One of my dearest friends moved up to Canberra last year, and I'm planning to visit her in a couple of weeks. I've been thinking on maybe dropping in on Sydney for a few hours (can I admit this here? I've never been to Sydney!) on the way back, and was wondering if anyone could give me any suggestions. Is there anything spectacular in Sydney, that would justify the extra cash needed for this little "out of the way" expedition? Would it be worthwhile maybe staying overnight?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I don't know anyone in Sydney and have never been there. So if anyone can say "You should check this out" or even "try to avoid this at all costs" I would be very appreciative!

Kristy

...or, while we're at it - any suggestions for Canberra?? (My friend said she lives down the street from a pool hall, so doubtless we'll be there most of the time, still, if there's anything worth seeing, I should probably see it, right? )

Tanzen, a Sydney resident, and regular visitor to Canberra reporting in..

I am not sure of your interests (besides pubs and pool, lol), but Canberra is a great place to visit. It is also very compact, so you can fit in lots of things each day. Try some of the following-
Black Mountain tower, the Carillion, Questacon (a hands-on science museum, and lots of fun), Cockington Green, Parliament House where you can see where the clowns that run the country *work*, Brindabella Ranges (not sure what bits got burned, though), all the Embassies- some are open to visitors, the High Court, War Memorial, the Royal Mint... the list goes on. Go to this site for more.

In Sydney, we have the harbour with the Bridge, Opera House and the historic Rocks at the north end of the city. Catch a ferry to anywhere (they are fairly cheap) and just enjoy the harbour views. Go to Manly by ferry or hydrofoil, and have a slack attack on the beach, visit the Olympic site at Homebush. Cruise through millionaire territory at Watsons Bay, Rose Bay, Point Piper, Vaucluse, etc. Visit the Blue Mountains, just west of the city- Katoomba, Leura, Blackheath are all very scenic. (Do not forget to wave as you go past my house, lol). Go up Centrepoint Tower in the heart of the city, or climb over the Bridge. Most places will have a wealth of brochures.

You could spend a week in either city, and still not see everything

I used to live in Sydney and agree with Ozzz's suggestions. Definitely catch the Manly ferry - million dollar views for the cost of a comuter ticket. Walk down the Corso to Manly Beach - have an ice-cream and go back again. Check out the trendy shops and cafes in Paddington and Newtown. Balmain and Paddington both used to have great weekend markets - but not sure if they still do.

And add to Ozzz's list for Canberra the National Gallery.

Have Fun.

Cheers ozzz, much appreciated. I'll be hanging out in Canberra for about 4 or 5 days, so at least I have options now (apart from pubs and pool ). At this point in time Sydney seems like a brief stopover on my way back home, but it's all still a work in progress .

Thanks wajo for your suggestions as well . Ice cream definitely sounds like a good idea, and I'll see how "trendy" I'm feeling at the time (I'm a born freak - but are Melbourne freaks different to Sydney freaks?? )

And I'll definitely put the Gallery on my list. My friend works part-time, so it'd be nice to get some "sight-seeing" in while she's working, rather than lurking around her house!

There's pubs in Canberra? Where were they when I had to spend a night there? Only thing we could find was a 'wine bar' thing. It did the intended job but by God it was dull!

If it's just a few hours in Sydney I'd go for a walk around the Rocks, plenty of touristy places and good pubs too. It's not going to be around Easter time is it? (I'm planning a trip down there then.)

If anyone's gonna find a pub in Canberra, it'd be my mates!

I'll be going up the week following Labour Day, but who knows? If it's good I may pop up again for my next holiday (which is as yet unplanned, but I'm pretty good at planning! )

I forgot to mention that it is only a three hour drive between the cities- I find it actually quicker to drive than fly! (I live a long way from the airport )

Ah, but here I am totally carless !

I'm trying to organise tickets for everything now (while I still have the money ), so I'll probably bus it up, then catcha bus across to sydney and catch a plane back down....well, at least that's what it's looking like at the moment...

If you only have time to do one thing, go to the Botanical Gardens and enjoy the view over the harbour.

I just spent the week in the old Steak and Kidney... Geezzz it's good to get back to some humid air and LESS TRAFFIC!

Sydneys a great place to go when you have a return ticket to rely on to get you out. Definately a place to get led astray in. Tanzen, I recommend a session on draught beer in the Rocks area.. doesn't matter where exactly, maybe somewhere there with a bridge view. No better place to kill a saturday or a sunday. The rocks makes you feel like you're in Sydney - that sense of history or something. it works

Thank you all for your suggestions. Man, I'm glad I've given myself a little time to organise this! Hopefully by the end of the week I'll have some sort of idea of what I'm doing, and if I'll ever make it home again....

Hi Kristy! I recently spent a few days in Sydney (again) and would highly recommend a wander down to Chinatown for a great feed if you've an evening spare. Paddy's Markets are close by, and so is Circular Quay. I did a two hour sightseers trip around the harbour - it was well worthwhile. The Rocks area is a MUST - full of little nooks and crannies (crooks and nannies?!!) and interesting shops (there's a great candle shop there!) - the place is loaded with history too, of course.

As for Cantberra, sorry, Canberra - I'd definitely recommend the High Court - it's fascinating if you can get to sit in on an interesting case. You can look up the daily lists here. There's also a great lookout point, somewhere near Duntroon (the military college) from which we took some fabulous panoramic pics (I bought one of those 'throw-away' panoramic cameras - well worth it). I'm sure someone (Ozzz?) could put a name to this lookout, but it's signposted anyway. I agree with Copago, there appears to be a derth of pubs, but maybe that was just me and not knowing where I was going!

Whatever you do, have a WONDERFUL trip ... and take care.

See, now that's something I didn't even think of - and me almost treading the path of a solicitor...

Kristy

Last time I was in Sydney, we bought a daily bus/train/ferry ticket and that let us get off and on wherever we wanted all day, and took us across to Manly, and up the parramatta river on the ferries and halfway to the blue mountains on the train, we started at 7:00 in the morning and never got back to our campground until 1:00 the next morning.

Well that definitely does sound like a lovely way to spend the day in Sydney! I don't know how I'd feel about being up that late (very hard for me to do on my own, unless pool is involved ), but it's an option!

PR, I have been racking my brain trying to remember the name of that lookout, but it just ain't happening..

The carillon is on the north shore of the lake, and is a quite pleasant picnic spot. Recital times are: 12.45-1.30pm weekdays, 2.45-3.30pm weekends and public hols; summer Thurs twilight 5.45-6.30pm.

On this site here you can just see it in the background, just to the right of the waterspout.

You guys have just reminded me of that lovely ferryboat cruise I took in Sydney, in 1982 now, how time flies fast!
I mean the view was just gorgeous..I think we stopped off and visited the opera house, then, the zoo...which has got to be one of the best in the world...though if you're an Aussie seeing species that can only live there is no great shakes I suppose...but the platypus was cool...
I remember eating Sumatran cuisine there in Sydney, without a doubt the most fire inducing even for someone used to spices.I figure the guy sized us up and decided to have some fun, and put a handful of chillies in there.
I think the harbour cruise was the best thing from my memories.

Ok, so the cruise seems like a definite then!