Hostels Travel Guide

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia, with a metropolitan area population of approximately 4.28 million (2006 estimate). It is the state capital of New South Wales, and was the site of the first British colony in Australia. It was established in 1788 at Sydney Cove by Arthur Phillip, leader of the First Fleet from Britain. A resident of the city is referred to as a Sydneysider.

Sydney is situated on Australia’s south-east coast. The city is built around Port Jackson, which includes Sydney Harbour, leading to the city’s nickname, “the Harbour City”. It is noted for the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, and its beaches. The metropolitan area is surrounded by national parks, and contains many bays, rivers and inlets. It is listed as a beta world city by the Loughborough University group’s 1999 inventory.

Sydney is the capital city of the south-eastern Australian state of New South Wales, situated on Port Jackson, a waterway including Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour, and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers. With a population of just over 4.25 million, Sydney the “Harbour City” remains the largest, oldest and most cosmopolitan city in Australia.

Sydney holds a reputation worldwide as one of the world’s most beautiful and liveable cities, brimming with historical associations and globally influential in the realms of culture, art, fashion, cuisine and design. The city is also home to many unique architectural styles, including the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, two of the most iconic structures on the planet.

Sydney is a dynamic centre for Australian economic activity and one of the most important cities for finance in the Asia-Pacific region. Sydney was also the host of the 2000 Olympic Games, which successfully raised the city’s global profile. Though comprised of a large, sometimes sprawling population, Sydney nonetheless retains many large public spaces and lush green parklands the city is literally surrounded by national parks, which extend even into the suburbs and the shores of the harbour.

The city has hosted international sporting, political and cultural events, including the 1938 British Empire Games, 2000 Summer Olympics and the 2003 Rugby World Cup. In September 2007, the city hosted the leaders of the 21 APEC economies for APEC Australia 2007, and in July 2008 hosted World Youth Day 2008. The main airport serving Sydney is Sydney Airport.

Sydney is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, which reflects its role as a major destination for immigrants to Australia. According to the Mercer cost of living survey, Sydney is Australia’s most expensive city, and the 15th most expensive in the world.

Sydney, Australia is located in a coastal basin bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, the Blue Mountains to the west, the Hawkesbury River to the north and the Woronora Plateau to the south. Sydney lies on a submergent coastline, where the ocean level has risen to flood deep river valleys (rias) carved in the sandstone. One of these drowned valleys, Port Jackson, better known as Sydney Harbour, is the largest natural harbour in the world. There are more than 70 harbour and ocean beaches, including the famous Bondi Beach, in the urban area.

Geographically, Sydney sprawls over two major regions: the Cumberland Plain, a relatively flat region lying to the south and west of Port Jackson, and the Hornsby Plateau, a sandstone plateau lying mainly to the north of the harbour, rising to 200 metres above sea level within the urban area and dissected by steep valleys such as the Lane Cove River valley. The oldest parts of the city are located in the flat areas south of the harbour; the North Shore was slower to develop because of its hilly topography, and was mostly a quiet backwater until the Sydney Harbour Bridge was opened in 1932, linking it to the rest of the city, with the suburbs surrounding the northern entrance to said bridge effectively developing into a second Central Business District.

The Nepean River rises to the south in the Woronora Plateau, and wraps around the western edge of the city. Most of Sydney’s water storages are on tributaries of the Nepean (e.g. the Warragamba River). Where the Nepean turns east it becomes the Hawkesbury River, which winds through the Hornsby Plateau before emptying into Broken Bay. Broken Bay and the lower Hawkesbury form the commonly accepted boundary between Sydney and the Central Coast to the north.

Parramatta River drains a large area of Sydney’s western suburbs, flowing from west of Parramatta east, becoming a tidal estuary that flows into Port Jackson. Its banks have been largely industrial, but heavy industry is steadily moving away to be replaced by new housing developments and the Sydney Olympic Park. The other major tributaries flowing into Port Jackson are the Lane Cove River and Middle Harbour Creek.

The south and south west of Sydney is drained by the Georges River, flowing from the south towards Liverpool and then turning south east towards Botany Bay. The other major tributary of Botany Bay is the Cooks River, running through the inner-south west suburbs. The Georges River estuary separates the main part of Sydney’s urban area form Sutherland Shire. The Woronora River travels in a steep-sided valley from Woronora Dam to the Georges River.

Minor waterways draining Sydney’s western suburbs include South Creek and Eastern Creek, flowing into the Hawkesbury, and Prospect Creek draining into the Georges River. Cowan Creek and Berowra Creek run north from the Upper North Shore to the Hawkesbury.

The extensive area covered by urban Sydney is formally divided into more than 300 suburbs for addressing and postal purposes, and administered as 38 local government areas. There is no city-wide government, but the Government of New South Wales and its agencies have extensive responsibilities in providing metropolitan services. The City of Sydney itself covers a fairly small area comprising the central business district and its neighbouring inner-city suburbs. In addition, there are a number of informal regional names describing large sections of the urban area. Not all suburbs are necessarily covered by any of the following informal regional categories. The regions are Eastern Suburbs, Hills District, Inner West, Lower North Shore, Northern Beaches, North Shore, Southern Sydney, South-eastern Sydney, South-western Sydney, Sutherland Shire and Western Sydney.

 Sydney from airSydney’s central business district (CBD) extends southwards for about 2 kilometres (1.25 mi) from Sydney Cove, the point of the first European settlement. Densely concentrated skyscrapers and other buildings including historic sandstone buildings such as the Sydney Town Hall and Queen Victoria Building are interspersed by several parks such as Wynyard and Hyde Park. The Sydney CBD is bounded on the east side by a chain of parkland that extends from Hyde Park through the Domain and Royal Botanic Gardens to Farm Cove on the harbour. The west side is bounded by Darling Harbour, a popular tourist and nightlife precinct while Central station marks the southern end of the CBD. George Street serves as the Sydney CBD’s main north-south thoroughfare.

The oldest, inner suburbs are dominated by terrace housing. The original suburbs lay within walking distance of the CBD, and later urban development in the Inner West and Eastern Suburbs was served by trams. With a boom in passenger railway construction came rapid extension of the suburbs along the railway corridors to the west and south, and eventually to the North Shore, after the completion of the Harbour Bridge allowed trains to continue from North Sydney into the CBD. This radial-spoke pattern of development changed after World War II, when increasing car ownership encouraged infill development where the railways didn’t run, and then further expansion around the perimeter of the city. These outer areas have mostly missed out on further rail expansion and are primarily car dependent to this day.

Although the CBD dominated the city’s business and cultural life in the early days, other business/cultural districts have developed in a radial pattern since World War II. In 1945, two-thirds of all jobs in Sydney were located in the City of Sydney and surrounding inner city municipalities, but postwar suburbanisation meant that only a quarter of the workforce were located in the City, South Sydney, Leichhardt and Marrickville municipalities.

Together with the commercial district of North Sydney, joined to the CBD by the Harbour Bridge, the most significant outer business districts are Parramatta in the central-west, Blacktown in the west, Bondi Junction in the east, Liverpool in the southwest, Chatswood to the north, and Hurstville to the south.

Sydney has a compact city centre surrounded by suburbs and districts, sprawling over 40km to the north, west and south. The city and its suburbs (many of which are cities in their own right) form a vast metropolitan area.

• Sydney City (CBD) – The busy centre of government and finance, but also home to many of Sydney’s famous tourist and cultural attractions.
• The Rocks – Just to the west of Circular Quay, The Rocks includes the first colonial village of Sydney and the iconic Harbour Bridge.
• Darling Harbour – An extensive, enjoyable leisure and entertainment area immediately to the west of the CBD.
• Haymarket and Chinatown – On the southern side of the city centre, near Central Station, are markets, cafes, chinese culture and cuisine.
• Kings Cross – To the east, chic bars, blinding neon signs and hip night clubs. Kings Cross is also well known as Sydney’s red light district.
• Darlinghurst – Once the site of countless brothels and speakeasies, now filled with chic and stylish eateries and the heart of the gay community.
• Paddington – Oxford Street ranges from the camp to the posh and is a must for upmarket fashion addicts and drinkers.
• The Inner West – Sydney’s original suburbs are now bohemian and are a hub of cheap eats, shopping and inner-city culture.
• The North Shore – Over the Harbour Bridge are leafy residential areas stretching northwards. The North Shore also has major commercial and retail areas at North Sydney and Chatswood, many smaller boutique shopping areas, and many parks and gardens.
• The Northern Beaches – From Manly stretching North along the coast to Palm Beach.
• The Northern Districts area includes Sydney’s Silicon Valley at Macquarie Park, and the northern side of the western reaches of Sydney Harbour.
• The Hills District is a largely residential area around 30 minutes to the North and West.
• The Eastern Suburbs – Between the City and the sea, includes the world-famous Bondi Beach and other city beaches, which are strong drawcards for visitors and residents in the city during summer.
  Sydney Olympic Park – Home of the Sydney Olympics, now an area of parks, and venues for sports and outdoor activities.
• Parramatta – The historical core of Western Sydney, now a thriving commercial, tourist and retail district, around thirty minutes from Sydney by car, train or ferry.
• The Outer West stretching from Parramatta out to the Blue Mountains.
• The South West centers of Liverpool and Campbelltown are a large swathe of residential and commercial Sydney.
• Southern Sydney – The area south of the CBD and north of the Georges River, including the areas surrounding Sydney Airport and Brighton Le Sands on Botany Bay.
• Sutherland Shire- Is the district to the far south and east of the city center including Cronulla and Captain Cooks Landing Place.
• Richmond.
• Windsor.

Sydney is best described as “sub-tropical”. Sydneysiders talk about four seasons, but is truer to say that Sydney has two seasons: a hot, mildly humid one (summer), and a cooler one (winter). The city is generally comfortable for travellers to visit any time of year. The city enjoys in excess of 300 sunny days each year – that said, when it rains, it really can rain, varying between days of grey drizzle to over a week of bucketing downpours with occasional localized flooding.

Summer can be hot, with temperatures climbing to over 40°C for a few days each year in summer, accompanied by stifling humidity or searing dry winds. Sydney is generally well equipped with air conditioning in public buildings, however, and the beaches and harbour are only a short journey away. Remember sun protection, as the UV exposure risk can be extreme.

Hot summer days frequently (though not always) end with a “southerly buster”, a cold front sweeping up from the south, bringing a clearly noticeable drop in temperature, and thunderstorms. Within hours, the storm can pass and the evening continues cooler. Summer is also the season when bush fires on the margins of the city are most prevalent. For this reason, in hot weather lighting of outdoor fires (non-gas BBQ’s etc) is frequently banned (reported as a “total fire ban” during weather reports) and visits to national parks can be hindered.

Winter in Sydney is generally cool, not cold – daytime temperatures rarely drop below 13°C, but night-time temperatures can fall to below 10°C. It does not snow in Sydney, and unless you intend spending long periods outside, you can usually get by with just a sweater.

March and April, especially, tend to have clear, warm days with mild nights. October and November are very similar, though perhaps with a greater chance of rain. If you wish to make the most of Sydney’s beaches, visit between late-October and early-April. Outside of these times it is generally considered too cold to swim in the ocean.

• Sydney Hostels Directory