Explore with Amie

At the beginning of this year, I spent eight weeks travelling the east coast of Australia. I had the best time for those eight weeks and I want to share with you all of the things I learnt whilst I was there. Today, our focus is on Sydney and all that this incredible city has to offer. Another friend of mine from university is actually taking inspiration from my trip and going herself early next year. I have just been messaging her with my top recommendations of things to do and it inspired me to make a start on this weeks blogpost. First, I’m going to focus on things within the city centre before going onto day trips outside of it in another post coming soon.

Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge

I’m going to get this one right out of the way from the offset. There is nothing quite like seeing the Sydney Opera House in person. It is such an iconic landmark and I just felt so lucky to be looking up at it with my own eyes. Obviously, this is a huge tourist spot within the city but you can’t got to Sydney without seeing both the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. I was surprised that these weren’t right next to each other. However, if you walk along the bridge you can get a great view of the Opera House. The best view of the bridge, I’ll come onto next.

Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens

The Botanic Gardens in Sydney are right next to the Sydney Opera House. We ate our packed lunches here with a view of the Opera House and then walked along the front and explored the gardens. These really are beautiful and well worth a walk around. They’re also a great place just to chill and read a book; we did this on occasion. Also, if you walk around the gardens towards Mrs Macquarie’s Chair, you have a fantastic view of both the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge in one shot. Unfortunately, the viewpoint was inaccessible when I went but, you still got a great view just by walking in that direction through the park. Be sure to look out for bin chickens!

The Rocks

The Rocks is where the first British settlers came to Australia and transported their prisoners. It has so much history and as well as that, it is a beautiful place to walk around. We spent a lot of time here during our time at Sydney as we just fell in love with it. It has some great cafes and restaurants for lunch as well as a view of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. The walking tour of the The Rocks was a great way to learn more about the history of the city too. My travel companion and I loved this area so much that when we had a stopover on the way back home, we came back to the Rocks for lunch.

Darling Harbour

Darling Harbour is the place to go for nightlife on an evening. I’m not talking clubs but, restaurants and bars. We had a meal elsewhere and walked around the harbour afterwards. We were greeted to incredible views of the city skyline as well as a peaceful but lively atmosphere of buskers and street performers. It was one of those moments where you sit and think about where you are and how incredible the experience is. I highly recommend having a wander down here on an evening – and in the day time too.

Sydney Tower Eye

If you are looking for a birds-eye view of Sydney then the Tower Eye is where you want to be. It is located near Westfield shopping centre and is the tallest building within the city. It is also the second tallest observation tower in the Southern Hemisphere. You can get 360 degree views around the city for $26.40 for an adult when booked online. There is also the opportunity to do a skywalk for $89. For more information, check out the website here.

Visit Spice Alley

The top food recommendation that I have for you is Spice Alley. This is an outdoor street food kind of place that is located near Wake Up Sydney and Central YHA hostels in the Haymarket neighbourhood. It is home to many different cuisines including Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Singaporean and many more. If I am remembering correctly, we both opted to get Thai food. The atmosphere here was great. It is only a small area though so it did get fairly busy.

Queen Victoria Building

Sydney has some beautiful architecture and perhaps one of the most famous examples is the Queen Victoria Building. This can be found in Sydney’s Central Business District and originally opened in 1898. It has since been converted into a huge shopping centre with over 140 fashion outlets, restaurants, jewellery stores and more.

Art Galley of New South Wales

Finally, for those interested in art, the Art Gallery of New South Wales is a must visit. Admission is free and the Gallery is located only 15minutes from the city centre as it can be found in the Botanic Gardens. The building is also magnificent as it opened in 1880, the first art gallery of its kind within Australia. Even if you are not interested in the art, it is worth a look at this beautiful building.

If you’re looking for day trips outside of Sydney, Australia, I’m going to be uploading a post soon with my top recommendations. It will be linked here.

Amie x