Shore Excursions -
Sydney Sightseeing Tour
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PRIVATE/CUSTOMISED SYDNEY TOUR
HALF DAY - City Sights, Sydney Opera House (4 hrs)
FULL DAY - City Sights, Sydney Opera House & Kuringai Nat Park (8 Hrs) Departs 8:30am
RATE $395 P/person ( 2 pax)
$200 P/person (4–6 pax)
Includes transfer, guide, entertaining and informative commentary and entries. Does not include lunch. Tours in foreign Languages, available - extra.
What you will See
Morning
The tour travels in and around Sydney providing an insider’s view at its prime sights. Visits ‘The Rocks’, Sydney’s first white settlement district, and visits the Sydney Opera house (walk around exterior) and en route visitors mingle with the locals at Circular Quay and choose a place to have a light lunch. The tour visits the CBD, Hyde Park Barracks, State Parliament, Royal Botanic Gardens, Queen Victoria Building, Kings Cross and the affluent neighbourhoods of Paddington and Double Bay and stops at Australia’s most famous beach, Bondi.
Afternoon
Crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge your guide takes you north to Ku-ring-gai National park bush where the road meanders through natural bushland and to ridges with views overlooking pristine bays below. This is an opportunity to see the best of Sydney’s northern beaches, hidden secrets known only to locals that are far, far away from the tourist track!
NOTE: There are sites in the park, depicting Aboriginal rock art (petroglyphs) dating from 20,000 YA to 200 YA roughly hewn into the sandstone and "re-grooved" during ceremonies. Visitors interested in a glimpse should ask their guide to stop and show them the carvings. The carvings are unique, visible reminders of the area's rich, living Aboriginal culture.
MORE INFORMATION FOR DISCERNING TRAVELLERS
SYDNEY TOUR
Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House Close-up, tile cladding - Sydney Opera House Exterior
The ‘sails’ or ‘shell’ roof design that has made the Sydney Opera House a world icon was designed by Swedish architect, Jorn Utson. Beneath its famous ceramic tiled exterior, is a complex of theatres and halls.
On the tour visitors see up-close the building with its complex mosaic white ceramic tiles that give the Opera House its perfect finish and sheen. Millions of tiles (maintenance-free) set in a chevron pattern, are protected from rust and water stain by a layers of epoxy and titanium resin that also give it its lustrous sheen.
The construct of the roof was very avant garde. Its tiled‘Lids’ were pre-fabricated to the fit the spheres of the famous sails. Securing these on the spherical twisted surfaces of was only made possible by the use of accurate and advanced surveying techniques.
The Opera House is surrounded by magnificent views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Circular Quay where the Sydney ferries constantly arrive and depart. Your visit here will be a memorable and an authentic experience.
SYDNEY TOUR - Rocks
Rocks, Sydney has a distinctive charm and ambience. The buildings date from the first white settlement, when in 1788 ‘The First Fleet’, comprising 11 British ships moored at its waters edge with a miserable, human cargo of 775 convict exiles on board. These poor felons were not all hardened criminals, rather overflow of the crowded UK prisons. Here in a harsh alien land they were doomed to survive.
For 16 years the Rocks, Sydney was the sole sovereign Australian port and all the sleazy characteristics of a dockside area, where sailors and settlers engaged in illegal and legal business, hard drinking, prostitution and crime.
SYDNEY TOUR - Bondi Beach
AUSTRALIA’S most famous of all typifies the traditional Aussie beach with its blue water bordered by golden sands. Bondi shoreline is a one kilometre stretch of golden sand (0.6 m) framed at each end by headlands. Every day lifesavers patrol the beach for while Bondi may look tranquil, it is a dangerous ‘rip’ beach where currents meet creating a strong undertow that within a matter of seconds, will sweep swimmers (and waders) far out to deep water. Sharks here are also a problem.
Most Australians live near the coast and treat the beach as their ‘back yard’. Beaches are places where Aussies socialise with their friends and exercise. It is their outdoor gymnasium! Enjoying the Australian outdoors is epidemic. The beach at Bondi typifies all things Australian and it is here that local Sydney-siders can be seen doing what hey all love best!
To protect swimmers, Bondi has voluntary life-guards on duty every day. Bondi was Australia's first official surf lifesaving club that (also a world first!). Today there are over 350 clubs in Australia.
Every day Bondi lifesavers assess the current and place flags where they think it is best to swim. This area will remain under their close surveillance. From the Bondi patrol tower, life savers constantly scan the entire beach searching for swimmers in trouble.
From an early age, Australian children are encouraged to learn water safety. Australia has life saving clubs for them fondly known as ’Nippers’. The aim of the ‘Nippers’ junior program is to promote safety and team acuity. Life-Saving Clubs in Australia are funded by government and supplement their funds by holding the traditional Aussie BBQ ‘sausage sizzle’ at the beach-side club premises.
SYDNEY TOUR - Ku-Ring-Gai National Park and Aboriginal Discovery
Just 30 minutes from the CBD, visitors are treated to a forest with open spaces and scenic views overlooking beaches and rivers. The park covers an area larger than Manhattan Island and is a popular retreat for local bush walkers and families.; Because of its sandstone base and difficult terrain, white settlers built on the land adjacent to the river and coast.
As Sydney became more densely settled in the lower regions, the government realising that his tract of virgin land was to be preserved from development.
Ku-rin-gai is a tree dominated landscape of Blue Gum trees and visitors experience a rare glimpse of an open forest of tall canopy trees with an under-story of shrubs, ferns and ground cover. There is a wealth wildflowers and birdlife to enjoy in this Australian bush retreat.
SYDNEY TOUR
Aboriginal Discovery (Ku-Ring-Gai National Park)
There are sites depicting Aboriginal rock art (petroglyphs) dating from 20,000 YA to 200 YA that were hewn into the sandstone and "re-grooved" during ceremonies. Australian Aborigines have the oldest continually maintained culture in the world spanning possibly 65,000 years. Their art, stories and systems of beliefs are undoubtedly the oldest on earth.
Indigenous rock carvings at Kuringai
The sites can be easily be easily accessed over wide walking tracks.
NOTE: This experience this is optional and visitors interested in a rare glimpse should ask their guide to stop at the specific area. The carvings are ancient and unique. They are a visible record of an ancient and rich culture.
‘The Three Sisters’ Blue Mountains, Sydney
BLUE MOUNTAINS – KATOOMBA, BLACKHEATH
120 m West of Sydney
Duration 9 hrs Departs 0830
RATE $ 435 P/person ( 2 pax)
$ 220 P/person (4–6 pax)
Includes transfer, guide, commentary.
Does not include lunch.
Entry to Ferndale $20 p/person - extra
Tours in foreign Languages, available - extra
Experience the World Heritage listed Blue Mountains with breathtaking views across rugged tablelands and deep valleys. Breathe in the fresh mountain air and relax as the tour leaves behind the city and drives through the scenic countryside.
What you will see
The tour visits the small towns of Katoomba to see the ancient rock formation of ‘the Three Sisters’; Leura – where the Blue Mountains Resort ‘Lilianfels’ is located; and Blackheath. All places are renowned for their beautiful flower gardens, shopping and village charm.
The Blue Mountains, regarded the Grand Canyon of Australia, covers 2.5 million acres Jurassic rain forest. There is a blue haze which has earned the Blue Mountains its name that is created by the rays of sunlight merging with the droplets of eucalyptus oil, dispersed from the millions of eucalyptus trees that dominate the region.
Did you know … that a living fossil from the Jurassic period was recently discovered in the Blue Mtns?
Your guide will tell you the story of a recent discovery in one of the dense gorges of the Blue Mountains, of a rare species thought to be extinct. Called the Wollemi pine, the plant had been growing but hidden in the park since the Jurassic period 159 Mya!
The Wollemi Pine, a living fossil
OPTIONAL – VISIT FEATHERDLE WILDLIFE PARK
Featherdale Wildlife Park
Home to Australian animals and birds in a natural bush setting. Find your favourite species, and enjoy lots of activities. There are many great photo opportunities:
- hand-feeding a kangaroo, or emu
- cuddling a cuddly Koala
- smiling at an Aussie crocodile !
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