Sydney Travel Guide with magical Sydney Weather and Atmosphere
Sydney Travel Guide with magical Sydney Weather and Atmosphere
Sydney is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Port Jackson and extends about 70 km (43.5 mi) on its periphery towards the Blue Mountains to the west, Hawkesbury to the north, and Macarthur to the south. Sydney is made up of 658 suburbs, 40 local government areas and 15 contiguous regions. Sydney is best known for its harbourfront Sydney Opera House, with a distinctive sail-like design. Massive Darling Harbour and the smaller Circular Quay port are hubs of waterside life, with the arched Harbour Bridge and esteemed Royal Botanic Garden nearby. Sydney Tower’s outdoor platform, the Skywalk, offers 360-degree views of the city and suburbs.
Brimming with history, nature, culture, art, fashion, cuisine, design, Sydney's set next to miles of ocean coastline and sandy surf beaches. Longterm immigration has led to the cities reputation as one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse cities in Australia and the world. The city is also home to the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, two of the most iconic structures on this planet.
Sydney has hosted major international sporting events such as the 2000 Summer Olympics. The city is among the top fifteen most-visited cities in the world, with millions of tourists coming each year to see the city's landmarks. Boasting over 1,000,000 ha of nature reserves and parks,[30] its notable natural features include Sydney Harbour, the Royal National Park, Royal Botanic Garden and Hyde Park, the oldest parkland in the country. Built attractions such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the World Heritage-listed Sydney Opera House are also well known to international visitors. The main passenger airport serving the metropolitan area is Kingsford-Smith Airport, one of the world's oldest continually operating airports. Established in 1906, Central station, the largest and busiest railway station in the state, is the main hub of the city's rail network.
The regions of Sydney include the CBD or City of Sydney (colloquially referred to as 'the City') and Inner West, the Eastern Suburbs, Southern Sydney, Greater Western Sydney (including the South-west, Hills District and the Macarthur Region), and the Northern Suburbs (including the North-west). The Greater Sydney Commission divides Sydney into five districts based on the 33 LGAs in the metropolitan area; the Western City, the Central City, the Eastern City, the North District, and the South District.
The CBD extends about 3 kilometres (1.9 miles) south from Sydney Cove. It is bordered by Farm Cove within the Royal Botanic Garden to the east and Darling Harbour to the west. Suburbs surrounding the CBD include Woolloomooloo and Potts Point to the east, Surry Hills and Darlinghurst to the south, Pyrmont and Ultimo to the west, and Millers Point and The Rocks to the north. Most of these suburbs measure less than 1 square kilometre (0.4 square miles) in area. The Sydney CBD is characterised by considerably narrow streets and thoroughfares, created in its convict beginnings in the 18th century.
Several localities, distinct from suburbs, exist throughout Sydney's inner reaches. Central and Circular Quay are transport hubs with ferry, rail, and bus interchanges. Chinatown, Darling Harbour, and Kings Cross are important locations for culture, tourism, and recreation. The Strand Arcade, which is located between Pitt Street Mall and George Street, is a historical Victorian-style shopping arcade. Opened on 1 April 1892, its shop fronts are an exact replica of the original internal shopping facades. Westfield Sydney, located beneath the Sydney Tower, is the largest shopping centre by area in Sydney.
Green Square is a former industrial area of Waterloo which is undergoing urban renewal worth $8 billion. On the city harbour edge the historic suburb and wharves of Millers Point are being built up as the new area of Barangaroo. The enforced rehousing of local residents due to the Millers Point/Barangaroo development has caused significant controversy despite the $6 billion worth of economic activity it is expected to generate. The suburb of Paddington is a well known suburb for its streets of restored terrace houses, Victoria Barracks, and shopping including the weekly Oxford Street markets.
The Inner West generally includes the Inner West Council, Municipality of Burwood, Municipality of Strathfield, and City of Canada Bay. These span up to about 11 km west of the CBD. Suburbs in the Inner West have historically housed working class industrial workers, but have undergone gentrification over the 20th century. The region now mainly features medium- and high-density housing. Major features in the area include the University of Sydney and the Parramatta River, as well as a large cosmopolitan community. The Anzac Bridge spans Johnstons Bay and connects Rozelle to Pyrmont and the City, forming part of the Western Distributor.
The area is serviced by the T1, T2, and T3 railway lines, including the Main Suburban Line; which is the first to be constructed in New South Wales. Strathfield Railway Station is a secondary railway hub within Sydney, and major station on the Suburban and Northern lines. It was constructed in 1876, and will be a future terminus of Parramatta Light Rail. The area is also serviced by numerous bus routes and cycleways. Other shopping centres in the area include Westfield Burwood and DFO in Homebush.
The Eastern Suburbs encompass the Municipality of Woollahra, the City of Randwick, the Waverley Municipal Council, and parts of the Bayside Council. The Greater Sydney Commission envisions a resident population of 1,338,250 people by 2036 in its Eastern City District (including the City and Inner West).
They include some of the most affluent and advantaged areas in the country, with some streets being amongst the most expensive in the world. Wolseley Road, in Point Piper, has a top price of $20,900 per square metre, making it the ninth-most expensive street in the world. More than 75% of neighbourhoods in the Electoral District of Wentworth fall under the top decile of SEIFA advantage, making it the least disadvantaged area in the country.
Major landmarks include Bondi Beach, a major tourist site; which was added to the Australian National Heritage List in 2008; and Bondi Junction, featuring a Westfield shopping centre and an estimated office work force of 6,400 by 2035, as well as a train station on the T4 Eastern Suburbs Line. The suburb of Randwick contains the Randwick Racecourse, the Royal Hospital for Women, the Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney Children's Hospital, and the UNSW Kensington Campus. Randwick's 'Collaboration Area' has a baseline estimate of 32,000 jobs by 2036, according to the Greater Sydney Commission.
Southern Sydney includes the suburbs in the local government areas of former Rockdale, Georges River Council (collectively known as the St George area), and broadly it also includes the suburbs in the local government area of Sutherland, south of the Georges River (colloquially known as 'The Shire').
The Kurnell peninsula, near Botany Bay, is the site of the first landfall on the eastern coastline made by Lt. (later Captain) James Cook in 1770. La Perouse, a historic suburb named after the French navigator Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse (1741–88), is notable for its old military outpost at Bare Island and the Botany Bay National Park.
The suburb of Cronulla in southern Sydney is close to Royal National Park, Australia's oldest national park. Hurstville, a large suburb with a multitude of commercial buildings and high-rise residential buildings dominating the skyline, has become a CBD for the southern suburbs.
Because 'Northern Suburbs' is not a clearly defined region, 'Northern Suburbs' may also include the suburbs in the Upper North Shore, Lower North Shore and the Northern Beaches. The Northern Suburbs include several landmarks – Macquarie University, Gladesville Bridge, Ryde Bridge, Macquarie Centre and Curzon Hall in Marsfield. This area includes suburbs in the local government areas of Hornsby Shire, City of Ryde, the Municipality of Hunter's Hill and parts of the City of Parramatta.
The North Shore, an informal geographic term referring to the northern metropolitan area of Sydney, consists of Artarmon, Chatswood, Roseville, Lindfield, Killara, Gordon, Pymble, Hornsby and many others. The North Shore, an upper middle class area, has one of the highest property prices in Sydney with the recent property price inflation sending the average property prices in suburbs such as Roseville, Lindfield, Killara and Gordon over 2 million dollars.
The Lower North Shore usually refers to the suburbs adjacent to the harbour such as Neutral Bay, Waverton, Mosman, Cremorne, Cremorne Point, Lavender Bay, Milsons Point, Cammeray, Northbridge, and North Sydney. Hunters Hill and Gladesville are often also considered as being part of the Lower North Shore. The Lower North Shore's eastern boundary is Middle Harbour, or at the Roseville Bridge at Castle Cove and Roseville Chase. The Upper North Shore usually refers to the suburbs between Chatswood and Hornsby. It is made up of suburbs located within Ku-ring-gai and Hornsby Shire councils.
The North Shore includes the commercial centres of North Sydney and Chatswood. North Sydney itself consists of a large commercial centre, with its own business centre, which contains the second largest concentration of high-rise buildings in Sydney, after the CBD. North Sydney is dominated by advertising, marketing businesses and associated trades, with many large corporations holding office in the region.
The Northern Beaches area includes Manly, one of Sydney's most popular holiday destinations for much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Northern Beaches area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the entrance of Broken Bay.
The Hills district generally refers to the suburbs in north-western Sydney including the local government areas of The Hills Shire, parts of the City of Parramatta Council and Hornsby Shire. Actual suburbs and localities that are considered to be in the Hills District can be somewhat amorphous and variable. For example, the Hills District Historical Society restricts its definition to the Hills Shire local government area, yet its study area extends from Parramatta to the Hawkesbury. The region is so named for its characteristically comparatively hilly topography as the Cumberland Plain lifts up, joining the Hornsby Plateau. Several of its suburbs also have 'Hills' in their names, such as Baulkham Hills, Castle Hill, Seven Hills, Pendle Hill, Beaumont Hills, and Winston Hills, among others. Windsor and Old Windsor Roads are historic roads in Australia, as they are the second and third roads, respectively, laid in the colony.
The greater western suburbs encompasses the areas of Parramatta, the sixth largest business district in Australia, settled the same year as the harbour-side colony, Bankstown, Liverpool, Penrith, and Fairfield. Covering 5,800 square kilometres (2,200 sq mi) and having an estimated resident population as at 2017 of 2,288,554, western Sydney has the most multicultural suburbs in the country. The population is predominantly of a working class background, with major employment in the heavy industries and vocational trade.
The western suburb of Prospect, in the City of Blacktown, is home to Wet'n'Wild, a water park operated by Village Roadshow Theme Parks. Auburn Botanic Gardens, a botanical garden situated in Auburn, attracts thousands of visitors each year, including a significant number from outside Australia. Another prominent park and garden in the west is Central Gardens Nature Reserve in Merrylands West. The greater west also includes Sydney Olympic Park, a suburb created to host the 2000 Summer Olympics, and Sydney Motorsport Park, a motorsport circuit located in Eastern Creek. The Boothtown Aqueduct in Greystanes is a 19th-century water bridge that is listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register as a site of State significance.
To the northwest, Featherdale Wildlife Park, an Australian zoo in Doonside, near Blacktown, is a major tourist attraction, not just for Western Sydney, but for NSW and Australia. Westfield Parramatta in Parramatta is Australia's busiest Westfield shopping centre, having 28.7 million customer visits per annum. Established in 1799, the Old Government House, a historic house museum and tourist spot in Parramatta, was included in the Australian National Heritage List on 1 August 2007 and World Heritage List in 2010 (as part of the 11 penal sites constituting the Australian Convict Sites), making it the only site in greater western Sydney to be featured in such lists. Moreover, the house is Australia's oldest surviving public building. Prospect Hill, a historically significant ridge in the west, is also listed on the NSW State Heritage Register.
Further to the southwest is the region of Macarthur and the city of Campbelltown, a significant population centre until the 1990s considered a region separate to Sydney proper. Macarthur Square, a shopping complex in Campbelltown, become one of the largest shopping complexes in Sydney. The southwest also features Bankstown Reservoir, the oldest elevated reservoir constructed in reinforced concrete that is still in use and is listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register. The southwest is home to one of Sydney's oldest trees, the Bland Oak, which was planted in the 1840s by William Bland in the suburb of Carramar.
The Royal Botanic Garden is the most important green space in the Sydney region, hosting both scientific and leisure activities. There are 15 separate parks under the administration of the City of Sydney. Parks within the city centre include Hyde Park, The Domain and Prince Alfred Park. The outer suburbs include Centennial Park and Moore Park in the east, Sydney Park and Royal National Park in the south, Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park in the north, and Western Sydney Parklands in the west, which is one of the largest urban parks in the world. The Royal National Park was proclaimed on 26 April 1879 and with 13,200 hectares (51 square miles) is the second oldest national park in the world. The largest park in the Sydney metropolitan area is Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, established in 1894 with an area of 15,400 hectares.