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Australia

Attitudes to Children
Eating
Finding Out More
Getting Around
Getting There
Health
New South Wales
Northern Territory
Queensland
Reader Reports
Safety
South Australia
Standard Itineraries
Tasmania
Tour Operators
Types of Holiday
Victoria
Western Australia
What to Do and Where to Go
When to Go

Holidays by Destination Australasia Australia New South Wales 

New South Wales Tourism http://www.tourism.nsw.gov.au

New South Wales is almost twice the size of the UK with plenty of notable attractions. Given that the vast majority of visitors pass through Sydney, with children it might be worth confining your explorations to the state, at least for a first visit.

The part most visitors see is the rich, sub-tropical coastal region, but there is also the sparsely populated Outback western plains, the lush highlands of the Great Dividing Range, and the farm country of the range's western slopes.

Sydney

Sydney http://www.sydney.com.au and Sydney-City http://www.sydney-city.com are just two web sites for the city.

Though Melbourne would disagree, this is Australia's premier city, one of the world's most beautifully located, on a deep seawater inlet, fringed by fine beaches. For those who enjoy their food, it is worth remembering that it is widely regarded as the restaurant capital of Australasia.

History
The Rocks is the oldest area, now full of shops and cafes with for example free weekend puppet shows for children.
Old Sydney Town http://www.oldsydneytown.com.au. Reconstruction and re-enactments from the first settlement with soldiers and convicts, putting down a mutiny to making horse saddles. Reached by ferry from Darling Harbour.
Fort Denison on one of the harbour islands was a fortress and prison used to maroon dangerous convicts.
Elizabeth Farm http://www.hht.nsw.gov.au/museums/elizabeth_farm/elizabeth_farm, Australia's oldest existing farmhouse.
Gledswood Homestead http://www.gledswood.com.au 50km west of Sydney a colonial homestead with sheep shearing, sheepdog mustering, learning to throw a boomerang, and horse trail riding.

Museums
The Art Gallery of New South Wales http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au. Australian, Aboriginal and European art and photography. Activities for children weekends, from story-telling to dance and drama.
The Australia Museum http://www.austmus.gov.au includes dinosaurs information on Aborigines and skeletons from cats and koalas to whales.
The Powerhouse Darling Harbour offers hands-on technical stuff from planes, boats and trains in an old electricity station.
Hyde Park Barracks http://www.hht.nsw.gov.au/museums/hyde_ park_barracks_museum. There are convict hammocks to try, and computers to trace your family name, plus a room with moans of transportees.
The Australian National Maritime Museum http://www.anmm.gov.au features boats including a warship, antique racing yachts and a Russian submarine you can walk round in.
The Earth Exchange mining and minerals with exploding volcanoes and earthquakes.

Animals
Featherdale Wildlife Park http://www.featherdale.com.au en route to the Blue Mountains, Australian fauna in bushland setting.
El Caballo Blanco Andalucian horses do tricks.
Koala Park Sanctuary http://www.koalaparksanctuary.com.au. With over 55 koalas. Koala petting is against the law in this state, so for that you have to go elsewhere.
Waratah Park Wildlife Reserve http://www.waratahpark.com.au. Where Skippy the bush kangaroo used to live.
Blue Gum Farm http://www.bluegumfarm.com.au. Where you can ride camels and feed kangaroos and emus.
Taronga Zoo http://www.zoo.nsw.gov.au. Australian animals and great view. (Offers ZooPass including ferry tickets). Koala Encounters offers the chance of having a photo taken with a koala.
Oceanworld Manly http://www.oceanworldmanly.com. Four seal shows and two shark feeding sessions daily. Over 12s can dive with sharks on beginners' dive courses.
Sydney Aquarium http://www.sydneyaquarium.com.au. Darling Harbour where you walk through underwater plastic tunnels while the fish swim around you. It is the largest aquarium in the world with 5,00 fish, half freshwater, half saltwater, but all Australian.
Mowbray Park Farm Holidays http://www.farmstayholidays.com.au. At Picton, an hour out of Sydney a working farm with hayrides, milking, sheep shearing etc. Mainly overnights but a day ticket buys a tractor ride, horse riding and lunch.

Beaches
Within Sydney's boundaries are around 150 miles of shoreline, both in and outside the harbour. Bondi is probably the most famous, central, large, with a children's playground. Nearby Bronte is also a family favourite. Nielsen Park, Parsley Bay, Watsons Bay (with harbour and clifftop walks) and Balmoral (flat so no surf and a play area) are also popular but are within the harbour so not the cleanest water.

North of Sydney are even better beaches. Manly, reached by ferry, is the main seaside resort, modelled on Brighton and rather kiss me quick, more family and day trip than Bondi, but with easier waves. You can hire in-line skates. Shelly Beach is recommended for picnics and North Head for city, ocean and harbour views. Palm Beach where Home & Away is filmed, is a smart residential area with lighthouse and lagoon, a ferry operating at weekends.

Note that central beaches, like pools, may be gay hangouts.

For Children
Sydney Children's Museum http://www.sydneykids.org. More of a children's entertainment centre, but with hands on science and technology plus adventure park and playground.
Sega World Darling Harbour theme park with rides including interactive roller coasters.
Australia's Wonderland Eastern Creek, 35 minutes from the city; a theme park (claimed the largest in the southern hemisphere, with 80-plus rides, giant walking characters like Fred Flintstone and Pink Panther, and shows) and a wildlife park with plenty of native animals, plus beach.

Out and About
The city includes a national park ringing the harbour's shoreline, with footpaths past kookaburras, lorikeets and more. Walks include from Manly along the North Shore to Spit Bridge from where you can take a bus back. One of the nicest ways of getting your bearings is to take the 30-minute ferry ride from Circular Quay to Manly.
Centennial Park is a big open space with bikes, pedal cars and rollerblades all for hire at the Musgrave entrance. The cafe is next to a toddler playground.
Royal Botanic Gardens site of Australia's first farm, beside the opera house, includes two glass pyramids of tropical plants, fern house and sub-tropical section. Palm Grove is home to a large colony of upside down hanging fruit bats.
The Opera House http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com is a venue also for dance, theatre, and film, with regular performances also on the forecourt and a children's programme.
You can walk over the 1930s harbour bridge (around 30 minutes) with a museum on top of the first pylon. For those with a head for heights the BridgeClimb company http://www.bridgeclimb.com takes visitors in safety gear to the top (134 metres) reported completely safe despite the precautions.
An alternative is to visit the two Perspex viewing platforms at the top of Sydney Tower 270 metres up. There are 75-minute tours while harnessed to a platform on the roof of the tower http://www.sydneyskytour.com.au.
Circular Quay is the waterfront centre where you can take a harbour cruise or (cheaper) catch the ferry. (Also good spot for buskers.)
A visit to Cabramatta 50 minutes by train from the centre, offers a sight of multi-cultural Australia with market, cafes and restaurants, and more.
Paddington is particularly known for its market though this is now rather mainstream.
More Aboriginal people live in Sydney than anywhere else in the country. Gadigal http://www.gadigal.org.au details relevant events and walking tours.

Coast

There is 1,000-plus kilometres of this, ranging from sub-tropical in the north, to temperate in the south. Worth seeking out for safety reasons are coastal lakes or lagoons, behind a spit of land so protected from the Pacific waves.

South of Sydney are low key family resorts. Jervis Bay with bright white sand and clear water is recommended for snorkelling and diving with marine life, including gropers and non-man eating sharks.

Port Stephens to the north on a natural harbour two hours' drive from the city, offers bushwalking, bike hire, and dolphin cruises, while Tilligerry Peninsula has one of the largest colonies of koalas in the country. There are also 4WD tours of the sand dunes and immediately behind is a lake, a natural refuge for pelicans, sea eagles, kangaroos and koalas.

Towards sub-tropical Queensland is Coffs Harbour a tropical resort with plantations of banana, macadamia nuts and avocados, popular with families and Byron Bay is home to designer beach gear and film stars' homes.

Scenery and National Parks

The Blue Mountains an hour's drive from Sydney, is made up of ridges and plateaux (not in fact mountains) cut by forest valleys, blue from the eucalyptus oil haze. Good for bush walks, more wildlife parks, the Zig Zag railway http://www.zigzagrailway.com.au built in the 1860s, and tea and scones at Katoomba. The National Parks and Wildlife Service operates a walking programme for schoolchildren. Good for wildlife, there are kangaroos, wombats, platypus, goannas, possums and even some emu here.

The Hunter Valley with 50-plus wineries in an area good for walking, horse riding, cycling tours and ballooning. Also considered home to some of the country's best hotels.

Parks include Royal National Park on the southern outskirts of Sydney, the second oldest in the world (after Yellowstone) with great beaches and dramatic cliffs. To the north is Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park including pockets of rain forest and Aboriginal rock carvings. Lane Cove Park between suburbs includes natural bushland, a river and boat rides.
Inland, Barrington Tops National Park some of it World Heritage listed, offers numerous trails for sighting kangaroos, wallabies, enchida, goanna and eagles, based at Eaglereach Wilderness Resort.


(updated 08 April, 2006)
         

© FamilyTravel 2006