(Explored 12/12/24 TH @ 4:00pm, 12/26/24 TH @ 10:00am, and several times over a decade ago): This…read moreharbour neighbourhood will rock your socks off! The Rocks was a quintessential goodbye and welcoming point for those embarking or disembarking by cruise ship in Sydney Harbour and a focal historic neighbourhood where many came to dine, drink, shop, or just walk around in the fresh open air with a kiss of salt water sprinkled onto your skin. My first experience was very similar to this one, and it all started on a cruise with Princess Cruises. My travel companion and I arrived a couple of days early to settle in and roamed around before the cruise began. Then, at the end of the cruise, we stuck around for nearly a week to welcome in 2025. Would this return visit years later rock as it did my first time around!? PURCHASE We tried our best to support the local economy by visiting several pubs and restaurants as we surrounded ourselves with the locals and whatever came our way. Each of these experiences would be explored further with their own respective reviews. SERVICE There was no specific service to speak of that directly affected The Rocks as a whole. Rather, collectively all of the businesses we supported had wonderful service. The area was well-kept, and although there was a constant flow of slow traffic down the narrow streets, each was safe to cross. PARKING (FREE) I honestly had no idea nor took notice of the parking situation although I saw some vehicles parked here and there along the surrounding streets. We simply walked, took the train from/to the Circular Quay Station (it was right there!) or took an Uber - 'nuff said. ATMOSPHERE, DÉCOR, AMBIENCE I couldn't say what streets bordered or determined the parameters of The Rocks area, but you had a collection of old buildings that housed pubs (Fortune Of War Hotel), breweries/restaurants (The Endeavour Tap Rooms), a breakfast spot (Shuk The Rocks), the Museum Of Contemporary Art Sydney https://www.yelp.com/user_local_photos?userid=8jVT2inwc8GIQ6sH2UG9Vw&select=j_J8UYvByj8QDV_ZnbqrRQ for some culture, a slew of art galleries https://www.yelp.com/user_local_photos?userid=8jVT2inwc8GIQ6sH2UG9Vw&select=YtAakzygb5ZdKBfVAJrJ_g and retail shops, Sydney Harbour with view of iconic Sydney Opera House https://www.yelp.com/user_local_photos?userid=8jVT2inwc8GIQ6sH2UG9Vw&select=P1RzLfk-zcbziYGOeoTrhg and Sydney Harbour Bridge, and the cruise terminal https://www.yelp.com/user_local_photos?userid=8jVT2inwc8GIQ6sH2UG9Vw&select=6i9FoQ8M7O0m8JnpyZQvwQ for some ocean voyages. It was Christmas time, so there were plenty of decorations https://www.yelp.com/user_local_photos?userid=8jVT2inwc8GIQ6sH2UG9Vw&select=z3gi2JSNDyfjJ7aG6G0ZWg everywhere. Obviously, there was plenty of natural lighting with a plethora of street and business electric lights throughout when the sun went down. Even if you didn't partake in any of these options, simply people-watching was more than enough fun to pass the time as you lazed away - enjoy! ATTIRE Totally casual, so I would normally be in a t-shirt, boardshorts, and flip-flops. OVERALL The Rocks was a fun place to spend the day and enjoy the local flavors around you. There was something for everyone (I personally loved the pubs, eateries, and cruise terminal), and you could spend as much or as little money and still have a good time. I found complete value based on the prices, service, and experience noted above (TOTAL paid experience varied BEFORE any discounts/tip). And, many of the businesses accepted my credit card of choice... AMEX! 5.0 STARS

Sydney's oldest neighborhood…read more Walk along the cobblestone paved streets and narrow laneways. Explore the markets, the museums and the galleries. This is where Sydney was born in 1788. The newly arrived convicts set up shops, pubs and homes. The Fortune of War pub opened almost 200 years ago in 1828. Imagine the hardships that those early settlers faced. Today, many of those original historic buildings have been restored. The renovations have turned what was once dilapidated into a popular tourist area.

Cockatoo Island's vast abandoned factories, unused alleyways and shipping docks provides an…read moreexciting location for visitors to see a huge range of Street Art in one location. And because of its dynamic and live nature, the art will change and evolve, giving visitors something different to see throughout the course of the festival which runs from 4 November - 11 December, 2011. We are delighted one Sunday that the weather is perfect and that public transport for a Fun Day ticket is only $5 so we take advantage of this offer and catch the ferry over to Cockatoo Island for the street art display called Outpost. When we arrive we are met with a colourful cup wall and a huge expansive chalkboard floor which our toddler runs too and grabs chalk from the baskets to begin her own graffiti. On hot days because of the asphalt it can be incredibly hot so make sure young one are covered up and it wouldn't hurt to have cover for yourself. Children scoot and skate around us as this place is perfect for this kind of activity. We then choose to walk down the working tunnel which leads to the Turbine Hall. It makes for a wonderful experience to see art from Ben Frost, Everfresh and The Beastman. We exit and go into the Turbine Hall where the Kidzoom Home project shows a movie installation and three commodore pile up installation inside. On the other side we sit in one of the many cafes and have a refreshing drink and coffee. Our Toddler decides she is off and goes into the junk room with other kids to construct her own sculpture she loves it. Following this we go into a big room with hanging t-shirts and profiles on different graphic artists and then go over to the X Box room to do some dancing. This exhibition is progressive, dynamic and worth those who are keen to take the short trip from Circular Quay for the day. Relax with a cocktail in the Cockatoo Island Bar at the end of the day. Verdict: One in a million experience that you must go and see.

Duplicate Review 1 of 2…read more Quality/Quantity - Slightly disappointed... Expected way more. Especially since we just visited Melbourne, Chinatown (oldest Chinatown in Australia) which was more than 3 times larger, while the city is much smaller. Future review to follow. Minimum shops and/or eateries, most of which we had little to no interest in visiting. Atmosphere - First known or documented Chinese Australian was in 1818. The Chinese came here just like in America in the 1850 due to the gold rush. In 1973, after Australia dismantled their policy against the Chinese, they opened the doors to more Chinese coming to Australia, but mostly coming from Hong Kong as China did not open their doors to let people out until 1983. Sydney Chinatown started in "The Rocks" area, then moved to Market Street near Darling Harbour and now is finally in the Haymarket area. Service - N/A. Price - N/A. Owner Comment - Congrats on your success since the 1800's. I know this is a community and not a tourist attraction.

Dixon is the heart of Chinatown, a narrow, shady pedestrian mall with restaurants & hawkers. The…read moreornate dragon gates at either end have bamboo tiles, golden calligraphy and ornamental lions to keep evil spirts away. This eating district extends for several blocks north & sound into Koreatown & Thaitown. Lots of Asian restaurants with everything from Japanese cheesecake, moochi, teas, seafood, fried chicken, ramen, rice, dumplings, noodles, sushi ...

We had such a great experience at Spirit Gallery! Anita was incredibly kind and helpful while we…read morewere choosing a didgeridoo, showing us several options within our budget and helping us understand what we were buying. They're even shipping it directly to our home in Oahu, which made everything so easy. Highly recommend stopping in -- such a special experience!

The Digeridoo is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous drone while…read moreusing a special breathing technique called circular breathing. It was developed by Aboriginal peoples of northern Australia at least 1,000 years ago, and is now in use around the world, though still most strongly associated with Indigenous Australian music. The Spirit Gallery is where I bought my Didgeridoo, maybe the most iconic souvenir from our recent trip to Australia. This place has a great selection and depth of knowledge. My host showed me how to play it and offered great information on how they're made, painted, and played. I was able to make some "music" from it by playing it like a Trumpet, but that's not the correct way. On to You Tube for my further progress. I paid AUD 180 for a very nice smaller instrument that I thought was a great value. The shop wrapped it up well and to the point that it easy made it back to Nevada as checked luggage without a scratch. Depending on who you talk to at the Airport, my Digeridoo was either a musical instrument or a weapon. Regardless, there was no way it was going to fit in an overhead compartment.

The busiest point in Sydney (As determined by Dennis Bones in 2012)…read more Its the interconnect between the arcades under the QVB, The Galleries Victoria and town hall station. Go here between 8am and 930am to see everyone in Australia transit this one spot. Bonus points if you can count all the goldfish.

Not a difficult hike. I think it was about 2 miles. Accessible by bus or ferry. Taking the bus 342…read moremake sure it goes to the Watsons Bay as there's also a shorter round. Not a long walk from Robertsons Park. Maybe 2 miles? However, you can extend for a longer coastAl walk by combining it with the Bondi, which could go on for over 12 km. Much of the power has fencing for safety. Paved throughout.

Beautiful views of downtown Sydney from here. And the smell of fish and chips from Doyle's is…read moreincredible. We laughed hysterically watching a woman with a bag of fish & chips get chased screaming by about 25 large, loud & hungry seagulls. There were lots of beautiful sailboats and a quiet pristine beach. It appears that the indigenous tribes were here in the 1900s & lived around the giant fig tree. The first European settlement were here in 1790 as the bricklayers, carpenters & fishermen. Now Doyle's fish and chips and the Watson Bay boutique hotel are the places to stop here. The special forces the Australian military equivalent to the American navy seals are housed here with lots of equipment.

Frankly, I don't think enough people know about Bondi rock…read more Despite this being one of the world's most popular and frequented beaches, how many visitors make the effort to discover just why a whacking great slab of rock is sitting perched on the rock platform at the northern end of the beach? Well, I am going to tell you why - and hope you make the effort to pop down there next time you're at the beach, 'cos I reckon it's fascinating. In 1912, there was a mighty storm. Sea traffic was called to a halt, and beaches all along the NSW shore - even into Sydney Harbour - experienced significant erosion. Once the storm cleared, this 235 ton block of rock was discovered on the shore platform. No other explanation has ever been forthcoming, except that the pure power of the waves generated by the storm lifted the enormous boulder up and left it there. Interesting? I think so. Maybe some of the rock fishermen who insist on braving the shore without life vests and harnesses should be taken there!

Who knew that a rock could be so shrouded in secrecy, so entangled in enigma, so clothed in…read morecontroversy? And furthermore, where have these elusive mermaids gone? Let me back up. There's a rock. It's big. It's called The Big Rock and it's at the heal of Bondi's boot, the thumb of Bondi's Shaka sign, the tip of Ben Buckler's, well, you get the idea. And lo, there's a brass plaque! It reads: "Municipality of Waverley. This rock weighing 235 tons was washed from the sea during a storm on 15 July 1912. (January 1933. J. S. MacKinnon. Town Clerk)" So for you mathletes out there, it's been just over 100 years since the savage storm dredged up this hunk of earth from its watery abode and, like a carelessly-chewed chunk of steak, violently spit it out in a brute force majeure oceanic Heimlich maneuver. But I did a little internet digging (it's been a long week, mmmkay?) and learned that this claim is in question. And it makes sense. I mean, it's not just a creative name - it's a *big* rock. And the fact that, from the pages of the 1912 Daily Telegraph, this "huge rock was displaced and rolled some distance" is a tough sell, despite how bad the "monsoonal conditions from a cyclonic disturbance" could've been. So in 2002, the cutting edge Bondi View dropped a hot, high-profile take down piece, rife with rebuttal analyses, exposing the rock for what it truly is: a fraud. Turns out, it's not worth the minerals in a migmatite - the story just doesn't hold water. The famed felsite falsity fell from the headland at Ben Buckler and furthermore (furthermore!!!) it was languidly lounging there as long ago as 1888. Or so says the breakthrough piece of investigative journalism: "The Big Rock: exploding the myth." Oh, but there's more. You see, laying lying rocks aren't metamorphosized in a vacuum - there are ripples of repercussions. And the cosmic consequences weren't felt harder by anyone other than Lynette and Jan, the portendingly doomed Bondi Mermaids. Installed on the artist's own dime in 1960, these ladies lapped up the life of luxury atop the rock that soon bore their name. But in 1974, a green-eyed storm with an ax to grind from years of being told it "just wasn't tempestuous enough" sought redemption in the form of a meretricious mermaidnapping - Mermaid Jan lost her tail and her arm and Mermaid Lynette was swept to sea never to be seen again. ("I'll never let go Jan" rumoured to be the final sea-salted words from her caramelized lips. Unconfirmed, but probable.) Arm and taleless, Jan tried to stay strong with a short lived, yet surprisingly illustrious career of singing Siren songs of sacrifice and selling seashells by the seashore, but Waverley Council had tempted fate long enough and two years later, removed her for safe keeping. So with a sordid past, The Big Rock looms from its prestigious vantage point, bearing the 235 ton weight of being the source of contemptuous controversy, Siren sacrifice and oceanic atonement and shaking in its brass-plaqued boots anytime the wind picks up and the sky spoils into bad banana baby food.

No wonder this is one of the more exclusive suburbs in Sydney. It has everything you could want:…read moregreat parks, restaurants, cafes, exercise facilities, leafy back streets and a ferry terminal. If you come here early on weekday mornings, you see a steady stream of smart business men and women on their way to work. Surely this must be the best commute in the world...although still difficult to leave the serenity of aptly-named Rose Bay behind.

The Bondi to Coogee Beach coastal walk is a beautiful 6 K trail along Sydney's eastern coastline,…read morefamous for its cliffs, sandy beaches, and scenic ocean views. Starting at Bondi Beach, watch the surfers in action and check out the Bondi Icebergs club, a rock enclosed pool. The path winds past Tamarama Beach, known for its quieter vibe and artistic Sculptures by the Sea exhibition each November. Bronte Beach offers natural rock pools, while the Waverley Cemetery's oceanfront hillside location is strikingly beautiful with yellow flowers everywhere. The walk ends at Coogee Beach, where you can relax at the beach or hit up one of the many restaurants.

The flight crew from airplane said that this is their favorite place to go in Australia. The…read morestunning cliffs & views, delicious restaurants, yoga, swimmers and surfers are the appeal. The turquoise ocean sparkles. We took a scenic ferry from circular Quay to Watson Bay for connecting bus to Bondi. The main beach area in front of the Bondi pavilion is a national heritage icon. Professional lifeguards patrol the beaches daily and even have their own reality TV show called Bondi rescue. There are accredited surf schools here and powerful waves. They were surf and swim shops as well. The Bondi iceberg is at the southern end of the beach and it's one of Australia's oldest swimming clubs remember swim year-round. Between May and November we can spot whales migrating from Bondi. They were cliffs and a coastal walk transformed by sculpture by the sea a free public outdoor sculpture park. There a year-round events festivals markets selling flowers produce fashions and jewelry.

When I booked my hotel adjacent to Kings Cross I was told that I am residing in the red light…read moredistrict. I did see a lot of 'massage' parlors and some sex shops. A few unsavory characters at night time, but really never felt unsafe. I heard it has calmed down a lot in recent years. I enjoyed the scenery and especially the many coffee shops and tiny restaurants everywhere. Plus the public transportation from here to just about anywhere in the city is fabulous. And if you like to walk a lot you can even hike to most of the famous tourist attractions.

Kings Cross is quite an interesting area that appears to be rapidly changing & gentrifying…read more On one hand, you have Darlinghurst road, full of cheap fast food joints, sex shops, and bars. There are definitely a good amount of junkies too but we were never hassled or panhandled. On the other hand, step off the main road to leafy quiet residential streets with people walking dogs and pushing strollers. There's a great small market on weekends and lots of good reasonably priced places to eat on small lanes. We found the area to be diverse, lovely and convenient to stay in .