Going to Australia this christmas
 

My wife and I are going to be going to Adelaide for a wedding this christmas and staying through the New Year, we plan to stay there for a few days and then go to Sydney for a few days. Any suggestions, or must see places would be appreciated, also any food suggestions too.

Take a wine tour in Adelaide out into the Barossa valley, Clare valley or Coonawarra regions - all pretty close.

What things are you interested in?

I'd suggest a trip down the Limestone Coast to Robe....gorgeous little seaside village with some excellent places to eat and stay. Great wineries down that way too!

Don't miss Handorf in the Adelaide Hills - this place is German inspired and the best place for bratwurst sausages and cabana hot enough to burn your ring out!!

You've picked a great spot whatever you do. Beautiful city with great beaches and awesome wine areas closeby. Absolutely teaming with stunning women too... but i guess you're, uh, not too worried about that eh :mustbuysunglasses:

I didn't know this area was actually wine country, we will definatly have to look into that, any additional information on that would be much appreciated. As for what we like we like to do we are up for pretty much anything, just trying to avoid the tourist traps, and see the good stuff we can while we are there. We are going here for a wedding so honestly we have no idea what is even in this area, just trying to feel out what the options are in that area.

hunter valley outside of sydney is also great wine area - and has some beautiful vineyards....

if you do nothing else in Sydney -- do the Bridge climb... the views you get are stunning.... and the Taronga Zoo in sydney (accessible by ferry) is also great - -you take a cable car thingie to the top and work your way down - the giraffe area has some spectacular views of sydney harbour.

How to see things while avoiding tourists :/

Can't say too much more about Adelaide, but can maybe give a few suggestions RE Sydney.

Mal's point about the hunter valley - if I only had the option of one wine trip during my stay, I would recommend the Barossa in SA if you were more interested in Reds and the Hunter if you are more interested in white wines (chardonnay etc.). The hunter is quite a dry/hot wine region - similar climate to California really.

Expect that it is going to be hot! Temps in Oz will most likely be in the high 30s/low 40s (celsious) - around 100 F.

A harbour cruise is quite worthwhile and can also be had quite cheaply - the govt run one is not the most comfortable boat but gets you around - for a few more dollars you can do a privately run lunch cruise.

I quite like museums and Sydney has a couple which I think are quite good:
1. Australian Museum (dinosaur bones, rock collections etc.)
2. Powerhouse Museum (techy stuff)
3. Maritime museum (including an ex-Navy submarine and destroyer, I think).
4. For a look at our convict past, the Hyde Park Barracks is also quite interesting (from what I remember).

Food - Sydney has some great places to eat - what I love most about it is that you don't have to pay an arm and a leg for good food (though you can if you are looking for high end restaurants).

For something a little out of the ordinary, you could try a ghost tour of the old quarantine station (near north head).

obviously sydney harbour is the main attraction. a ferry trip round the harbour, or a trip to manly beach on a nice day is exceptional.

blue mountains is a good view, although in summer its probably a little sticky.

a visit to the eastern beaches bondi-tammaramma-coogee-all the way through to maroubra is a nice drive.

id say def sunglasses should be high on the priority list.

Catch a New Years' sunrise on the beach, Adelaide or Sydney.

not sure what your accomodation budget is, but it might be worth booking in here - something amazing about having a hotel room with almost floor to ceiling windows which looks straight out onto harbour bridge and opera house. If not staying here, it is worth a visit to the restaurant/cocktail bar on the top floor for aforementioned view.

omghi, I live in the hunter valley! :icare:

I haven't done the sydney bridge climb yet, but I decided the other day I wanted to do it cause I'm shitscared of heights, and I've taken a liking to scaring myself these days. :crazy:

Seems like we will be more than enough stuff to pack our trip, my only other question would be any good places to see wildlife, like a nature preserve or something along those lines. Someone mentioned kangaroo island, any comments about it, or any suggestions otherwise?

Thanks for all the info,

Duck

Can't help you with that one re: NSW or SA. There is Australia Zoo in Queensland (Steve Irwin's wildlife park) which is really quite good, but it sounds like you won't make it to Queensland.

You looking for wildlife in it's natural habitat? Take a train across teh outback - -yuo'll see plenty of kangaroos.... Featherdale wildlife park -- not far from sydney (I ended up there on some coach tour - -so I honestly couldn't tell you where it was) Koala's were viewable up close, I got to holde an echidna.. and kangaroos roam free i the park (one stole my pretzel) It's kind of a kiddie zoo but the animals up close were kinda cool.

Kangaroo Island i wanted to get too, but I couldn't get enough people to tell me that it was worth the day trip....

if you have the time.. Ayers Rock in Alice Springs is magnificent... but that's a flight from sydney -- it's really not drivable

I was in Adelaide this past April and the wife and I did the Barossa valley. The scenery was beautiful!! Good wine there as well.

Aussie women got it going on! :thumbsup:

You are talking to a person who has a perfectly irrationatal rational fear of down escalators - they terrify me...I hate heights as well.. .but the bridge climb wasn't bad at all... and you are roped in with everyone else so it's not like you can go anywhere if you do happen to jump over the railing... If/when you do this - you are given a breathalyzer test before going... and they do reject people... there were 3 guys in our group who were rejected because they had been boozing the night before and were still showing some alcohol in thier system that morning.

Pierce Brosnan got pinged on the breath-a-lies-er, he said he'd wait a little while and wait for the alcohol he'd just glugged to wear off.

Then he blew a higher reading! :lol:

The escalator thing, weird. How about looking down those flights of stairs that come around on each other in large buildings? :)

There's a wildlife preserve just around the corner from me, but I spose that isn't too much help to ya duck. :rolleyes:

I'm sure there'd be something around adelaide, I know there's a botanic gardens at least?

Just wanted to report back on how the trip was. Just got back to the states and am trying to get back on EST. All I can say is wow; I am so ready to move. While in Adelaide we spent a day in the Barossa valley doing the wine tour thing, we ended up with about a case at the end, and about half of that didn't bake it home with us. Our main reason for the trip was a wedding in Adelaide that was held at the botanic gardens, which from what I heard was on the hottest New Years Eve in years.

Some of the things that I found most interesting was the differences in autos the whole ute thing was really strange, seeing a modern day el camino was interesting, between that and all the French autos we don't have in the states any more.

We only spent about 3 days in Sydney, stayed over in kings cross so it was a little bit of a walk to the downtown area of Sydney, but the walk was through botanic gardens to Sydney harbor. We didn't make the bridge walk, the days we spent in Sydney where pretty overcast, that will have to wait till our next trip.

Thanks to all for the info