48 Hours In Sydney: What To Do, Where To Go

Paul Keating once said Sydney was the only place to live in Australia – the rest were camping out.

The New South Wales capital can certainly lay claim to being one of the most beautiful cities in the world. London and New York have a glamour, history and majesty about them, and San Francisco, Seattle, Auckland, and Vancouver have gorgeous natural harbours, but Sydney manages to combine big-city polish with verdant nature and the glory of the world that is its harbour.

The CBD needs a bit of a facelift and an energy infusion – it can be fairly lifeless on weekends. But if you stick to some of Sydney’s more natural attractions, choose some of its new and exciting restaurants, try some small bars and take a trip out to some of the city’s lesser known foodie suburbs, you’ll have an incredible 48 hours.

Friday / Saturday Nights:

4pm: kayaking, Point Piper

Head down to Rose Bay, towards the Point Piper end, and you’ll find the Point Piper Kayak Centre – which is essentially a shed under the shade, filled with kayaks and standup paddleboards. We are given the option of choosing fast, “racing” kayaks – easy to tip over – or the more sturdy, old-fashioned variety.

We opt for the later. It’s a gloriously sunny day on the harbour, with little breeze. We head left towards Double Bay, giving us superstar views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge (and a glimpse of the Opera House sails) and pull up our kayaks on the beach at Shark Island. There are few boats out on the harbour this afternoon and the paddling is peaceful – almost meditative.

But be warned: weekends can get hectic with pleasure crafts and you need to have your wits about you to avoid harbour traffic including ferries.

Kayaks start at $20 for the first hour then drop to $10 an hour after that.

6pm: drinks at Australian 18 Footers League, Double Bay

After kayaking, wander around to Double Bay where this small yacht club boasts a big view of the harbour. It’s relaxed, with mostly outdoor seating, and far away enough from the Friday-night city hordes to grab a good table.

Harbourside bars abound in Sydney and there’s none more popular than the Opera Bar in the Sydney Opera House complex. If you want more of a buzz than Double Bay can offer and are happy to fight for a table, take a ferry from Double Bay to Circular Quay and follow the noise (it is noisy!) to the Opera Bar.

8pm: dinner at Acme, 60 Bayswater Road, Rushcutters Bay

One of the most unusual, and delightful dining experiences in Sydney is the newly opened Acme. It’s an Italian restaurant – but not Italian as I’ve had it before.

The team behind the restaurant promise “interesting and affordable pasta” which includes macaroni and bucatini with pig’s head and egg yolk or goat, spicy nduja and fresh mint. This is not novelty food but a wild mixture of flavours and a fusion of styles that work. We love the roasted carrots with ricotta and almonds, steamed pipis, lime, pepper and carpaccio parmigiana.

We nab a window seat so we can watch the passing parade of revellers heading into Kings Cross (if you’re there early enough you can see the fantastic sunset over Paddington) and enjoy wines from regional NSW.

9.30pm: drinks in Surry Hills

After dinner, take a cab into Surry Hills to experience some of Sydney’s classic old pubs.

We drink at the Hollywood Hotel in Foster Street, Surry Hills, where there’s a mirror ball and friendly bar staff but none of the hipsters sometimes associated with this part of town.

We also drop into the Shakespeare Hotel, a fairly rough-and-ready drinking establishment that has been particularly popular with the journalists who work in nearby Holt Street and theatre staff from Belvoir. Once again, it’s unpretentious and there’s good, cheap food available upstairs.

If you feel like a late night, book a room at George Street karaoke bar Mizuya or Surry Hills’ Ding Dang Dong. Love of late-night karaoke seems to be a particularly Sydney thing – perhaps feeding into Sydneysiders’ narcissistic fantasy of being a rockstar celebrity.

Source: http://www.msn.com/en-au/travel/article/48-hours-in-sydney-what-to-do-where-to-go/ar-AAbVHSA