Travel information for the travelers to Australia

Although the first Opera House performance was in 1960, when militant unionists invited black American singer and activist Paul Robeson to sing at the building site, work wasn't completed until 1973. The building has weathered heavy criticism over its design, its cost ($105 million vs. an original budget of $6.7 million) and its acoustics. The design has since grown on Sydneysiders, the interior has recently been overhauled and its acoustics finetuned. In addition, free lunchtime organ recitals in the 25-m-high (85-ft) Concert Hall, which seats 2,700, have opened it to the public.

The Opera House now holds 3,000 opera, theater, dance and concert performances a year. Guided one-hour tours depart from the tour office on the lower forecourt from 9 AM to 4 PM, except during performances or rehearsals. Built during the Crimean War in 1857 as a defense post against any possible Russian invasion, Fort Denison sits incongruously on tiny Pinchgut Island, east of the Opera House. It’s One O'clock Cannon is still fired daily.

The island was once used to punish recalcitrant convicts. Marooned here in chains, they were given meager supplies of bread and water, hence the island's name. There are tours to the island from Circular Quay, but you get a reasonably good view of it from the Manly, Rose Bay or Watsons Bay ferries. Darling Harbor Alot of money has been spent on attracting tourist dollars to the newly developed Darling Harbor area, easily reached by Monorail from the city center. It suffers a little from its very commercial orientation and the monolithic Star City casino complex Pyrmont Street, open 24 hours, and adds little charm to the area.

Nevertheless, some of Sydney’s must-sees are in the Darling Harbor area. Although the restaurants in the Harbor side Marketplace are average and overpriced, the wide boardwalk is pleasanton a warm evening, with the city skyline sparkling across the an small harbor. Across the Monorail walk-bridge, the Cockle Bay development boasts better restaurants and a couple of urban-chic bars. A celebration of science, technology and popular culture, the ever-changing Powerhouse Museum, 500 Harris Street, Ultimo, is housed in a converted power station.

Its dynamic exhibitions include hands-on interactive displays often combining videos and computer gadgetry. Open daily 10 AM to 5 PM; adults $8, children $5. Exhibitions at the National Maritime Museum Murray Street range from Aboriginal canoes to First Fleet and more modern naval vessels. Most memorable, though, are tours on the working vessels moored outside: a Vietnamese refugee boat, the 1983 America's upwinning Australia racing yacht. Plexiglas tunnels give a fish-eye view of the harbor at the Sydney Aquarium Pier, Darling Harbor.

Travel information Australia

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.lts heritage exterior belies the twentyfirst-century technology within. During the day visitors can view solar systems up to 4.5 million light years away and atnight zoom in on Neptune, The permanent 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.

The inside of the nearby pseudo-Gothic Garrison Church, built between 1840 and 1843, is adorned with the dusty flags of the British regiments who once worshipped here; the church is still used by the Australian Army. The main commuter terminal for harbor ferries, Circular Quay is also the only place Sydney’s bus, ferry and train services intersect (it was originally called Semi-Circular Quay, which makes a lot more sense). To confuse visitors, its five wharves are numbered from two to six Wharf 1 having succumbed to the gentrification of Circular Quay East.

Opposite the wharves, the imposing colonial Customs House building is now a cultural and gallery for those who dare, the Harbor Bridge Climb affords unparalleled views across central Sydney and the Opera House on Bennelong Point.  Diamu means "I am here" in the language of Sydney’s traditional owners, the Yurahouses the Australian Museum's collection of indigenous art and cultural exhibits from Australia and the South Pacific, the largest of its kind in Australia.

From time to time the gallery hosts free cultural programs, including concerts and Aboriginal storytelling. Past Circular Quay, on Bennelong Point is the pearl-like sails of Australia's most famous urban icon, the Sydney Opera House. Inlaid in the paving from the Quay towards the Opera House are tributes to writers,Who are from or have written about Australia, among them Banjo Patterson, Robert Louis Stevenson, Ted Hughes (of The Fatal Shore), Mark Twain, and dozens of others.

Travel information about Sydney Australia

GENERAL INFORMATION Sydney’s main tourist information office is the Sydney Visitor Centre C (02) 9255 1788 WEB SITE www.sydneycity.nsw.gov.au. 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 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 Nightride 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 Airport 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.

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. Its scrubbed cobblestone streets, converted warehouses, historic buildings and convictbuilt 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 waterfront, 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 its open daily 9 AM to 4 PM; entry $9. Sydney and Northern New South Wales  Inner Sydney’s oldest surviving house, Cadman's Cottage C (02) 92478861,110 George Street, was built on the original shoreline in 1816John 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 warehouses 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. 

Sydney Travel information and Australia tourism Guide with in-depth information

SYDNEY GENERAL 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 himself 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 likePemulway, who speared the Governor's gamekeeper 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 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 ferThe 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. 

The first fleet of convicts and settlers arrived at Sydney Cove in 1788, and the colony of New South Wales grew rapidly to cover over half of Australia -encompassing modern-day Queensland, Victoria and parts of South Australia. Although today the state occupies only 10°;', of the continent it's roughly the size of California over a third of Australia's population live here, 96% of them within an hour’s drive of the coast. Geographically, New South Wales has a bit of everything.

The rugged Great Dividing Range stretches along the state's eastern seaboard. Marked by vertiginous outcrops, deep gorges, and rich soil supporting diverse cultivation, it rises to form the 74 For many visitors New South Wales is a land of perfect beaches, great surf  and outstanding nature (its 70 national parks cover nearly 40,000 sq km, or 15,400 sq miles). Yet the state has a rich, multifaceted and often brutal history. Archeological relics, Dreamtime stories and rock paintings remind visitors of the complex culture of the numerous Aboriginal clans who lived freely on these lands until 1770. The early penal colony, which eventually became the city of Sydney, constructed solid Georgian buildings that remain today inmates' quarters, churches and government buildings.

The subsequent era of exploration, free settlement and westward expansion, followed by the colorful gold rush years, left in its wake historic townships and tall tales throughout the state. BACKGROUND Captain Cook sailed into Botany Bay in 1770, naming it after botanist Joseph Banks' excitement at the strange and lush plant growth. Cook noted what he thought was a smaller harboring a little further north, .1I1d named this Port Jackson.

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. 

Australia Tourism information Sydney places of interest travel packages-hotel bookings with discounts

BACKGROUND CREATIVE, ELOQUENT AND VIVIDLY DESCRWIWE

Captain James Cook must have had an off day when he named New South Wales in 1770. The man who came up with "Botany Bay," "Cape Tribulation," "Whitsunday Passage," "Glass House Mountains," and "Magnetic Island," might have been overwhelmed by the responsibility of attaching a label to the 4,000 km (2,500 miles) of lushly forested tropical and subtropical coastline, sandy coves and coral islands and cays he had spent four months navigating. 

The new-found land was neither new nor more than vaguely resembled South Wales, but the misnomer stuck.

Britain showed little interest in the far-off land at first - giving the Yura and Dharuk Aboriginal people of the lands around Botany Bay and Port ski fields of the Snowy Mountains near the Victorian border, including Australia's highest peak, Mount Kosciusko at 2,228 m (7,310 ft). The Great Dividing Range's proximity to the coast gives birth to broad fast-flowing rivers, carving the deep bays and magnificent harbors that are the most identifiable feature of the New South Wales coast. Along the north coast, the blue-green eucalyptus forests mingle with more extroverted of the subtropical rainforest. Cooler coastal weather patterns rarely make it across the divide; sudden downpours are common in Sydney - when it rains it pours - but over the rains, the dry western plains of the wheat belt gradually merge into the legendary outback.

SYDNEY

Canberra may be Australia's capital, but Sydney is its heart. Most flights to Australia arrive at its Kingsford-Smith Airport, looping down over the city on their final descent towards runways that jut into Botany Bay. On a clear day, this is the best introduction to Australia. Against a backdrop of densely forested mountains and fronted by the Pacific Ocean, leafy suburbs and red-tiled rooftops gradually give way to the urban landscape of inner Sydney.

The first fingers of water seem unconnected:spotsofdeep blue edged with parkland that break up the concrete and traffic. But quickly the water widens out to the expanse of Port Jackson, held together at its narrowest point by the arch of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Near the bridge, flashes of sunlight on the oversized seashell that is the Sydney Opera House shine white against the blue of the harbor's deep waters, which are dotted with islands and peppered with sailing boats, ferries, windsurfers, motorboats and tilting seaplanes. 

Sydney is a sprawling city with over four million inhabitants.

 It was Australia's first city and remains its largest, measuring 70 km (43.5 miles) from north to south and 55 km (34 miles) east to west. To the rest of Australia it's a fast-paced urban jungle. By international standards, however, Sydney is definitely laid-back, Far more San Francisco than New York, and with a better bay. Sydneysiders enjoy almost year-round sunshine, without the tropical humidity of Brisbane and Cairns - or only rarely. With such a combination of climate and topography, it's hardly surprising they are such outdoors fanatics.

The never-ending estuaries, coves, islands and inlets of Port Jackson (or Sydney Harbor) form a watery maze that divides the city in two, and today's Sydneysiders live by, on, in, above and occasionally below the sparkling waters of its harbor. They commute by ferry or drive over its soaring bridge. They roller blade, skateboard, cycle, jog or simply lunch along its banks. Office parties and even weddings are frequently held on boats, and cafes along Bondi and Manly beaches open early to serve coffee and breakfast to the body-conscious who brave the surf from sunrise year-round. For its legitimate claims as a cosmopolitan, multicultural, innovative and exciting city, Sydney is above all, the best this planet has to illustrate the maxim most dear to sun-seekers: "life's a beach." It has 70 of them, Jackson few years grace. But by the mid-1780s, following the loss of their colonies in the 1776 American War of Independence, 

London's prisons and workhouses were overflowing. The solution chosen by the British dramatically and irrevocably altered Aboriginal history.

The first fleet of convicts and settlers arrived at Sydney Cove in 1788, and the colony of New South Wales grew rapidly to cover over half of Australia -encompassing modern-day Queensland, Victoria and parts of South Australia. Although today the state occupies only 10°;', of the continent - it's roughly the size of California - over a third of Australia's population live here, 96% of them within an hour’s drive of the coast. Geographically, New South Wales has a bit of everything.

The rugged Great Dividing Range stretches along the state's eastern seaboard. 

Marked by vertiginous outcrops, deep gorges, and rich soil supporting diverse cultivation, it rises to form the 74 For many visitors New South Wales is a land of perfect beaches, great surf and outstanding nature (its 70 national parks cover nearly 40,000 SQ km or 15,400 SQ miles). Yet the state has a rich, multi-faceted and often brutal history. Archeological relics, Dreamtime stories, and rock paintings remind visitors of the complex culture of the numerous Aboriginal clans who lived freely on these lands until 1770. The early penal colony, which eventually became the city of Sydney, constructed solid Georgian buildings that remain today - inmates' quarters, churches, and government buildings.

The subsequent era of exploration, free settlement and westward expansion, followed by the colorful gold rush years, left in its wake historic townships and tall tales throughout the state. 

BACKGROUND Captain Cook sailed into Botany Bay in 1770, naming it after botanist Joseph Banks' excitement at the strange and lush plant growth. Cook noted what he thought was a smaller harboring a little further north, .1I1d named this Port Jackson.