forget, you can do the Bridge Climb. This is one experience you can brag about! The views from the top are outstanding and the commentary your guide provides on the way is informative as well as funny at times.

You won’t regret having climbed the bridge, but if your finances don’t run that far you can always walk across the Bridge for free. The Eastern footpath provides spectacular views of the harbour and the city and on either end of the bridge there are interesting neighbourhoods to explore and accessible public transport links to take you back to where you started.

Or if you want the experience of seeing the Western Harbour views you’ll need to get yourself a bicycle as that path is for bikes only, and provides a wonderful cycling experience.

Chinatown

I’ve been around the world and I can honestly say that Sydney’s Chinatown is the most vibrant I’ve seen outside of Asia. There are the Chinese Gardens right on the edge in Darling Harbour, there are more restaurants, cafes and grocery and produce stalls than you can poke a stick at and there are dozens and dozens of other stores selling everything from Asian travel to oriental artefacts.

The busy Markets which have operated in the area for decades provide lively shopping from food to fashion, electric goods to eclectic jewellery. If you’re a shopaholic you can’t fail to be excited. And when you’ve finished browsing or shopping you can enjoy an Asian feast from one of the many food outlets, fine 5 star dining to street stalls.

Of course there are one hundred and one other things to do before you head off on your tours from Sydney, but let that wet your appetite and add to it soon!

Sally