Visiting relies

[cathy99]

Hi, my mum, sister and 9 year old nephew are arriving for their first visit in just over a week and will be here for nearly 5 weeks.

 

I'm really excited and can't wait to see them. We've only been here ourselves for 6 months, we live in the hills area of Sydney, and i'm trying to put a little itinerary together of places to visit and things to do, so they can pick and choose what they fancy. I'm very conscious of the fact that they are spending a lot of money coming to see us and i want to make sure they have great time.

 

So far i have

A ferry trip into the city

Operah house

Tarronga zoo

Darling harbour

The blue mountains

 

And i can't think of any more, it's not helping that they're coming in the middle of winter, had it been summer then no probs, as we would be hitting the beach a lot!!

 

Any suggestions gratefully received, thanks :0)

[Fisher1]

Hi Cathy

 

We visited Sydney for the first time during your Winter and found plenty to entertain us. We went to all the places you mention. I remember we needed gloves in the Blue mountains but had a great day there anyway. We also took a taxi to a place called Split Bridge (I think?) and walked back along the coastal path to Manly. Brilliant walk about 10k so maybe a bit much for the nine year old. We visited palm beach and had lunch there and took a (tough) walk up to the Barrenjoey lighthouse. I don't know if it runs in Winter but when we were last there (in Spring) we took a ferry to the other side of the Hawkesbury (only about ten minutes ) and visited a place called 'The basin' which has lots of wild-but-tame wallabies.

 

We also hit the museum near Hyde Park - all about convicts. The maritime museum on Darling harbour was great - where are they coming from? we had already been to the Maritime museum in Liverpool so it was incredible seeing the other end of the journey, if you see what I mean.

 

We took a few days out to fly up to Cairns and stayed in Port Douglas, but of course that's even more money so you probably wont want to do that. Our first ever day in Sydney we went to the Botanical gardens and looked at the fruit bats roosting in the trees - a pest really but very interesting, nice café for tea and cake. Don't forget the sea life place on Darling Harbour for the nine year old - haven't been myself so cant recommend but on a rainy afternoon it could be a good bet.

 

On a nice day you could walk from Bondi Beach along the coastal path towards Coogee. No need to walk all the way there (about five miles) as there are other little suburbs along the way. Great fish and chips at coogee.

 

I read a novel set in Sydney not long ago and it mentioned a place called Elizabeth's farm in Paramatta I think, which has been maintained as a museum. Again I've not been but it might be worth looking it up.

 

Good luck!!!

 

We had a ball.

[cathy99]

Thank you fisher1 some good suggestions there, i just realised i forgot to mention i have two children too ages 5 & 7! We visited the botanical gardens when we came in january, but the kids weren't that enamoured with it, i wanted to walk around to is it Macquarie's chair? But they couldn't be bothered (it was a hot day)!

 

We're going to take the red bus tour where you can hop on and off and yes do sealife, madam taussauds as well.

 

Keep the ideas coming please :0) xx

[Prairie Girl]

Hi, we just took our 4 and 8 year old to the Shoalhaven Zoo a few hours drive south of Sydney last weekend and the kids loved it. They got to hold a wombat, and enjoyed seeing the koalas, monkeys, dingos and lizards. It was good for kids, not too big, and there is a big slide there. The drive through Kangaroo Valley is beautiful. On the way back we stopped at Bowral which had a lovely shopping street with cafes. I would recommend it. We stayed one night in a motel.