STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

jettie · Kate Spade

Australia

jah · Dooney & Bourke

I also just found out I am leaving for Sydney on Saturday! Weird... Well, I'm leaving provided the contract signs tomorrow.

Okay, so some things I love in Sydney (yes, it does include some touristy things, sorry!)-

1 - The botanical gardens (by the opera house). They have the most adorable parrots in the trees.
2 - The opera house bar (such a beautiful setting at night).
3 - The bridge climb at dusk (beautiful views of the whole city).
4 - The zoo (take the ferry). When you take pics of the giraffes, you will see the opera house in the back across the harbor - looks photoshopped.
5 - Pistachio biscuits at Machiatto on Pitt Street in downtown Sydney.  Seriously the most yummy cookies ever. I love them and have been trying to persuade the owners to give me their recipe for 3 years (they aren't giving in so my client sends them to me monthly... if you go, maybe you can persuade them biggrin ).
6 - Banana bread. They make the yummiest banana bread in Australia.
7 - Bondi. It's a classic, so you should see it, but I personally like the smaller beaches like Clovelly better (great for snorkeling). I also like Coogee.  Here is a pic of Clovelly:

You see on the side there is a swimming pool. This is quite common (a pool next to the beach). Swimming is huge in Oz and there are pools all over the city. People go for swims in the middle of the day for exercise.

Here is a pic of Coogee:

8 - Fish shack. These fish places on the beach that you can go pick your fish/seafood and they cook it up as you request. So yummy.
9 - Harry's Cafe de Wheels for the "famous pies". You will get it when you go. It is a big thing in Oz... You will find it in Wooloomooloo (suburb of Sydney).
Sydney Harry's Cafe de Wheels - Pies

10 - Aboriginal art (if you can afford it, it is a really nice souvenir to bring back much better than like a didgeridoo...)
11 - Black Opals. This is what Australia is known for... they are gorgeous, but can be expensive.
12 - BTW, Uggs are not really popular/fashiony in Oz. They consider them "work wear" and don't really understand the wear of the Uggs for fashion.
13 - Verdelho. They make excellent Verdelho in Australia. It is the wine I always bring back.

Hope this helps. Have fun. The Aussies are so friendly, you will love it! Oh and if you order a burger, make sure you ask them to "hold the beets" (unless you like beets on your burgers). They basically put beets on burgers instead of pickles/tomatoes. Also, if you are a meat eater, I recommend that you try kangaroo.

Oops... one more thing. The shopping is excellent. You will have no problem finding stores where you will want to spend money. There is a really good mall/shopping area in the central city (Pitt Street Area). You will find a lot of stores we don't have in the US and they always sell a ton of girly/interesting tops (I stock up when I visit).

jettie · Kate Spade

Jah - thanks for all the info! I think I'm going to print it out and take it with me. And small world that we're both heading to Sydney at the same time.

I'm having doubts about staying at King's cross...one of the people I'm traveling with is staying there (and that's why I thought to stay there as well). however, after talking to some more people at my office, they said king's cross was sort of like a red light district. is that true? where do you recommend staying? I'm more interested in being close to some cool things to do/see thant being in close proximity to the offices I'm visiting : )

NCshopper · Hermes

Yeah, King's Cross is not the best part of town. I can't remember where my friends and I stayed when we were there, but you might want to look elsewhere.

Also, I highly recommend the bridge climb. It's totally touristy, but it is really, really cool and I don't know of many other places where you can do something like that. We went at dusk, which was cool because as you got to the top, you could see all the city lights. I want to say it was about $150 Australian dollars, but it's worth it. You won't be able to bring your own camera, so you're stuck buying the pictures that they take for you, but again, totally worth it.

There's some good shopping in Sydney, so I'd check around online to get a shopping guide. I think that Lucky magazine did a Sydney shopping guide once, so that might be worth checking out.

Have fun! I'm super jealous!

Hermes

As Jah said, the botanical gardens, the "world's largest coathanger" a.k.a. the bridge, and the zoo are all very cool. I also really liked the aquarium.

You can take a boat out to Doyle's restaurant for lunch - that's a popular thing to do...

The Rocks is a cool area also, and the bel mondo restaurant has wonderful food and a view of the opera house and bridge.

Opals (both black and white) are a good souvenier, although excessively overpriced (I've found much better deals in the states on opals.) If you do decide to purchase an opal, do a little homework before you go and understand what a triplet, doublet, etc. are before you buy.

Unlike Jah, I have found many Australians to be very bitter toward Americans, and some Americans choose to say they're Canadian to avoid the whiny rants about Americans. My mother experienced this when she went and I experienced it when I went.

Other than that, Australia is very cool. My mother has actually been pen-pals with a woman who lives in Tasmania (she's not a whiny ranter wink

) for like 45 years. I grew up with letters and pictures from their family, and we even exchanged birthday and christmas gifts throughout my childhood. I visited them in Tasmania when I was there. I could go on and on about Tasmania too, but you're not going there, so I won't smile

Have fun and please tell us about your trip when you get back!

-- Edited by D at 10:25, 2008-03-26

jah · Dooney & Bourke

jettie wrote:

Jah - thanks for all the info! I think I'm going to print it out and take it with me. And small world that we're both heading to Sydney at the same time.

I'm having doubts about staying at King's cross...one of the people I'm traveling with is staying there (and that's why I thought to stay there as well). however, after talking to some more people at my office, they said king's cross was sort of like a red light district. is that true? where do you recommend staying? I'm more interested in being close to some cool things to do/see thant being in close proximity to the offices I'm visiting : )

Well, I always stay one of two places - The Marriott Circular Quay or the Sheraton on the Park. The Sheraton is really close to Pitt Street/Business District and close to one of my clients, but I have also found it to be a quick cab ride to anything I wanted to see and a short walk to nice shopping and museums.

The Marriott is right on the Harbor and near a lot of the more touristy stuff.

Here are the links. Both are very nice. http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/sydmc-sydney-harbour-marriott-hotel-at-circular-quay
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=140&PS=GWS_aa_YahooSSP_51506

I have a couple of friends that live in Kings Cross.  While I don't think it is that bad, I wouldn't choose to stay there if you could stay elsewhere.  They do have some offbeat clubs and stuff in KC, but again, if you are walking alone, etc., I would choose a different place.

I also thought of a couple more things... Nicks at Cockle Bay Wharf is really yummy (they have really good Kangaroo) and it is a great location.

Darling Harbour - neat place (always showed during the Olympics). Anyway, they have some great clubs/entertainment right along the water in this area... always something to do.

I am so sorry to hear that D and her mom have had bad experiences with Aussies. Each time I have went out in Oz, I have always had a positive response to the "I'm American" phrase. They aren't afraid to share their political beliefs or disagreements about some of our "government stances", but they have always been respectful to me. In fact, I have always found them to be curious about Americans since they don't see nearly as many American tourists/visitors (actually very, very few relatively) as they do Europeans, Asians, Middle Easterners, etc.    For your sake, I'll keep my fingers crossed you have my experience and not D's!!

Oh, if you get really adventurous, I also wanted to let you know you can swim with sharks in Manly. I haven't done it, but had a few friends that did. Looked awesome.

Also re: Opals, definitely don't buy the opal in the Rocks area or somewhere like that. This is very touristy and D is absolutely right, the prices are very high. Also, I forgot this, but buying or not, check out the boulder opals. They are really beautiful. As D said, you would want to do your homework or just browse, but I found it neat to talk to the jewelers about the mines in Australia, the opal industry, history, etc.

Okay, I think that is all. If you can't tell, I love Australia.  Of the places I have been, Oz is my all-time favorite and holds a very special place in my heart.   smile

Hope you have a great time!!

Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions or concerns.