I was picked up for my boutique Hunter Valley wine tour at 7.45am. 'Cos that's how I roll on a…read moreMonday morning! Our driver, Klaus, was wearing a headset mic and having ascertained that the seven Malaysians on board barely spoke any English, and that my housemates and I were locals, still proceeded to give us a history lesson on Sydney and the formation of sandstone etc. I am not a morning person and right then I was really wishing I had never got on that coach! We got some quiet time once we were over the Bridge though and got to enjoy the lovely drive through the Hawkesbury-Kuringai region with talk-back radio and classic rock for company. As we neared the Hunter Valley, Klaus put on a DVD about wine and particularly the grapes the Hunter is best known for (semillon and shiraz) which was much more the education I was after. As Klaus gave us our itinerary for the day his sense of humour started shining through with some classic Dad jokes and I really started to enjoy myself. We hit three cellar doors, with Klaus telling us a bit about each vineyard as we approached, and then got an hour and a half at lunch to do our own thing which was great. My slightly pissed posse headed over to the best shop in the world, the Smelly Cheese Shop, for a cheeky bottle of pinot and bread and cheese for lunch. Two more vineyards after lunch and the last one was the cherry on the cake- our presenter at the Audrey Wilkinson vineyard was hilarious and nutty, the view was spectacular and there was a touring opera company on another coach who treated us to spine-tingling impromptu arias which was just divine. Klaus put on a Russell Crowe film for the drive back which was somehow wine-related- utter bollocks but it the light entertainment was appreciated, and we got home at around 6pm having been entertained, inebriated and educated. Tops day.

We went on the day tour to Hunter Valley with Jason from Boutique Wine Tours. As so many others…read morehave already written Jason is an excellent guide. He has the ability to make people feel at ease and comfortable. He is also very knowledgeable about wine, Sydney and Australia so we were lucky to go on this trip so early during our trip. The group was rather small (10 people) and Jason made us feel as we already knew each other so it as a great way to spend a day. We also could make requests if we wanted to visit a specific vineyard etc. The wine part of the tour was also very good, we had time to visit four vineyards which was really all I could handle. I really appreciated the fact that we went to smaller wineries were we often could meet the owner and get their views on wine making. All together a wonderful day and I can highly recommend it.

First time visitor to this awesome place where we decided to catchup over a bbq with friends…read more Access is by boat, ferry or water taxi. Unsure if you can drive here as I didn't see any cars. What struck me immediately is the local swamp wallabies that coexist with the visitors and rangers. Sightings on the day included kookaburras, various birds and reptiles. It is the only place in the Ku-ring-gai Chase where you can camp. Being part of a national park, ongoing conservation and preservation is by way of entrance fees ($3 per head), which is separate to camping fees. Restrictions applies to this beautiful place i.e. fires. The campsite is well maintained and very clean. Plenty of hiking opportunities for those who are keen as it is surrounded by hills and mountains There is a body of water that is safe for some water sports. Bbq facilities is also available which we took advantage of. Beechwood Cottage is a historical property which is available to hire for functions and events. This place is great if you want to get away for the weekends with or without the kids. It overlooks Pittwater and is just a beautiful place to hang and chill.

This is a great beach and camping area, with mountains all around. Access is by boat or trails…read more No vehicles allowed. It's not a pristine sand beach, more like sand based mud, but has nice calm clear water on the back harbour side. The place has lots of space to picnic and relax. Everything is clean. And the kids get to run after the wallaby(ies) when they hop by. We went in by boat, which is a great way to arrive. There are lots of tent campers, most of which seemed to arrive and bring their gear in by boat. Several ferries service the area.

As far as train stations go this one isn't anything special…read more Its proximity to Westfields and the Parramatta Interchange make it a handy stop. Lifts to each platform are good for the mobility impaired (like me when I busted my ankle that time) and most each platform is under cover which will keep you dry when it's raining. With only four platforms though, the real question will be how it will continue to handle the growth of western Sydney. This station can be a nightmare at peak hour already.

Parramatta Station - gateway to Westfield Parramatta. Yay! Has a good feel to it and you can get…read morean express train to the city. On the north side of the station is a great Chinese restaurant that opened in 2012. Forgot the name of it, but remember their roast duck was ono. It's really big so you can't miss it. If you are heading west from Sydney, you can get the Jetcat catamaran from Circular Quay and walk up to Parramatta station at the jetcat terminus on the river. Takes a little longer, but what a nice ride along the Parramatta River.

I finally managed to get off the train here to have a look around. Okay, it's not as if I couldn't…read morehave before, but Chatswood has always fascinated me - the suburb that is, not the railway station. The reason being is that it is a suburb but it has really tall buildings. Well, that isn't all that uncommon these days, but back when I was a teenager (or at least in my early twenties) it was. It sort of made Sydney to feel like a real city. As for the station, well it's pretty cool, and quite large as well, and the trains come by quite regularly as well.

I feel like Chatswood Station's proud father. Over the course of 30 years I've watched it go from a…read moresmall, haphazard concrete craphole to mature and urbane transport hub, efficacious and surrounded by a retail megalopolis that has sprung up around. There are gyms, bars, cafes, and more shops and restaurants than you can throw a tourist at. The gateway to the north-west, Chatty station is still one of my favourite train stations in Sydders (in your face, Wynyard!)

If I could give it 6 stars I would. We booked the tour to…read moresee the Blue Mountains through the Viator app. It was super easy and straightforward. The app immediately sent us two vouchers annd confirmation of our bookings. The tour started at 7:50 am and we took a ferry back and arrived at Circular Quay in the city by 5:45 pm. More about the ferry ride back later. The tour included: 1. Three Sisters Lookout Point 2.Tram and cable rides at Scenic World and a short hike on the Scenic Walkway 3.Lunch at Loaves and Dishes Cafe 4.Entrance into Featherdale Wildlife Refuge. On the day of the tour, the bus picked us up at our hotel the Hilton Sydney. They make a number of pick ups from other hotels. If your hotel is not on the list then you have to meet them at one of the designated hotels. A tour coordinator approached us to get our names. She checked us in on her list and gave us an envelope with tickets for the forthcoming destinations. The bus was a big comfortable climate control vehicle. Our driver/historian/entertainer was magnificent !! He only mentioned his name once at the beginning of the tour and I didn't catch it. In any case, he was terrifically knowledgable about the history of Sydney and the Blue Mountains. He was funny and kept us entertained throughout the whole day. In addition, he clearly instructed us on how to navigate through the different destinations with keen details. His instructions were extremely spot on and helpful. There was a lot of time designated for each destination. We never felt rushed. i On the way back many people opted to book a ferry ride back on the river cruise. We didn't buy that option but the bus driver told us that we still could pay for the ferry ride at the dock. We chose to do that thinking that the bus would run into Sydney rush hour traffic. I highly recommend that you take the ferry ride option. It was a beautiful, peaceful ride back to the city center and only took 30 minutes. We're not sure how long the bus took but surely it wasn't as scenic. In addition, the b So to get on the ferry, we had to purchase tickets. At the dock, there was a vending like machine where you can buy a ticket to get on the ferry. It was $8.50 AUD/person. The ferry made a few stops along the way to pick up other passengers. We thoroughly enjoyed every facet of the tour. It takes you to gorgeous areas of our Sydney trip that we wouldn't have otherwise been able to see on our own. The operators were extremely professional and well informed. It was worth every penny of the approximately $98/person for two people. Viator had a special 10% discount if we purchased on the mobile app. Also follow my food adventure on IG @tazebudshawaii Happy Travels !

Ashleigh was the best tour guide EVER! We are visiting from Los Angeles and wanted to see the three…read moresisters at the Blue Mountains. This trip gave us that and more. The Featherdale wildlife park gave us a great up close kangaroo/koala experience, as well as a chance to see some of Australia's bird and reptile species. Lunch in Luera was delicious, and the town was adorable. Following that was the trip to the Blue Mountains, and finally a nice ferry ride home. Ashleigh's knowledge combined with her engaging personality made the whole experience that much more inviting! Great job!

I LOVE THE HOTEL. When we checked in Sam helped us and she was amazing so friendly and helpful…read morecouldn't have asked for better. She literally went above and beyond. Since check in everyone in the lobby has also been really friendly and nice but none as personable as Sam. She made us feel like she was our personal concierge. The room is amazing!! I want to live there. The decor is very stylish and high end. The room is large and lots of tech features. You can control most everything in the room from the phone by the bed. There's an iPad with hotel info and Netflix you can air play to an Apple TV. We had a bit of trouble with the wifi dropping out every so often which was a bit annoying but whatever. Our room had a really nice bathtub that seperated the bathroom from the rest of the room so you can sit in the tub drink champagne and watch Netflix!! I dropped a star because we did not have a lot of luck with the restaurants. As a guest in the hotel they encourage you to eat in their restaurants by offering a bit of vip perks. The first we tried was Establisment bar. We stopped in for a light afternoon snack and some champagne. When you order food you have to pick it up yourself and the prices don't support this type of service. A burger was $20. The bartenders didn't really seem like they wanted to serve us either. We weren't dressed in suits like the rest of the clientele, we felt a bit profiled. We actually felt the profiling happened a lot but weirdly it was mostly by female servers, almost if they thought it was part of their job description to be catty. I strongly believe that women should stick together and be supportive of one another, so this behavior was a bit disappointing. After we finished we left and went to Palmer & Co, their food menu was better and we wished we had eaten there instead but their drinks were super expensive (I guess that's Sydney for you, $20 a drink). The service we received at Palmer & Co was much better. The following morning we had breakfast in the Garden which was good and our server was ok but she wasn't very friendly. Our next Establishment restaurant experience was at Tank Stream Bar and the woman who served us was super unfriendly. She even charged my partner for his wine separately and then turned to me and said "So, how are you going to pay" in a tone that was almost like she didn't think I could pay. I don't even know what that was about. Finally our last restaurant experience was at Mr. Wong's from the moment we walked in the hostess treated us kind shitty. She was going to seat us at this really horrible table in a hall way. I asked if we could have a better table and she said we could wait at the bar for a better table. I told her we had a reservation and we shouldn't have to wait. She then asked if we were guest of the hotel and since we were sat us at an extremely better table. I felt a bit profiled here too. The wine server was also not very friendly although we could hear her chat it up and be super friendly to tables around us, coincidentally she barely came by to refill our wine. On the other hand our sever (who was male) so nice and helpful. He gave us plenty of recommendations and even did his best to make special accommodations for us. In spite of this the food at Mr. Wong's was amazing and surprisingly authentic. TL;DR Stay at this hotel!! You won't regret it. It's the #1 hotel in Sydney for a reason. Don't eat at the restaurants their a bit overrated.

Fab hotel. Super swanky and rooms are huge but priced accordingly. Great if you don't want to…read morequeue for the attached bars to the hotel. And very handy to popular restaurants like Mr Wongs. If you don't mind splashing out the cash go for it.

I thought this was a major station, but often waiting an hour for trains, as many skip this…read morestation. It's also grubby, busy, with people smoking on platforms.

omg bro best station ever. like everyone hates it but its actually an amazing interchange and no…read moreone gives credit for that, the closest t1 stop to here are redfern and lidcombe which means that most t1 commuters interchange here as well as merging the t9 line, ccn, and bmt like thats so cool, it was probably the station home to the most memorises and the suburb itself isnt actually trash like epping, like whenever someone says strathfield it makes me so happy :)

Private room, third floor…read more Pros: Nice people, good location. Wifi is good. Lots of sponsored and structured activities. Clean. Safe. Cons: No air conditioning in the rooms, only central. No way to make the room dark or open the windows. Bed is horribly uncomfortable. Not enough power outlets. Showers suck, you have to make out with the wall to get under the spray. I did not enjoy it but it was bearable. A good place if you're looking to get laid, save money, or what to share with some very close friends. The beds were awful, and having no in-room air con puts this on the no list for me, but others may find it perfectly suitable.

I booked an all-girls 4 beds, for 4 nights. I got lucky being alone for all of those nights. That's…read morevery rare. Standard bunk beds and lockers in room. Men & Women bathrooms, along with laundry room, on each floor. A bit noisy, with doors closing loudly and the window from outside (as it really is super central Sydney), so maybe some updated noise cancelling in those areas. They do at least offer free ear plugs as requested. Attached bar for dinner and drinks / fun, and cafe for breakfast / lunch. They sell the basics if you forget - locks, adaptors, etc so that is a perk! Vending machines downstairs just in case. I never felt dirty anywhere. Friendly front desk and a few of the items listed on website and brochure they don't have currently but they do offer some cool free activities - yay city guide walking tour! Pretty fairly priced for location / accommodation. I spent about $150 USD for the 4 nights (with a breakfast voucher included - hot drink & a toastie). I would've spent that on 1 night in a hotel. You give up a little privacy and you save some money. I'd stay here again.