Ideas for a stopover in Sydney

nollag2006

Mrs nollag and I have a few days stopover in Sydney coming up to visit her family in NZ. We have about 5 days in late November.

Any ideas of things to do? I was thinking about a couple of days cycling / trekking in the Blue Mountains. Has anyone done this? Is there any tour groups / places to stay you might recommend for this? Budget is not an issue.

Other option is the Gold coast. Again thoughts and ideas would be welcome.

:beer:

dzug1

You could try the Harbour Bridge climb - sounds alarming but isn't.

dixie_dean_2

Hunter Valley wine tour, bondi to coogee walk, sitting in the sun at either harbour marvelling at the most beautiful city in the world whilst getting !!!!ed and eating great food.

Pee

Haven't been but my friend lived in Sydney and raved about the Blue Mountains. I'd check out the Lonely Planet or Rough Guide.

Smurf71

We're gonna be in Sydney for 11 nights for Xmas and NYE this year, and what we are planning to do is:

Blue Mountains
Bridge Climb
Ferry To Manly
Hunter Valley Wine Tour
Visit the Beaches
Bike around Sydney

Plenty to do by all accounts. Check out the forum on Tripadviser that deals with Sydney purely, along with reading the Lonely Planet guide.

SueMaggie

I had a couple of days stopover in Sydney a few years back on the way home from NZ and we did a special behind-the-scenes tour of Taronga Zoo. I don't think it was quite this one, but was certainly similar http://www.taronga.org.au/taronga-zoo/plan-your-visit/tours--activities/vip-aussie-gold-tour.aspx

We also had dinner in this revolving restaurant http://aihgroup.com.au/360_bar_and_dining. It was pricey but I thought it was worth it.

We stayed here http://www.amorahotels.com.au/jamison/index.html. Again quite expensive, but as we were having the trip of a lifetime following a couple of terrible years it was worth splashing out. It's quite central and near the harbour for the bridge, opera house etc.

isplumm

Smurf71 wrote: »

We're gonna be in Sydney for 11 nights for Xmas and NYE this year, and what we are planning to do is:

Blue Mountains
Bridge Climb
Ferry To Manly
Hunter Valley Wine Tour
Visit the Beaches
Bike around Sydney

Plenty to do by all accounts. Check out the forum on Tripadviser that deals with Sydney purely, along with reading the Lonely Planet guide.

Hi,

If you are in Sydney for new year eve ... look at http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nye/

I was going to recommend picnic in the park, but it is sold out.

Mark

bclark

We did picnic in the park last new year, it was amazing.

Sydney is one of my favourite cities in the world. I would reccomend the obvious tourist activities like the bridge climb, harbour tour etc. Bondi beach may be something you like to see, it was nice but I think its possibly a little overrated, we preferred Manly.

The Blue Mountains are lovely. I wouldn't reccomend the Hunter Valley personally, its quite a long way out of Sydney and there isn't loads to see.

isplumm

bclark wrote: »

We did picnic in the park last new year, it was amazing.

Sydney is one of my favourite cities in the world. I would reccomend the obvious tourist activities like the bridge climb, harbour tour etc. Bondi beach may be something you like to see, it was nice but I think its possibly a little overrated, we preferred Manly.

The Blue Mountains are lovely. I wouldn't reccomend the Hunter Valley personally, its quite a long way out of Sydney and there isn't loads to see.

If I was you, I would just do a 1 day tour to the Blue Mountains ... unless you've been to Sydney before, 5 days is not very long.

Mark

davetrousers

Remember the Jet lag!

Generali

Blue Mountains are very lovely - if you want to go MTB'ing the Oaks fire trail is meant to be the best ride.

If you fancy bush walking there are several groups, all of whom would be happy to have you along.

Don't just go out by yourself into the mountains. If you get lost there isn't much water easily available and it's quite possible that you just won't be found. If you go to Katoomba police station you can borrow a free GPS beacon that will bring help. That's the least you should take.