The hectic time in Sydney has come to an end and the exhausted ‘Three Musketeers’, as were we dubbed by staff at the Sydney YHA, embark on our eleven hour journey to Melbourne.

Watching the passing countryside has given me time to reflect on our time in Sydney.

Whilst we felt it necessary to encounter the ‘touristy’ side of the city – Luna Park, The Rocks, Sydney Opera House, Bondi Beach – I do not feel that these are the places where the true beauty of Sydney shines through. Luna Park was great, and it is a must to get a photo beneath the chomping teeth of the entrance. The Ferris wheel here also provides a great view of the Harbour, situating the Opera House beneath the Harbour Bridge for a fantastic photo opportunity.

As a Queenslander, reaching Bondi Beach was a strange experience for me. Frequenting the beach back home, I was used to large stretches of sand with no more than twenty to thirty beach-goers populating the sand. Bondi was quite a different experience; every single patch of sand was taken by masses of people on this small strip of beach. We were one man down at this stage, as a member of our party had decided he preferred to go to a pub (honestly, I can’t blame him) but the two of us remaining, eventually found a spot to set our belongings down. The conundrum of actually entering the water then revealed itself as we realised we could not keep an eye on our stuff from the water as you could do from a quieter beach. This was solved by taking turns to go swimming as the other would stay on the sand, surrounded by half-naked bodies, most not so pleasant to look at and listening to the incessant calls of people selling ice-cream, cold drinks or anything else they could suck tourists into buying. If you are looking for a great Australian beach experience, Bondi is not the place you should go.

If you are wanting to head to a beach close to the Sydney centre, I suggest heading over to Manly. An enjoyable ferry ride from Circular Quay, Manly offers a much less busy beach with a wide range of other activities to engage in. The ferry ride will offer another fantastic view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, then continues along for a view of the Royal Botanical Gardens. Once you reach Manly, there are a few options for places to swim. You will see Manly Cove immediately on your left as you depart the ferry, a small section of beach guarded by shark nets. This is also the place of the Manly Museum and Art Gallery, a quirky little place where you can have fun dressing up in old school swimming togs and see some local paintings. The thing that amused me the most about this museum was a sign placed below one of the exhibitions of swimming costumes from the 1920s. It read ‘In the old days, boys and men used to wear swimming costumes that covered the tops of their bodies. Why? Why don’t we do wear costumes like that today?’. Doesn’t quite make sense, does it? It was definitely worth a photo.

We headed directly through the centre of Manly to the other side, where the more appealing beaches are located. There are numerous shops and eateries along this stretch, however it was early afternoon by this stage and we were excited to eat the picnic we had packed for ourselves and go for a swim. On reflection, I would have liked to have done this further around to the left of Manly where there is a another small beach with calm waters and a picnic area. If you’re looking to try something a bit different, rather than walking around to the beach with the picnic areas, you can hire a stand-up paddle surf board and paddle on the calm waters over there. Being on a tight budget, we decided against this option. A number of man-made swimming pools are also located along this stretch. You can also continue up the headland, which offers a great walk through beach scrubland and reaches a lookout with panoramic views of the area at the top. You might even spot a water dragon or two on the way up.

Manly was definitely a much more pleasant experience than Bondi. Who wouldn’t want to go to a town which puts images of muscly men donning moustaches, into your head? Everything is manly in Manly.

All these tourist sights were great, but I believe that the true personality of Sydney is located in places that you need to be shown by a Sydneysider. Here, you can see Sydney thrive. We were taken by the investment banker we met on New Year’s Eve to Ivy Pool Bar. Located on top of a building on George Street, we would have had to have an amazing stroke of luck to stumble across this place on our own. The place has a relaxed and exotic feel and features a pool as its centre attraction, so if you’re heading there be sure to take your togs. The dance floor is a see-through glass floor above the pool, so you can literally feel like you’re dancing on water. I noticed straight away an elderly man dressed up in a vest and a red hat dancing his heart out on the dance floor. I pointed this out to my companions and our Sydneysider guide informed us that he can be found there dancing most nights. I thought this was fantastic and thought I would like to sit down with this man and learn his life story.

The area of Sydney I enjoyed the most in the duration of our stay was Surry Hills. We headed out there on our last day in Sydney and stumbled across a cute little place called Ampersand on Crown Street where we stopped for brunch. This cafe is also a bookstore and has numerous rooms with bookshelves full of cheap books and comfy places to sit and read. As an added bonus, the food was fantastic – great for a hangover brunch – and one of the friends I am travelling with expressed that it was the best coffee he had had in Sydney (I, as a non-coffee drinker, can’t really comment on that). After this most enjoyable experience, we headed onto a place that my sister had told me about, the Brett Whiteley Studio. Hidden away on a back street in Surry Hills, you enter through a wooden door into the deceased’s home and studio for the last few years of his life. The area is set up very well, displaying Whiteley’s most influential work, while also exhibiting how he worked in his home, his influences such as Francis Bacon and his fascination with the murders of John Christie.

That night, we headed onto a pub my sister had told me about in Surry Hills, the Shady Pines Saloon. This place has no clear door and is tucked away in an alley way near the corner of Crown Street and Oxford Street. Once you go through the inconspicuous door, it feels like you have entered into the Deep West in the USA. Heads of all sorts of hunting game – fish, moose, buffalo – are plastered over the walls and loud honky tonk piano plays in the background. We drank beer, ate the free peanuts and soaked in the great atmosphere of this underground Sydney pub.

I enjoyed Sydney thoroughly and would have loved to have more time to explore all the secrets the city has to offer. Now I am enjoying the journey through this great land’s countryside with the steady rhythm of the train to soothe me and am excited for the adventure of Melbourne ahead!

Teen on a Train