Jazy

Hi,

I am currently planning a ~5 days trip to sydney. We will not be driving and all travelling is to be made using public transports. My tentative itinerary is as below:

Mon: flight reach Sydney at nite
Tue: travel to katommba <stay overnite>
Wed: travel to Jenolan Caves <return to Sydney>
Thu: city tour (aquarium, bridge, opera house)
Fri: ?
Sat: city tour II (beaches?)
Sun: last walk-around in the city in the morning and return flight in the afternoon

What do u think about this rough itinerary?

The main question is this: what should we do on friday. We thought of either
- taking a day tour to port stephen (watch dolphins) or
- quad-biking at stockten
- ?

Which is better? dolphin-watching or quad-biking? If there is any other places that we should go instead, please suggests to us... (also, will it be better to go there ourselves or signing up for a day-tour be better?)

Another question, which is better? bondi beach or manly beach or any other must-see places? As our focus lean towards finding good photographic spots with beautiful scenaries, which one is better?

ps: we are running under a tight budget.

Thank you so much for reading this long post. Any recommandations, suggestions and information will be greatly appreciated!

mpoll

Why not stay at Jenloan Caves overnight, much nicer than Katoomba. Caves House has good dinner, bed & b'fast deals. See www.jenolancaves.com. This also has links to Tour times and bookings. You can visit Katoomba and surrounds on the way up there or back.
Manly Beach offers a great ferry ride and the beach is good, however there is a great coastal walk from Bondi to Coogee (approx 2 hours).
There is so much to see and do in Sydney, I wouldn't recommend a day tour to Port Stephens (its 3 hours travel each way).
Other options are taronga Zoo, or a ferry to Watsons Bay for spectacular views around South Head and fish and chips.

Alan

Hi, Jazy!

On either the Friday or the Saturday, depending on the weather, you should do the Spit Bridge to Manly walk. You will then not have to do the "city tour beaches" as you will have seen several of our nicest beaches (Sandy Bay, Clontarf, Forty Baskets, Delwood, Fairlight, Manly)including a few not covered by the commercial tours (as they're not accessible by tour bus). As well as beaches, you will see aboriginal carvings and an aboriginal midden, some of the best scenery in the southern hemisphere (you actually stand on the foreshores directly opposite the Sydney "heads" -- on a blue day you will agree there is no better sight anywhere), the notorious "squatters' huts", and some of the top Sydney residences. All this will take you the best part of a day -- the walk is about three to four hours, and getting there (by bus) and back (by ferry) will add another couple of hours. Plus, when you arrive at Manly, you will probably want to spend an hour or so walking around the corso and perhaps visiting the shark aquarium (or, if you're into the bizarre, the remains of the only genuine castle ever built in Sydney).

This walk is free; the only cost for the day is public transport -- a bus to the Spit Bridge from Stand C at Wynyard, and then the ferry from Manly back to Circular Quay. That's less than $AUD10 each, total. You will see hardly any people on the actual walk, as not only do few tourists know about it, but most Sydneysiders have never been on it either. For myself, I go every year, so I can remind myself that I really do live in one of the world's nicest cities (sometimes, reading the papers about gangland shootings and drug barons in the suburbs, it's easy to forget that).

Since this walk is generally even quieter than on a Friday than at the wekend, I would recommend doing it then. Now you can get back onto the forum and ask what you should do with Saturday! (My answer would be "Canberra&quot.

Hope you take my advice -- I am sure the posters here who have been on this walk will agree with me that it's top-notch.

Alan

Jazy, here's a cut-and-paste of part of a reply from a few months ago... just so you know how easy it is to do this walk.
Bus 180 goes about every half-hour (more in peak times)from Stand C in Carrington Street, behind Wynyard Station (opposite Menzies Hotel). Ask the driver to let you off at the stop just before the bus crosses the Spit Bridge (about 20 minutes from Wynyard). This is a waterside park with lots of sailboats to admire.
Cross the road (if the traffic is heavy there's an under-the-bridge walkway a little further along) and then walk across the bridge. As you walk across, look to your right on the far side. You will see a grassy area at the water's edge. As you get to the other side of the bridge, there is a steep but car-worthy road going down to that area. At the bottom, you will see the sign pointing you onwards.... NOT back under the bridge.

Jazy

Thank you so much Alan, I will go bug my friends about changing the original schedule. thanx for all the details you added in too!!

mpoll, i am not driving, and i could not find any public transport that will bring me from katoomba to the caves during the evening. So, i've chosen to take the 'day tour' at katoomba which will bring me to and back from the caves. Thanx for your info on the bondi beach walk, i will be passing all these options to my friends and we'll try to work something out.

Thank you so much!!

Paul_S

Hi Jazy,

As for Dolphin watching or Quad biking well you could easily do both to make a great day at Port Stephens.

The dolphin watch tours last about 2 hours and cost around A$15.00 per person depending on which cruise boat you go with, personally I like The Spirit cruise as she is licensed to go out off the coast through the Heads which is quite spectacular. I did this last year and saw a huge Hammer head shark which came straight out of the depths and gave us a great sight. You will see heaps of dolphins and the spirit is able to go closer in to shore than some of the other boats.

The quad biking is just fantastic and the scenery is awsome especially the huge sand dunes and the equally huge drop offs. If you are into excitment then this is a must do adventure.

I would do the dolphin cruise in the morning and the quad biking in the afternoon. If you do the quad biking then I suggest you take along a long pair of pants cause the sand can sting as it hits you and wear a pair of sunglasses.

Take your bathers for the dolphin cruise as they all have boom nets that they lower so you can get up close to the dolphins, the spirit also has a spa pool on the front deck and they moore up at Shoal Bay on the way back for about 30 mins to allow anyone who wants to have a swim to do so. They also have a water slide atttached to the back of the boat which they extend and you can slide off into the sea, it is great fun.

Cheers

Paul_S

Jazy

Hey Paul,

The other time, u suggested taking a port stephen day-tour with 'wonder bus'. I was interested in it, but that tour only has sand-boarding and does not include quad-biking. Do u know of any day-tours that let us visit the dolphins in the morning and go quad-biking in the afternoon? and would u suggest that i take a day-tour or go there by myself.

If i am to go there by myself (via public transport), could u give me some directions? I know i am suppose to take the train to newcastle, then take a bus (not sure of the bus number though). That will bring me to port stephens. Then from port stephens, how can i reach the stockton sand dunes? also, how can i get back to sydney from from stockton.

Thanx for helping me.

Paul_S

Hi Jazy,

I know you are trying to do this the cheapest way but sometimes that is not the easiest way and requires a little more knowledge of the area and transportation aspects. To be honest with you I think you would be pushing the brown stuff up hill to try and do this using public transport as I don't think you would get train, bus, cruise and quad bike timetables to line up sufficiently to do it all in one day.

However I have located a tour company that does it all in one day for what I consider a bargain price considering what is offered, in fact I don't know how they make a profit on it as doing the things individually would cost more when added up. Anyway their website is:

http://www.asiatravel.com/australia/...llday.html#S37

You will see that tour S37+Q is what you are after, it certainly will be a full day tour and a "full on" day tour at that.

Cheers

Paul_S

Jazy

Hey Alan,

I spoke to my frends about your recommendation of walking from spit bridge to manly beach. i saw from some websites that it is a 10km walk?!! We are rather worried that our legs may not be able to take it. Is there any bus to hop-on on the way if we are too tired? Also, is it an open-space walk or will there be shelters? coz it will be like walking under the 1pm sun.

Is there any difference between 'taking a ferry to manly then walking back' and 'taking a bus to spit bridge then a ferry back to sydney'?

margo_oz

Walk is about 10km - and there are no buses. It's mostly through bushland, not on streets. It's pretty easy, a bit up and down, but not difficult, if you have comfortable shoes. You need to take drinks, too - although there is a kiosk at Clontarf, and sometimes one at Forty Baskets beach. Parts of it are in the open - especially around North Head, but much is sheltered. You will need a hat - but you'll need one anyway in Sydney sun - and don't forget the blockout!

The reason the walk is done mostly from Spit TO Manly, is that there are restaurants, kiosks, beach etc., at Manly, so you can eat, drink and relax, and then get a great ferry ride back to the city. There's nothing at that side of the Spit - although there are restaurants, etc., across the bridge.

Alan

Margo has (as always) advised well. The walk is not at all difficult (a few stairs), and I have taken everyone from our four-year-old daughter to an Asian lady who must have been at least seventy on this walk, and we haven't had to dig a shallow grave yet.

Actually, Margo errs very slightly one one point. There are, in fact, a couple of places in the first half of the walk where a sign will point to the road, only 100m away.... and if you look there you will spy a couple of bus stops. I always keep this in mind in case of unexpected difficulties, but have never had occasion to use the information, so I can't tell you about times of buses. But for at least half of the walk you are VERY close to people's houses -- sometimes virtually in their back yards -- you could always phone for a taxi if you were feeling exhausted!