Following are suggestions on how you may want to plan your day. Shopping? On the water? Train ride? We’ve got you covered. Remember, these are just suggestions on what you might want to do on the days designated as ‘Free Time’. The suggestions can be split or put together differently how you see fit. These are not musts. And please try and go in smaller groups. It will be easier to coordinate, keep everyone together and it will be easier to walk into dining establishments without having to book days in advance.
Have a read through the suggestions below and pick which ones you’d like. You will definitely not be able to do all of these in the time that you have so choose the memories you’d like to take home with you.
Check-in Day at Wyndham (21 Oct)
Monday 21 October 2024
- Check in – Welcome to Wyndham our home away from home for the next 5 days. Settle in. Get familiar with facilities.
- Take a short stroll to note coffee shops, pubs, convenience store and big supermarket ending at David’s Kitchen for dinner.
A Day with Pi (22 Oct)
- Lazy breakfast of sausilog or a light one with an assortment ofpastires and bread with condiments at ‘unit central’.
- Get acquainted with Sydney’s most famous voice. Get your opal card or contactless credit card ready. We will ride trains, buses, and ferries. We will go over and under the Harbour bridge. We will view the west and east side of the coat hanger. We will have fish and chips for lunch (KKB) wherever we are during lunch time. If we have time, we might be able to have a photo with the happiest face in Sydney. Sydney metro public transport has a maximum of $18.70 for the whole day, no matter how many times you get on or where you are going.
- 4:00PM Happy hour. Unwind and relax with a cold drink at Sydney Brewery
- Hunt around for cheap dinner and breakfast that we can take back to Wyndham.
- Back at Wyndham let’s have a Brown bag session. Bring your dinner to an informative session inspired by GP. An SME will start discussion on a topic relevant to our senior years.
Blue Mountains and Featherdale (23 Oct)
Our schedule for the day is as follows:
8:30 Wyndham Pickup
9:10 Hills Showground Station Pickup
9:50 Arrive at Featherdale
12:20 Depart Featherdale
1:30 Scenic World Drop Off
1:40 Echo Point Drop Off
2:48 Depart Echo Point
2:52 Katoomba Falls Drop Off
3:52 Depart Katoomba Falls
3:55 Scenic World Pickup
5:30 Hills Showgroup Station Drop Off
6:10 Wyndham Drop-off
6:30 Homey dinner (Feel free not to attend). Tuck into Typical Aussie meal – meat and 3 veggies. Share photos and compare notes on the days experience.
The Day of the Main Event (24 Oct)
- Pamper Party. After breakfast, we will treat ourselves to a relaxing do it yourself facial. Bring out the facial glow in preparation for tonight’s main event. If you have your own beauty kit, please bring. Otherwise, it will be provided. NOTE. products provided for use are not for sale.
- Morning Cuppa with SME on hand to lead discussions over a hot cuppa.
- Outdoor Group photo shoot. Meet at Walsh Bay under the harbour bridge pylon in your outback Crocodile Dundee attire.
- Sydney Aus-some GTG 28 Albion Street Surry Hills New South Wales Australia 2010
At day with the Valderramas (25 Oct)
- Market Bargains (Feel free not to attend). After breakfast, head to Paddy’s Market to pick up Souvenirs/ pasalubong. No haggling necessary to score a bargain.
- Seafood Feast. Come to the little house in the Lea to savour the sea harvest that Sydney is famous for. Lunch to sawa.
- option to do some retail therapy in nearby warehouse outlet
- Melbourne bound peeps pickup for airport
The Museum Walk
- Maybe brunch at one of the nice coffee shops or maybe The Grounds in the City to start the day
- Walk towards Hyde Park and start with the ANZAC Memorial which is on the Liverpool St side of Hyde Park. This is a small memorial to the Fallen Aussies. This is a 9 minute walk. Make sure you pass through the fountain in Hyde Park and take photos with St Mary’s Cathedral in the background. If it’s a sunny day, you will find people sitting on the grass having some down time.
- After the ANZAC Memorial, walk towards College street and you will find the Australian Museum. Entry is free except for the special displays. You can spend easily one hour inside the museum. They also have a cafe where you can get a view of St Mary’s Cathedral. It is a 3 minute walk from the War Memorial to the Australian Museum.
- From the Australian Museum, you may want to walk down to St Mary’s Cathedral and have a wonder around. It’s a 4 minute walk to the Cathedral.
- From St Mary’s Cathedral, you can walk to the Art Gallery of NSW. Walk down College Street towards the harbour and turn right into Art Gallery Rd. You will find the Art Gallery on the right hand side of the road. It is an 8-minute walk to the gallery from the cathedral. Again, depending on how much time you spend appreciating the displays, you can easily spend an hour in this place.
- From the gallery, cut across the park towards the hospital and walk across it to Macquarie St. There you will find the NSW Parliament House. If you are so inclined, you may want to go inside (they do allow visitors in) and have a look-see. It is an 8 minute walk to Macquarie St.
- Next stop is the Museum of Sydney Walk down Macquarie Street towards the harbour, turn left on Bent St then right into Phillip St. You will find the museum at the corner of Philip St and Bridge St. This is not a very big museum and generally has displays about the First Fleet (the 12 ships that arrived in Sydney Cove during the first settlement).
- If you are already feeling tired from all the walking, you may call it quits and head down to the nearest pub for a cold one. Circular Quay is a 5 minute walk and you may want to watch the sunset as you sip your favourite drink from the many establishments around.
- From Circular Quay, you can take the train (not the Light Rail) to Museum Station and Club Wyndham is a short 5-minute walk from the station.
- Just a note. All the museums have cafe’s so there’s always food available when you need it.
Manly Beach Run
The ‘other’ popular beach in Sydney is Manly Beach. On a nice sunny day, you will find the beach full of sun-worshipers, most not even getting wet, just soaking in the sun. Beach volleyball is a popular activity on the beach. What’s great about heading to Manly Beach is that you take the ferry and you can have a nice view of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge from the water.
To get to Manly Beach, you can take the train from Museum Station to Circular Quay. Alternatively, if you are close to George St, take the Light Rail to Circular Quay. From Circular Quay, take the ferry from Wharf 4. Enjoy the views as you take the ferry to Manly Wharf. Manly Beach is about an 8-minute walk from the wharf. There are shops around which you may want to check out. Maybe have some ice cream as you ogle at the sun-bathers. Make sure you bring a hat, sunnies and don’t forget the sun screen. There are a few nice restaurants in Manly Beach you might want to try.
After the ferry ride back to Circular Quay, you might want to head to the Opera Bar, just next to the Opera House where you can take a sip of your favourite beverage as you watch the sunset. Mind you, there are a lot, and I mean a LOT of tourists who order drinks, barely take a sip and just spend all their time taking selfies. And you could be one of them!
Bondi Beach
I am sure you’ve all heard about Bondi Beach (pronounced Bond-eye). If you want to make a day of it, you will need to take a bus ride. You need to head down to the entrance of Museum Station on Elizabeth Street and go to Platform B (this is a bus stop, not a train platform). Take bus 333 towards North Bondi. It is about a 30 minute ride (19 stops, but don’t count the stops. The bus does not stop on all of them). You will know you’re in Bondi Beach because you will see the water. You can get off from any of the bus stops on Campbell Pde. If you are worried that you may miss the stop, I suggest you use google maps and set the direction to Bondi Beach. You will see from the app if you are there (or how long before you get there). It gets rid of the anxiety.
There are good eating places along Campbell Pde or you may also want to try Icebergs Dining Room and BAR. Alernatively, you may want to buy fish and chips from any of the local shops and have a picnic. Stay on the grass area or in one of the sheds.
Again, don’t forget to bring a hat, wear sunnies and put on sunscreen. You will find sunscreen stations around the beach where you can just go and get some.
If you had a heavy lunch and you want to walk it off, you might want to take the Bondi to Tamarama Beach walk. It’s a walk along the coastline with stunning views. It is about a 30-minute walk one way but I can guarantee, you will enjoy the walk. And don’t forget to take lots of photos.
To get back to the CBD, take bus 333 from Platform A heading towards City Circular Quay. Just remember where you got off as the bus stop for the return trip is usually on the opposite side of the road. If you want to head back to Club Wyndham, get off at the Museum Station stop. Otherwise, keep going to Circular Quay to do more exploring or maybe let the hair down and head on to one of the watering holes. This time I might suggest The Establishment Bar on George St.
Opera House
So you’ve heard about the Sydney Opera House and you want to take a selfie.
Head down to Circular Quay and it is a short walk to the Opera House. Most people just stay outside to take photos, but you can actually take a tour inside it. But the best place to get the Opera House feel is if you go and see a concert.
After taking all those selfies at the Opera House, you can walk around Circular Quay and head down to the Museum of Contemporary Arts. Yes, it’s another museum, but if you go up to the top floor, they have a cafe and a balcony with a very nice view of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. The food here is okay if you want to have lunch with a view. But do have a look at the exhibits. It’s free anyway.
From the MCA, go down to The Rocks area. This is the oldest part of Sydney as this was where the first settlers settled. There is a good choice of eating places here, but do try and go to The Fortune of War. This is Sydney’s oldest pub, established in 1828. Maybe have a round of beer just for the selfie. But if you are not into it, Zia Pina is just further down and they make good pizza. For a simple lunch with decent coffee or chocolate drink, and of course, decadent desserts, you cannot go past Guylian Belgian Chocolate Cafe. This is just next to Zia Pina, but there is another branch across Circular Quay closer to the Opera House. And if you are just looking for dessert? Le Renaissance Patisserie is another go to for us. They’re next door to Guylian.
From the Rocks, you can either take the train to Museum Station to head back to Wyndham or you can take the Light Rail to QVB for some more exploration.
But if your legs are up to it, take the ferry from Circular Quay to Barangaroo. You can get a nice view from the water. Take the ferry from Wharf 5 to Pyrmont and get off at Barangaroo. Again, there are a lot of restaurants in the Barangaroo precint. Or you may want to walk to Darling Harbour for more choices and if you are still not satisfied with the choices, you can proceed down to Chinatown.
Club Wyndham is a short 10-minute walk from Darling Harbour.
Darling Harbour
It’s another tourist spot, Darling Harbour. You can just walk down from Wyndham to Darling Harbour. There you will find Madame Tussauds, Wildlife Sydney Zoo, and Sea Life Aquarium, all in the one pass (ticket). Across from these attractions is the Maritime Museum which is everything maritime.
It’s always a nice stroll around Darling Harbour. But do make sure you cross the Pyrmont Bridge which just takes you from one side of Darling Harbour to the other. You can get a good view of Darling Harbour from this bridge. This is a pedestrian bridge so no need to worry about cars.
There are heaps of choices for food here. But you might want to try the meat pie from Harry’s Cafe de Wheels. The original stand is in Woolloomooloo which you can walk to but may not be for the aged knees. You must at least try the meat pie as that is one of the Australian staple foods.
A short walk from Darling Harbour is Chinatown. If you are so inclined, you may want to visit the Chinese Garden. I haven’t been (a garden is a garden) but it’s one of the attractions of the area.
Pitt Street Mall
For a bit of shopping, you might want to check out Pitt Street Mall. This section of Pitt Street is closed to traffic so you can freely walk about. There is Westfield Shopping Centre with a few high end retail stores inside like Prada, Ballenciaga, Ferragamo, Loewe, and Georg Jensen to name a few. But if you are looking for Louis Vuitton, they have their own building on George Street. Christian Dior, Tiffany and other name brands are spread across the CBD so you may have to do a bit of walking to find what you’re looking for.
Myer store is across the road from Westfield and you may also find something interesting at the Queen Victoria Building (QVB).
There is usually a basker in front of Zara so if you want to rest your weary feet, you might want to sit on the benches (or just stand) and listen or watch. They’re usually pretty good, especially the musicians.
Chatswood
Chatswood is a 20-minute train ride from Town Hall train station. It’s another interesting place to visit for shopping and dining. Two notable dining places are District Dining which is just above the train station and the other is Hawker Lane in the Westfield Shopping Centre. It will not disappoint so it may be worth making that 20-minute train ride. There is also good shopping in Chatswood, but they’re very similar to what you’ll find in the city. I’d go for the food!
Taronga Zoo
It’s a lovely time to spend the day walking around the animals. There’s a great view of the city as well from the zoo. It will take about 3 hours to fully experience and explore the zoo so make sure you make some time.
There are a couple of ways to get to the zoo: on is via the ferry, which is my preferred option, and the other is by bus.
Take the ferry from Circular Quay Wharf 4. Don’t forget to buy your tickets first. You can purchase a combination ticket for the ferry and entrance to Taronga Zoo.
To take the bus, take the 100 Bus (Mosman to City) from the Queen Victora Building. The bus runs every 10 minutes until around midnight.
Paddy’s Market and Sydney’s Fish Market
You might want to start your day hunting for souvenirs. Best place for it is Paddy’s Market in Haymarket. It is an 8-minute walk from Club Wyndham. There’s plenty of bargains on offer.
From Paddy’s Market, you might want to hop on the Light Rail (L1 line to Dulwich Hill) and head to the Sydney Fish Market for a seafood lunch. It’s a 9 minute ride from Paddy’s Market station to Fish Market station. It’s a very short walk to the fish market from there. If you are in a group, a couple might go and get tables by the water front as it often gets busy and there might be a wait for someone to vacate a table. The rest can pick up the food from the stalls. Something to remember is you should not feed the birds. Once you do, they will flock to your table. Oysters, cooked prawns, mud crabs, lobsters, sea urchins, sashimi, they’re all there.
From the Fish Market, you can hop back on the light rail (towards Central Station), and you might want to get off at The Star (this is the casino) where you can have dessert and coffee, or you might want to try the ice cream at Messina. There’s a nice food court here and if you’d rather some fine dining, you have a number of choices. I would recommend Sokyo if you are into Japanese food. They have a good selection of sake!
To go back to the CBD, you can take the Light Rail once again to Central and you can… go all the way to Capitol Square station to go back to Wyndham, OR you can get off at Convention station for Darling Harbour or at Exhibition Centre station for Chinatown. There are good dinner choices in both. If you’ve managed to burn all those calories from the seafood lunch, you might want to try Braza Churrascaria in Darling Harbour. It is all you can eat Brazilian BBQ. Or walk down towards Chinatown and there are heaps of dining choices.