It was 1st April 2014, only a couple of minutes after midnight, when I thought for myself “this is the worst moment of my life.” I remember it like it was yesterday, because we were both with Tomas sitting behind our computers, trying to get a visa to New Zealand and change our lives forever. For Slovakia, there are only 100 spots to get the Working Holiday visa and on that particular day we learned that we were just not fast enough to fill in the application and all the 100 spots were gone in less than 3 minutes. Now what? Wait another year and try our luck again?
But you know how it goes… Where one door is shut, another one will open and Tomas came with an idea to move to Australia with a student visa instead. We visited an agency to get all the information and with their help we managed to move to Sydney in less than 6 months.
And I can tell you, this was the best decision we have ever made and I am happy that we did not get our NZ visa in the first place. Of course the beginnings were not easy, they never are, but we managed to survive and now we have been happily living here for almost 4 years. Sydney is love, it is an amazing place to live, to visit, to experience… Here is my list of what to do when visiting and reasons why I absolutely adore it here.
Circular Quay and the Rocks
Sydney Harbor is without a doubt the most beautiful harbor in the world. I love strolling around Circular Quay and The Rocks, getting lost, enjoying the bustling atmosphere, getting some take-away food to eat it on the sun and then protecting it from rude seagulls that try to steal it right from my hand. 😀
The Rocks is the oldest part of Sydney with little alleys, hidden restaurants, sandstone churches and Australia’s oldest pubs. In the 70s it was meant to be torn down to build a new modern area with business buildings and luxury apartments, but luckily citizen action got it preserved. It is one of my favorite parts of the city with its weekend markets, museums and endless possibilities to eat! ☺ For great views of Sydney Harbor I like heading up to the Sydney Observatory Hill Park or if the weather is bad, I love hitting the museums, especially Museum of Contemporary Art with many interesting exhibitions throughout the year.
Taking a ferry to Manly or Watsons Bay
Manly is the second most popular beach after Bondi. It is a suburb on the north shore with charming promenade, small cafes with delicious food, weekend markets and if your Australian dream includes learning how to surf, this is the right place to try.
Watsons Bay is harbor-side eastern suburb with breathtaking views of the city. You can have a lunch in the famous Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel or just take fish and chips from any shop and eat it on the beach, then head to Hornby Lighthouse and take a short walk to The Gap National Park, an ocean cliff with views to Manly and Pacific Ocean.
Take a walk to the other side of the Harbor Bridge
For me, this is a must when in Sydney. ☺ The walk is easy and it gives great opportunities to see the Opera House and the harbor from different perspectives. For $15 AUD ($10 student admission) you can go up 200 stairs in the first pylon, learn something from the incredible history of Harbor Bridge (trust me, it really is incredible), and enjoy the views of the city from above.
Royal Botanic Gardens and Mrs. Macquarie Chair
Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney are for free, ranging from the Opera House curving around Farm Cove all the way to Hyde Park and St. Mary’s Cathedral, they cover the area of 30 hectares. It is a gorgeous park, where you can just lie down and watch cockatoos flying around or bring your picnic basket and blanket and have a fresh lunch on the fresh.
Mrs. Macquarie Chair is part of the Botanic Gardens, located right on the other side of the Farm Cove. It is probably the most instagrammable spot of Sydney with the best view of the two most iconic landmarks in one shot.
Weekend markets in Glebe and Kirribilli
Saturdays in Sydney are best spent wandering around markets with green juice in hand, talking to stallholders about their unique designs, retro clothes or hand-made crafts, picking up some delish food and enjoying the atmosphere. There are plenty of markets every weekend to choose from in Sydney but so far Glebe and Kirribilli are my favorites.
Glebe market is held in the grounds of Glebe public school and it is one of the most popular Sydney markets with its large grassy area, live music, vintage fashion and lots of interesting food. And I am not saying this just because you can also find Slovak people here selling our traditional “buchty” (sweet baked buns usually filled with jam or poppy seeds). ☺
Art, Design and Fashion market in Kirribilli is held only every second weekend, so make your research before hitting the train to the other side of the bridge. This Sydney’s oldest market has really Instagram-worthy views over north end pylons of Harbor Bridge and it is the right place to get unique gifts, fresh produce, vintage, recycled and artisan goods.
Food
I love food, it’s not a secret! ☺ And even though Sydney’s food scene may not be as famous as Melbourne’s, it is still colorful, surprising, delicious, and gives you so many options. You can find here cuisines from all around the world (even Slovak restaurant is here!), fine dining, pubs with $1 hot-dogs and local beer, ice-creameries, bakeries, cool brunch spots, hidden bars with cocktail menus thick as books, fresh seafood, food trucks and my personal favorite – food markets! Several times a year Hyde Park transforms into one massive picnic where people can get together and enjoy often unusual looking dishes in the fresh air. Because if food was prepared and eaten in the fresh air, calories don’t count!
Beaches
Just imagine… It is January and temperatures are rising over 35 degrees Celsius. It is sunny, hot and humid, perfect day to hit a beach. Packing my towel, sunscreen (never forget the sunscreen!), water bottle, sunnies and swimmers, looking forward to dip into the cold water and enjoy cooling ocean breeze while listening to waves crashing against the rocks. My only problem is which beach to choose?
Sydney is blessed with some of the finest and most famous beaches in the world. There are over 100 beaches in the city and close surroundings which makes Sydney number one when it comes to beach life. Despite the popularity among tourists and locals, water and sand are remarkably clean. At the most popular beaches you will find restaurants, bars and cafes as well as barbecues to pack a hamper and have a picnic lunch. The beach watch is always present and some beaches have rock pools where you can swim without fighting with big waves.
Sydney Opera House
If you like Sydney Opera House or not, it is one of the most famous and distinctive buildings in the 20th century and you have to admit that Sydney’s skyline would not be the same without this iconic landmark. Sitting at the Bennelong Point overlooking Sydney Harbor, the House hosts 3000 performances every year with an annual audience of two million people, plus two hundred thousand people taking a guided tour of the building.
I have always enjoyed going to the theater so naturally when my parents came to visit, we wanted to experience the real purpose of Sydney’s most famous building and went to see Mozart’s opera – The Magic Flute. The performance was not anything like I have ever seen before. The stage was full of lively colors and funky costumes, the music was enchanting and the whole show was magical. During the break we had a glass of champagne and later that night we grabbed some nibbles and cocktails in the Opera Bar.
If you are traveling to Sydney, I would definitely recommend paying a visit here, either as a tour or seeing a performance.
Coastal Walks
Australia has a magnificent coastline. Its beauty will never stop to amaze me. Coastline of New South Wales is washed by the Pacific Ocean and it varies from the south to north, with the city of Sydney “somewhere in the middle” idyllically set on the most beautiful harbor of the world. ☺ If you are planning your trip to the land down-under, make sure you spend at least a day hiking and discovering the rough beauty of Australian coast, with its steep rocks going deep into the ocean, huge waves crashing against them and I swear that if you stare long enough, you can imagine how the surface cracked millions years ago and Australia become the only country in the world that is surrounded only by water.
There are plenty of coastal walks to choose from in Sydney, but the most popular one is definitely Bondi to Coogee. It is 6 km long, an easy track from one famous beach to another, revealing other smaller, maybe not so popular but definitely not less attractive beaches. It does not matter if you start on Bondi and make your way to Coogee or the other way around. If you start on Bondi, you can reward yourself with a cold beer or a cocktail on the rooftop of Coogee Pavillion and if you start on Coogee and finish off on Bondi, you can go for Messina gelato or park in The Bucket List right on the beach.
Darling Harbour
Darling Harbour is an entertainment quarter of Sydney. From first light to starry nights, there’s always something going on here.
When we moved to Sydney we used to live in Chinatown for a while, which is located right next to Darling Harbour. I liked going out with no plans and then finding out that there is something exciting happening, like free screening of Dirty Dancing while lying down on bean bags and (secretly) drinking wine from a bottle on Valentine’s day, Lunar markets with lots of food for Chinese New Year (at the time we lived in China Town, the markets used to take place in Tumbalong Park in DH but since 2016 they are located in Pyrmont Bay Park), ice skating in winter months or fireworks every Saturday at 9 pm during summer.
In Darling Harbour, apart from many restaurants, bars and clubs, you can also find Maritime Museum with perfect replica of Captain Cook’s ship, Chinese Garden of Friendship, where you can hire a traditional Chinese costume for the day, Wild Life with all the amazing animals of Australia, Sea Life with under water tunnel made of glass where you can watch sharks from very close, Madame Tussauds Museum and much more! ☺
Whale watching
Every year from May to November whales are migrating around Sydney coast, making their way north to the Coral Sea where they mate and then heading back south to Antarctica for the southern hemisphere summer. Every year there are hundreds of whales passing by and if you are lucky enough you can see them having fun in the cold waters, breaching, tail slapping, lunging…
We had the best experience with whales on a cruise and you can read the whole story here.
Vivid Festival
I definitely prefer warm summer over cold winter months but decreasing temperatures in Sydney bring every year Vivid – Festival of Music, Lights and Ideas and that is something I am always excited about. ☺ Vivid is a free outdoor exhibition of lightning sculptures and installations that lasts for 23 nights during May and June and it takes place all over the city of Sydney and a few other suburban areas.
The whole city changes into one large unique open air art gallery with interactive light installations, 3D projections on public buildings, innovative statues…
As it is Festival of Music, Lights and Ideas, Vivid also hosts live music programs in the iconic Opera House and other bigger or smaller venues around Sydney (for the concerts and shows you will have to buy tickets on Vivid website).
Vivid is where art, technology and music intersect and it turns Sydney into a light wonderland.
I know there is much more to discover in Sydney, this is only my “Top 12”. I could make it “Top 120” but I am not sure if anyone would want to read this. Let me know if you think I’m missing some major attractions!
Have you been to Sydney? Or do you live here..? What are your favorite places? What would be the first thing to visit if you have to recommend this place to a person that has never been here?
