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Jun. 10, 2016 - Welcome and travel kit for Sydney visitors FAQ

Now that I’ve been here a while I do what I can to get other people to experience Australia. I’ve had a lot of visitors and have put together a FAQ that I supplement with each visit and experience. The New York Times did something similar recently, with a nice frugal spin, see what they said.

General facts

Sydney is a very safe city, only thing to watch is kids crossing the street but crime is non-violent and limited. Near beaches you sometimes get robberies of bags on beaches and such but it’s a calm place.
The sun here is quite intense and the skin cancer rates are MUCH higher. Sunscreen is no joke and all kids wear hats.
Most people stay in the central business district (CBD), if so that is easy for getting around as buses and trains are nearby.
Everyone here can swim and pools abound.
Beaches are also everywhere but be cautious of rip currents. Life guards mark safe areas to swim but it is good to know what to do if you drop into a rip.
Sharks are not a worry, all suburban beaches have shark nets to keep them out.
You will hear a lot about spiders and snakes but few in the city are an issue so don’t sweat it.
Public transport is quite good and I recommend that versus worrying about a vehicle.

Planning travel

Sydney has a card system called Opal, where kids get their own cheap cards separate from adults and you can set up a family account where everyone’s cards get topped up automatically if your balance runs low.
You can order them online or buy them in corner shops easily. They work for buses, trains, and ferries and there are good deals like low maximum costs on Sundays for family trips. Trains go even into the Blue Mountains.
The transport site is where you can enter start point and end point and it will help you find stops. Google Maps does a good job of telling you next services nearest you as well.

Flights

I fly Qantas and Delta, they have regular LA-Sydney direct flights but others can be cheaper.
Virgin Australia is good value and Air New Zealand is a good airline

Accommodations

Sydney is expensive. When we moved from Ohio we found many things were twice the price.
As you may want to dine out a lot while here, I would suggest you aim high in estimating your non-rent living expenses.
With that said, it really is a fun city for good food and you can find less expensive options easily. Rents can be $700-1000/week. Communities near UNSW are Randwick, Kingsford, Kensington, and Coogee Beach.
Here are some places to look for housing:

Places to see

Cool places to eat out include The Rocks and Surry Hills, just to get you started.
Visit Darling Harbour for an easy walk around and museums/aquarium if you like.
Circular Quay is also cool, easily walkable and nice views of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.
Ferries leave from Circular Quay for trips around the harbour and close areas. Ferries are public transport but perfect for sightseeing too.
Bondi Beach is where many tourists go, so it is super crowded, but it’s beautiful too.
Manly Beach is much less crowded and still nice. If you like beaches, a ferry to Manly is a fun trip and easy. It’s a tourist-quality boat trip that’s just public transport, so you can use your Opal card!
Coogee beach is a nice small beach that’s pretty but very tame with no real surf. It is five minutes from UNSW campus and can be reached by direct bus from the city.
Easy day or weekend trip is the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. Easy drive or two hour train ride. Beautiful hikes and views and terrain.
Featherdale wildlife park is a good one to see animals. Easiest to drive to but could take train and cab there. Taronga is closer but has less cool stuff.
Another excellent choice for a day or weekend trip is the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. Easy drive or two hour train ride from Central, get off at Katoomba station. Beautiful hikes and views and terrain. Very short or long hikes for whatever you feel like. Definitely worth a trip.
Royal National Park Bundeena is south of the city and can be accessed by a train and ferry ride or drive easily. It has some neat indigenous stone carvings and some beautiful coastal walks with restaurants nearby.
The Great Barrier Reef in Queensland is a must-see, so take a longer trip there. Fly into Cairns, the flight is 3 hours and you can stay in Cairns and take an hour boat ride to Green Island for day trip or stay overnight. You can walk off the beach and snorkel with green turtles and beautiful fish. Really easy even for small kids so I recommend it to everyone. Awesome.
Melbourne is a neat place, more artsy and trendy than Sydney. They are both cool places but Sydney is more of an outdoorsy and fun city. Both places are justifiably proud of their food, as chefs and cool places to eat abound.
In Sydney The Rocks and Surry Hills are both places to find neat food choices you can just walk to.
If you’re into wine, Australians are crazy for it and have excellent choices, though I’m not a big partaker. Australia does have more of a drinking culture than the US, but not in a negative way so much as less conservative than the US (in my opinion). The drinking age is 18 here, but it just means that it is a more common social choice for Aussies.
Driving laws are much more strict here, lots of speed cameras and police patrols. Not jail time, but expensive tickets for fairly minor infractions. It seems to work, as the roads are quite safe, but to Americans it can seem a bit tough.
Aussies love travel and are always ranging up and down the coast. If you like camping it is easy to stop at a new beach or camp site every day just by driving north or south along the coat.