Sydney

Australia is one of the most beautiful and unique countries in the world, so it is no surprise that its largest city, Sydney, is no different. It has a little bit of everything. Sydney has a well-developed downtown district, known as the Central Business District, or CBD, as well as many significant outer business districts like Bondi Junction, and over 300 suburbs.

The city houses well-known landmarks like the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Tower, Sydney Harbour and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It also boasts other tourist attractions like Darling Harbour, Sydney Town Hall, the Queen Victoria building (which hosts a shopping mall) and The Rocks (a historic area with shops, restaurants and a weekly market).

A sharp contrast to all of the buildings and houses, however, are all of the city’s parks and beaches. A significant portion of the CBD consists of Hyde Park, the Domain and the Royal Botanical Gardens. As well as many parks, there are also over 50 lovely beaches to visit throughout the city.

One of the first ones I had the pleasure of visiting was Coogee, a beach in south Sydney. I have to admit, all of Sydney’s beaches are beautiful, but they all have their own unique elements that make them different. Coogee has a stone boardwalk overlooking the sand, the ocean and Wedding Cake Island, which sits about 800 metres off of the coast.

One of the things I liked most about Coogee though, is the hiking path that leads all the way to the world-famous Bondi beach. The trail is very diverse – it starts out as an asphalt sidewalk crawling up a grassy hill, but transforms into a trodden dirt path, laid out stones, and sometimes melts away to an imaginary line as it crosses a few beaches, coves and parks. The Pacific Ocean stays sprawled out on your right side the whole time, whether you’re standing on the sand at Mackenzie’s Bay or practically perched on the edge of a cliff near Gordon’s Bay. One of the most intriguing sites is a large cemetery floating on a slanted slat of escarpment facing the water. Just before reaching Bondi you’re taken up another large hill/cliff, complete with park areas, benches and spectacular lookout points. You follow stone steps back down to Bondi beach proper where you can bask in the sun on the warm sand.

Sydney is a city that has weeks upon weeks worth of things to do and places to explore. Getting to Australia is a long journey indeed, but Sydney is definitely a city worth visiting at least once in a lifetime. For me personally, one time was just not enough!