Sydney, Melbourne and Gold coast trip
 

Hi Guys,

I and my wife will be coming to Sydney from Singapore on 25th April noon time, staying near Central, Sydney. Will be coming there first time.

We are in Sydney for 5 days, and then going to Melbourne for 5 days and then 5 days in Gold coast.
I have prepared the iternary for Sydney, can you please guys have a look and suggest if any changes required.

Day 1 (half day)
CBD (Wynyard + Town hall + Central)

Day 2
Sydney Harbor bridge, Circular Quay,Botanical Garden,Darling harbour,Chinese Garden of Friendship, Chinatown

Day 3
Sydney wild life + Aquarium + Sydney Tower
weekend market shopping at Paddy's Market (Sat & Sun only)

Day 4
Beaches viz Bondi ,coogee,Manly ,Bondi Market (Sun only)

Day 5
Planning for Blue mountaint, can we go early and come at night.

Day 6
What to do for this day.

Day 7
Flying to Melbourne.

Thanks,
Naveen

Hi Naveen, I think you are packing too much into your days, especially days 2 and 3. If you want to walk across the Bridge that will take a good hour and a half there and back, but if you just want to stand at the Opera House (Circular Quay) and take photos that will be quite quick. You could then move on to the Botanical Gardens. It can also be quite time-consuming moving between areas, so organise the sights so that you do close things together.

Darling Harbour is mostly just a shopping centre / restaurants and the interesting things to do in DH are the Maritime Museum, the Chinese Garden (very quick) and the Aquarium and Wildlife World. The Aquarium is very time-consuming and a lot of walking, although quite good. I would probably save everything in DH, Chinatown and Paddy's Market for one day and do Circular Quay and Sydney Tower on another day, as DH is really another area.

For day 4, I would just pick beaches in one area - either a Bondi to Bronte cliffwalk plus beaches, OR a ferry ride to Manly (where there is another small oceanarium). It will be a major pain to get from Bondi to Manly so just pick one, or see them on separate days. Manly is quite a nice excursion for a few hours - there are 2 beaches, connected by the Corso (shops), and a lot of restaurants. The ferry ride on the Harbour is also nice.

Day 5: yes, you can do Blue Mountains in one day. You can either go by train and get on the hop-on hop-off bus at Katoomba, or pick a tour, some of which are quite good value, and which takes care of the details. Katoomba has the Three Sisters rock formation, also Wentworth Falls is quite nice. There are some short bushwalks you can do which will take an hour or so nearby. Some tours combine the Mountains with Featherdale Wildlife Park, which is good if you want to see Australian animals but a bit crowded-in for my liking, not a fabulous zoo and not necessary if you go to Wildlife World.

If you have any days left, you might consider a day at Taronga Zoo instead of WW. It's on the Harbour (photo opportunities), in a beautiful setting, and is really a world-class zoo. There is also a section on Australian animals. A ferry ride there is also possible, and a cable car ride up to the top is fun if you are travelling with kids (or even big kids).

Lavandula

Another thought: if you are just acclimatising on the first half-day and want to see Town Hall, Queen Victoria Building, PItt St mall, Strand Arcade, you might combine Sydney Tower with that - it's all close.

Lavandula

Thank you for time and input. This will of great help to us.

I will prepare the plan accordingly and soon will send the iternary plans for Melbourne and GoldCoast.

Thanks,
Naveen

Day 2 - catch a train from Central station to Milsons Point. That will start your harbour bridge walk on the north side of the harbour. You can then walk across the bridge heading into the city, enjoying gorgeous views of the harbour, Sydney Opera House and then make your way into the Botanic Gardens. At some point you will find your way near the NSW Art Gallery which you might enjoy and there is a nice cafe there if you are ready for lunch.

I'd move something from Day 2 to day 1 (not the bridge climb/walk).

I didn't like the Art Gallery. I asked a staff member to point out some really big names so I could look at their works and he couldn't come up with anything. I said Melbourne is way better and the staff member agreed. Of course you might like different things to do.

Paddy's Market is not that exciting. Most of the stuff is just cheap souvenirs and knock offs of brand name things. It's like a big busy discount store.

It is very easy to catch the train to the Blue Mountains. Plenty of times when I have travelled along that line I have seen tourists get off at the train station. Far cheaper I assume than a packaged tour and it gives you much more flexibility of what you will do.

Have fun

You can spent 2 days in Melbourne. It will be the great fun. Your plan looks great.

I would highly recommend doing a day tour of the Great Ocean Road. I drove it in a camper van last year and it was amazing. You gets to see places like the 12 Apostles, London Bridge, Bells beach and more. There are a lot of day tours that depart from Melbourne and a lot of them do pick ups from Melbourne accommodation. Can be a long day but well worth it!

Have a great trip and I hope this helps!

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