Have been living here for more than 7+ years, I have been answering a lot of traveling around in Sydney questions for a while. Came here as a tourist and now settled here as a local, here are my few pointers on traveling here like a local:
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Let’s just get this out of the way, Sydney is expensive - don’t be alarmed if you see things priced ×2 here.
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Accommodation: Since Sydney is expensive, the options for staying here is hostels (if you are single) and Airbnb (if you are coming here with family)
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Transportation: We love complaining about the public but also we can’t without it. Sydney locals love public transports over cars, we have quite carriages on the train if you want some quite time.
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Culture: Sydney is multicultural, there is not one culture Sydney follows and we live in harmony with each other.
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Beaches to visit: Bondi/Manly are world famous beaches but you know what locals hate to go there as it’s full of tourists. If you are want to get a local taste go to Cronulla/ Balmain beach.
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Food: Given the geographical location and asian migrants, asian food is amazing here; better than aisa sometimes. I guess it’s modified to suit Australian’s pallet. Also, don’t miss the opportunity to try some bizzare food like crocodile, kangaroo and camel meat.
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Cafe: Sydney is very big on cafe culture as we can’t live without out coffee and banana bread or a Vegemite/avocado toast - a very common breakfast here
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Shopping: Ahhh…again it’s expensive, we prefer online shopping than in stores. So this is not a destination if you want to shop. However, you can go to Paddy’s market to buy some cheap souvenirs.
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Bush walk: other than going to the beach and getting a tan, bush walking is the second best we love to do. From an way 1km bush walk to a hilly 11km walk, we have got it all.
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Harbour Bridge: we are proud of our harbor bridge, so we have a lot of activities around the bridge. My cheap and best activity is to just walk from Rocks to Milsons Point and get a good view of Opera House. And did I tell you the view is different at every time of the day!
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Zoo: Saved the best for last, Sydney has more than 5 zoos, all of them will give you an idea about how bizzare (read poisonous) and rare the animals here are. Don’t miss this opportunity to have a close encounter with some of them.
Hope you enjoyed reading it, have a great time here.
Xx