What a great spot in Sydney. You can take a nice, short ferry ride from Circular Quay to get there…read more There's something for everyone, including the kids. Unlike the US, the food prices here, while a bit higher than areas outside, are not the high gouging prices you see in the US. You can buy an unlimited ride pass (which is a bit pricey), or you can buy single rides for certain rides. Most rides require a pass which is a downside if you want to try certain rides. We rode the ferris wheel which was a lot of fun and gave us some great sites of Sydney Harbour. We loved that the lines aren't long at all, certainly not by US theme park standards. If you have time, swing by to try a ride or two or three and some theme park food.

This park is next to the bay and offers beautiful views of Sydney Harbor Bridge and Sydney Opera…read moreHouse. The iconic clown face welcomes you inside. The Darling Harbor ferry station is right here as well. Just a little walk toward the street corner is Olympic Pool. There are rides and concessions here. It's free to walk inside, but you need tickets to pay for the rides. The ferris wheel is worth a ride. Bathroom and water refill stations inside.

The Manly Warringah Master Builders Club is a members and guests local registered club…read more They have a separate bistro out the front that services the public without the requirement of signing in or registering. Great regular offers and discounts available to members though! Local bands play on the weekends upstairs and regular poker and club entertainment during the week. Staff are friendly and everyone is treated like a regular.

Ordinary looking wharf with fantastic views. (Seems like you can even hold a wedding ceremony by…read morethe wharf !) There is a "Luggage Store" Cafe and Museum by the wharf. The museum is very small but worth having a look. There is also a restaurant 150m away from the wharf - Boilerhouse restaurant.

Nice free museum with information about Q Station. Nice little public beach - small, but quiet…read more Pretty views.

It has taken the boy and I 3 attempts to go to Abattoir Blues. Although we are locals to the area…read moreit was harder to experience the greatness than we expected! Our first attempt was for breakfast a couple of months ago but because the boy doesn't like bacon or egg and the menu was limited we decided on another location. The second time was a Saturday... Yep I'd read the website which said closed Saturday & Sunday but oblivious still made my way there! We headed down this morning around 11 found a car spot right out the front (win!), made our way in and planted ourselves at a table in the sun. About 15 minutes after ordering our drinks and burgers arrived at the table... A pulled pork burger and cap for me and a cheeseburger and 50 lashes for the boy. Wow! These burgers are delicious! After trying each other's meals we devoured the rest of our own, ordered a take-away coffee and made our way home! We will be back for sure this time for the live music!

Live music outside was nice, but my burger was way over cooked, burnt even! (Place was not at all…read morepacked, kinda empty even) And one of the main lights flickered the entire meal, causing half the restaurant to go dark every 30 seconds! However, fries were fantastic as was the side jalepeno sauce I ordered. Overall a fine experience, but nothing noteworthy.

We chose to stay at the Larmont due to its location within Kings Cross - my sister was staying at…read moreAsylum just down the road, and we wanted to be nearby. Although the area has a reputation as being the bad end of town, we found it perfectly fine to stay in - probably wouldn't recommend wandering on your own in the wee hours, but that's true of certain areas in every big city. The area itself is nice, with plenty of nice cafes nearby, and it's only a short walk into the main sites of Sydney. The accommodation is lovely, with the sense of luxury you'd expect from a high-end hotel - huge beds, spacious rooms, plus carpets, deluxe bathrooms (no bath, but that seems to be standard in Australia). Our rooms were nicely made each day, and the reception staff were friendly enough. Some of the furniture was a little more worn than you might expect from a 4-star hotel, although this didn't cause a problem. The slight disappointment was with the view - while pictures had suggested we'd be able to see some of "Sydney's famous sites" from our Deluxe room, this certainly wasn't the case. To be fair, once we mentioned it they confirmed the room types had changed, and suggested the booking agent hadn't updated their information. But they honoured our booking and quickly moved us to an Executive room. From there we had a partial view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge - it was largely obscured by another building, but was much better than the first. Overall a good hotel if you're looking for a little luxury in Sydney, but I will explore other options when I return.

Our room looked nothing like the room in the pictures, but it was still pretty nice. The bathroom…read morewas a little small, but I loved the shower (rain shower head), and the shelf for toiletries behind the sink area. The bed and linens were very nice and comfy/cozy. We had a direct view of the bridge and opera house (although partially blocked by construction). The iPad was very useful. We did not get sim cards for our phone when we arrived, so we relied on the hotel wifi and wherever else we could connect in the city. I didn't find it to be a hinderance. There was construction so by around 9am we could hear drilling, etc. but it wasn't really an issue as we were getting up and around to start our day by then. There are no real amenities, that I was aware of, other than passes to the gym next door (if that's your thing). Unless your plan is to spend a lot of time at the hotel, then that's not really an issue. I usually end up not using most of them when I am playing tourist because I want to see and do things around the city. The staff was so-so. They weren't overly friendly or helpful, but they weren't rude either. We wanted late checkout but had to wait until the day before we left to ask for it's availability. I think ti was an extra $40. King Cross is a diverse area. Lots of food, clubs, entertainment options. Not sure if it is unsafe, but we returned late at night a few times and didn't feel unsafe. Positives: 5 min walk to King Cross station (about 15-20 minutes to circular Quay) Nespresso coffee maker (milk in mini bar fridge) Water heating pot iPad with free wifi Big flatscreen, but limited channels (no CNN International) Negatives: Construction No other amenities Tip: If you arrive late and just want to relax before starting out early the next day they have a food delivery service called Foodora (as well as others) that was reasonably priced and fairly quick with delivery.

I am so glad to have caught a show inside the opera house! The acoustics were amazing…read more I watched the Sydney symphony orchestra perform Beethoven's Symphony No 5. It was so good! To enter, start from the left bottom of the stairs and follow the crowd. (Don't go up the stairs expecting to be seated, like I did.) Then you go through security with bag check. Once inside, backpacks must be deposited at the coat check. This is where the toilets and concessions are. Then you get your tickets scanned, one ticket per person. Then you should head to whichever door is written on your ticket. They start exactly on time, so be prepared to arrive early. I feel like this is a must-do whilst in Sydney. I highly recommend!

I would say this is the most recognized opera house in the world... easily. It is gorgeous,…read moreespecially when there are special occasions where it may be lit up in colorful displays. What really surprised me was that the exterior consists of small tiles... who knew. One drawback is that it is not easily accessible. Loads of stairs to climb and the distance from any transportation option to the entrance is huge. Once inside you will still be walking quite a distance and many many stairs. You will not be able to enter here without staff assistance if you are not walking perfectly well. The inside is as gorgeous as the outside, there are several bars and restaurants inside and out and serivce is great. I came here for my very first opera and even so I could only afford the 'cheap' seats, I must say that my view of the stage was great and the sound quality was excellent. A great help were the small screens on which the translation of the opera followed along. Sort of like closed captioning for the happenings on stage. Helped me tremendously as I tried to follow along, but do not understand a lick of Italian. What else can be said that hasn't been said a million times? Oh yeah, don't forget to visit Benny the seal who hangs out on some stairs in back of the building facing the water of course.

I'm tempted to just write ditto marks around much of Julia's review - she's spot on with quite a…read morefew of her points. The hotel does ooze cool and the staff are on their game. The restaurants outside make up for their hype and lack of affordability with location and location and location. And frankly, I think this is an awesome part of town. To the left, you're just below a set of stairs that take you to Potts Point; one of Sydney's leading dining/drinking neighbourhoods. To the right, you're minutes away from the Domain, Mrs Macquarie's Chair, and arguably Sydney's most beautiful walk to the Opera House. The hotel room was small, but nicely appointed and the amenities were lovely. (Make sure you book direct from their website for free wifi and the best rates.) The biggest disappointment was the fact that our room was right in the front of the hotel along the main road. When you book a hotel room on a pier, it doesn't seem like a wild expectation that you'd at least get a slight view of water. But not in this case, unfortunately. Overall, this spot is great for convenience if dining/drinking/exploring is high on your list. Don't book if luxury is your top priority, or you're hoping to accomplish a ton of business in the CBD.

Nothing disappoints me more than a missed design opportunity or lack of free wifi. On these two…read morepoints this hotel missed badly. 1) free in-room wifi. Not having this is like not having a bed, being a traveler to all the cosmopolitan cities + a resident of NYC I figured this service was a standard - given that it's 2015 and essentially every other hotel in large cities offers it. I believed this so strongly I didn't even check this when booking, hence my frustration when I was told it was only free in the cafe (really it only works at the entry) and was for purchase in the rooms. Given that it was $90 for 7 days (about the average cost of a monthly subscription for a household) I was not going to oblige. 2) decor. There is such a missed opportunity here given that it's a renovated wharf - the industrial chic design aesthetic that is sweeping bars / restaurants and cafes all over NY / London / Melbourne would have been absolutely perfect in this case, but instead they've opted to what looks like a cheap 90's miami nightclub with tacky furniture, bad colored lighting and an overall lack of ambiance. Given the huge ceiling heights the space feels sparse and empty - such a shame as this could really have been one of the best converted spaces in the city had they been on point. Being an architect does make me slightly snobbish of interiors but given my husband described of it as 'madonnas 90's dreams' then I'll take it it wasn't only me with these opinions. Given the high cost to stay here, you will get much better value and atmosphere elsewhere. Avoid.

Recommended by a colleague who lives in Manly and great experience with the host welcoming us with…read morewine tasting flight to start. We selected a very earthy Shiraz after some NZ bubbles. Atmosphere Is open air with the entire front of the restaurant open to the sounds of a four to six foot south swell hitting the beach right out front. The manager was so accommodating of our mixed group of Americans and Australians and selected a tasting menu brought out family style. We loved the head on rainbow trout, salad, and beef selection. Any place you can go and have the manager select your food and wine, have a great dining experience and reasonable bill for five about $260 AU for five, is a great place. Loved it!

This place was one of my favorite places we went during our trip to Australia!…read more The cocktails were made by a real bartender. The food and portions were top notch. The service was prompt and the view and vibe are worth it alone!