Travel: Itinerary for a week in October alone based around Sydney?

October 9, 2015 1:08 PM

Figured this North American who's never been to Australia could take a week to travel before meetings start. What's fun? How far to roam?
posted by VeniceGlass to Travel & Transportation around Sydney, Australia (9 answers total)

First thing is that Australia is about as big as the US, minus Alaska, so forget about the red centre or WA. I'd recommend staying pretty close to Sydney, there's plenty to see and do and you'll waste less time moving. Check out the blue mountains, given a week near Sydney that's probably where I'd look first, they are pretty awesome.
posted by deadwax at 1:38 PM on October 9, 2015

There is a lot to do around Sydney, although it's fairly cosmopolitan and therefore probably not too different from the cities you've visited in the US. For a proper Australian experience I would recommend a visit to Taronga Zoo, where they have a section on Australian wildlife (the Australian friend I was visiting thought I was crazy for getting excited about this, by the way). Visit some beaches! Weather will be lovely in October. Bondi is the obvious one but there are some prettier, quieter ones. I recall Clovelly being really nice and Manly was good because you take a little boat over there and the boat is fun in itself. The aquarium is great, they had manatees when I went there although they called them something else. Dugongs? Also remember to drink Coopers and eat Violet Crumbles.
posted by intensitymultiply at 2:10 PM on October 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

Fly north to tropical Cairns (about 3.5 hours) and check out the rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef for a couple days!
posted by olinerd at 3:24 PM on October 9, 2015

I recently had friends from the US visit for 6 days. This was their itinerary:
Day 1: Circular Quay/Opera House/The Rocks (historic area)/Botanic Gardens
Day 2: Manly Beach and North Head
Day 3: Toronga Zoo and city shopping on the way home
Day 4: Darling Harbour and Aquarium, with an Aussie rules football game in the evening
Day 5: Blue Mountains (a 2 hour train ride each way)
Day 6: Bondi Beach and coast walk

If they had another day, I was going to suggest taking the train to Kiama (2 hours each way) or a ferry to Watsons Bay and the South Head. There are also so many gorgeous harbour shore and oceanside walks in and around the city-- you could easily keep yourself busy in Sydney for 2 weeks without running out of beautiful things to see. Also and overnight in the Blue Mountains would enable you to see and do more there.

I would also not suggest trying to do multiple cities in that time. This doesn't even begin to mention the museums and the many interesting neighbourhoods you can wander through.
posted by amusebuche at 10:08 PM on October 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

Also, since not everyone's familiar with the geographic tagging feature, you might want to look at the previous AskMe questions about Sydney for more ideas.
posted by zamboni at 8:52 AM on October 10, 2015

What time of year? Because if it's January, and you aren't used to heat, you won't want to go anywhere.
posted by kjs4 at 5:56 PM on October 10, 2015

I'm an American who just spent a week in Sydney, and I completely second the recommendations of amusebuche above. It was pretty much my itinerary too, though I didn't do Day 2 listed, and I was very happy with it.

When you go to the zoo, try to go to some of the zookeeper talks and live shows - the bird show was a big hit with my host's kids, and to be honest, with me. At the Opera House, the tour is worth the money, and you get a (I think) 10% discount at the gift shop and a 15% discount at the Opera Bar afterwards. Drinks outside at the Opera Bar at sunset were terrific. And near Darling Harbour is the Harbourside Mall, which has tons of gift shops - a lifesaver when I needed to bring home koala t-shirts for young relatives.
posted by mishaps at 6:34 PM on October 10, 2015

Endorsing item 6 in amusebuche's list, the Bondi to Coogee walk.
Check it out: http://www.yelp.com/biz/bondi-to-coogee-coastal-walk-bondi-beach

So far this October the weather's been quite variable, sweetly spring one day and stinking hot another, so pack for both. Also, hat and sunscreen.

Hope you have a fabulous time.
posted by valetta at 2:45 AM on October 11, 2015

Response by poster: Many thanks for the great responses, team.
posted by VeniceGlass at 1:31 AM on October 12, 2015