Sydney places of tourism interest for visa travellers - Hotel bookings- travel packages - Restaurents

WHAT TO SEE AT SYDNEY

Do The Rocks and Circular Quay Australia's first permanent British settlement grew on Sydney Cove's rocky peninsula. Hence the Rocks, Australia's oldest precinct is built around winding streets connected by flights of narrow stone steps. It's scrubbed cobblestone streets, converted warehouses, historic buildings and convict- built terraces now draw in the tourists with an exhausting number of art, craft and souvenir shops and tempting cafes and restaurants.

The Sydney Visitor Centre in George Street provides useful maps and staff are exceptionally helpful. A six-story art deco building along the water- front, the Museum of Contemporary Art, 140 George Street, is bright and stylish. Its permanent displays cover painting, sculpture and mixed media, as well as cutting-edge computer animation. They have an energetic program of temporary exhibitions. Aboriginal artists are particularly well represented. Closed Tuesdays; otherwise it's open daily 9 AM to 4 PM; entry $9. Sydney and Northern New South Wales  Inner Sydney's oldest surviving house, Cad- man's Cottage C (02) 92478861,110 George Street, was built on the original shoreline in 1816- John Cadman moored his boat out front, which gives an idea of how much today's Circular Quay encroaches on the harbor.

Open 9 AM to 5 PM; free entry. Further down George Street, colonial ware- houses dating from 1830 make up Campbell’s' Storehouse, now a row of interesting-but-expensive waterfront restaurants. The fabulous views of Sydney Cove, the Harbor Bridge, and the Opera House are well worth the price of a coffee and cake though. Nearby Macquarie Point is the place for the classic snapshot of Sydney Opera House and the Harbor Bridge. The Sydney Harbor Bridge took nine years to build, and 11 workmen fell to their deaths during construction. It opened in 1932. The two pylon lookouts C (02) 92186888 are open daily, 10 AM to 5 PM - it's a 200-step climb to the top. Enter via stairs on Cumberland Street, The Rocks, or from Milsons Point on the North Shore.

Crocodile Dundee actor Paul Hogan once worked as a Harbor bridge painter and returned to inaugurate the vertigo-inducing Harbor Bridge Climb.  Outfitted in stylish blue overalls and a chunky harness, climbers edge their way over arches, ladders and catwalks to the summit, 134 M (440 ft) above the water. They're rewarded with 360-degreeharbor views and the right to say "I did it." Prices vary from $100 and $150 per climb (it's cheaper to do it during the week). But be careful, Sydney and Northern New South Wales SYDNEY apparently the exhilaration can go to your head: over 100 marriage proposals have been made at the summit so far.

Views from under the Moreton Bay fig trees on Observatory Hill, the highest point in the city, are especially lovely at dusk, which is also the best time to visit the 1858 Sydney Observatory C (02) 9217 0485. Its heritage exterior belies the twenty- first-century technology within. During the day visitors can view solar systems up to 4.5 million light years away and at night zoom in on Neptune, The permanent Sydney exhibition includes interactive displays and compares the Greek mythology of the northern sky with the Aboriginal mythology of Australia's southern sky. Free entry 2 PM to 5 PM weekdays, 10 AM to 5 PM weekends, night programs vary but generally cost around $7. 

Sydney Travel information for Travelers - Travel packages- Tourism information-hotel bookings-Restaurents

SYDNEY Travel INFORMATION

Britain later decided to establish a penal colony in New Holland, as Australia was then known, Cook proposed Botany Bay as an ideal site. But on arriving with the First Fleet in 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip was apparently not convinced of Cook's choice. The fleet waited six days while Phillip explored the surrounding coastline, until finally, on January 26, 1788, he declared Port Jackson to be "the finest harbor in the world" and sailed the fleet through its headlands.

Once ashore, Phillip raised the Union Jack and proclaimed the Colony of New South Wales in the name of King George, and him- self Governor of it. Phillip established his colony on lands controlled by Yura (alternatively spelt Eora or lora) clans - some of the rock carvings in Sydney are over 40,000 years old. Although he endorsed a policy of non-violence towards the Aborigines, the settlers cleared the Yura's forests, restricted their access to traditional hunting and fishing grounds, and even pilfered their fishing nets and baskets and eventually their women.

Retaliation was inevitable. Isolated attacks were prevented from escalating into full-blown warfare by a smallpox epidemic in'1789, which almost annihilated the Aboriginal population (influenza, pneumonia and tuberculosis added to the devastation). Guerrilla attacks continued, though, led by angered warriors like Pemulway, who speared the Governor's game- keeper in 1790 and fought against the New South Wales Corps until he was killed in 1802. Although Britain continued to transport convicts to Sydney until 1840, the colony's steady growth owed more to land grants and other schemes that attracted thousands of free settlers. 

Convicts provided the necessary labor (just below convicts on the social scale, young Aborigines were employed as servants and farmhands). Pioneers built homesteads up and down the coast, and in 1813, a track was finally cleared through the Blue Mountains, opening up the fertile plains to the west.

In 1850-1851, the news of sizeable nuggets of gold found near Bathurst changed the face of the new colony. Fortune-seekers the world over set sail for Sydney Harbor. Sydney's population doubled over the next 10 years.

GENERAL INFORMATION

 Sydney's main tourist information office is the Sydney Visitor Centre  106 George Street, The Rocks, open 9 AM to 6 PM daily; it's often referred to by its former name, The Rocks Visitor Centre.

The CityRail network operates between 4:30 AM and midnight. Lines are color-coded. They also have trains to the Blue Mountains and Hunter Valley. For other rail or bus travel, you'll need Countrylink C 132232. Curving above the Sydney city center, the futuristic 3.6-km (2.2-mile) Monorail C (02) 95522288 links a number of sights, including the Sydney Aquarium and the Powerhouse Museum. It offers good views of the harbor. Locals tend to disparage it, but the ride is pretty cool.

Tickets cost $2.50, a day pass $6. 

Displays at most bus stops provide timetable information, and Nightrider services take over from midnight. Night buses have radio links to taxi companies, so you can arrange for a cab to meet you at your destination. Bright green and yellow Air- port Express buses run every 10 minutes between 7 AM and 7:30 PM on weekdays, less often at other times. Route 300 runs from Circular Quay via George Street, Town Hall and Sydney Central stations, route 350 from Kings Cross via Oxford Street.

Star City Casino operates a covey of free shuttle buses throughout Sydney so that punters can hang onto their cash until they get there - the casino is conveniently located at Darling Harbor, so make use of the free ride. Ask if one runs nearby. It's usually easy enough to flag down a taxi in Sydney, and there are cab ranks outside most train stations and wharves. The 20-minute drive from central Sydney to the airport will cost around $20 unless it's peak hour when you can double that. Be sure to tell the driver clearly whether you're going to the domestic or the international terminal; the free shuttle service connecting the terminals takes 20 minutes.