Know Before You Go Sydney

Know Before You Go
Sydney
Book a window seat for your flight to
Sydney: day or night, this town sure
is good-lookin’. Skin-deep? Sure, but
Sydney is also arty, sporty, boozy, funny,
fashionable…the perfect paramour!
It’s little wonder that Sydney causes a brain drain on the rest of
Australia. Like New York, London and Berlin, this is a place that
draws in anyone who’s got something interesting to say. Australia’s
best musos, foodies, actors, stockbrokers, models, writers and
architects flock to the Harbour City to make their mark, and the
effect is dazzling: a hyperenergetic, ambitious marketplace of the
soul, where anything goes and everything usually does.
Of course, the stage for all this activity is just as important as the
performance itself. Shimmering Sydney Harbour is the city’s greatest
asset, while Sydney’s ocean beaches and lush parks sustain as
much life as the city streets. Add hip bars, grungy pubs, breezy
cafes and glass-walled restaurants to the equation, and you’ve got
a town with the perfect balance of outdoor and indoor, natural and
contrived.
Paddle out into it and see what kind of trouble you can get into: get
dumped by breakers at Bondi, chew chicken’s feet in Chinatown,
max out your credit card in Paddington, drink too many beers in
Balmain, queue-jump for Opera House tickets and ignore dawn’s
break at a Kings Cross club. Sexy, spirited and unfailingly selfconfident, Sydney is a bonfire of the vanities just waiting for you to
light the match.
Safety Tips
• In bars, use good sense and don’t accept drinks from people
you don’t know or leave your drink unattended. Spiking drinks
isn’t a common practice, but it has occurred in the past.
• If you find yourself being carried out by a rip while at the beach,
the important thing to do is just keep afloat; don’t panic or try to
swim against the rip, which will exhaust you. Swim parallel to the
shoreline and once the current stops, swim back to shore.
Visa Money Tips
• Before you go, photocopy your Visa card and passport, but
keep the photocopies separate.
• Jot down the number of Visa Global Customer Assistance in
Sydney – [tel] 1800-450346.
• If you have more than one card try not to keep them in the
same place – that way you won’t lose everything.
• When you pay with your Visa card, check the information on
the sales voucher before you sign or enter your PIN – and keep
a copy of all sales and receipts.
Quick Money Facts
» 1L petrol $1.30
» Short train trip $3.40
» Short taxi ride $12