You To Can Discover Sydney

View from Sydney Tower lookimg west over Darling Harbour with Anzac Bridge in the background.

Discover Sydney is a comprehensive guide to travel in Sydney. Learn about NSW’s capital city, Sydney, how to locate the most affordable flights or the most suitable accommodations for your needs, or read histories of the city and first-person travel accounts. Discover Sydney with Sydney travel accommodation, and get your travel information all in one convenient location.

Australia is an enormous country, and it draws nearly six million visitors from across the globe every year. Although some may come for business or to further their educations, many visit simply to see this incredible continent, a land with vast and colourful deserts, rich rain forests, and thousands of kilometres of beaches. Most people who visit begin their adventures in the beautiful harbour city of Sydney.

We understand that you have a lot of options when it comes to visiting Sydney, and our goal is to provide you with the most balanced view of travel possible. You need accurate, up-to-date information about how to get great prices on your airfare and how to get the accommodations right for you.

There’s a lot more to your holiday than rooms and flights, of course. You want to see the sights and explore as much of Australia’s most populous city as possible during whatever time you have here. We give you insider information about the best beaches, your public transportation options, and share ideas for day trips and fun excursions.

How do you want to spend your time in Sydney? Do you want to enjoy fresh seafood at a trendy waterfront bistro? Do you want to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge? Do you want to spend a night at the Opera?

You don’t have to waste a single minute of your time in Sydney trying to figure out what to do next or worrying about finding cheap flights and accommodations. Let Destination Sydney help you firm up your plans in advance so that you can head off on your Sydney adventure worry-free.

Flight to Sydney; Flight Over Sydney

Sydney skyline over Sydney Harbour.

As you fly into Sydney, you cannot help but notice the magnificent harbour out the window of your jet as you approach Mascot Airport. It is definitely something you want to see again during your stay in Sydney, though preferably not in a 747. Once you have checked into your comfortable furnished apartment in Sydney provided by Furnished Properties, you pull out your laptop and search out your options for sightseeing flights over Sydney Harbour. You book a flight on a seaplane, and you are now ready to start your adventure. Off you go!

Sydney is beautiful from the ground, but it is even more spectacular from the air. The city’s panoramic skyline as viewed from a seaplane is a once in a lifetime experience. The brilliant blue of the harbour is offset by the light sands and lush greens of the vegetation along the Sydney coast. Rich cocoa and sandy beige define the craggy sandstone cliffs jutting along the shore.

A seaplane flight can take you for a bird’s-eye view of the harbour and the city itself, up into the Blue Mountains. Your Sydney Harbour flight will pass over such Sydney icons as the Harbour Bridge, Manly Cove, and the Opera House. Your seaplane pilot will provide an expert narrative about the city below as you pass the magnificent homes of some of Sydney’s wealthiest residents and spot beach goers playing, surfing, and sun baking. Your flight will also include such well known locations as the Taronga Zoo as well as less noticeable gems including the coves, lighthouses, yachts and sailboats, and the small islands of Sydney Harbour.

After you have enjoyed the breathtaking sky views of Rose Bay, Palm Beach, and Barrenjoey, you will return to the harbour and enjoy a meal at one of Sydney’s luxurious waterfront restaurants or enjoy a quiet picnic in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Lady Macquarie’s Chair. You will return to your Furnished Property apartment exhilarated and ready for your next Sydney sightseeing adventure.

Can You Get Cheap Flights to Australia?

Australia and NSW state flags atop Sydney Harbour Bridge.

If you’ve been considering a trip down under, the one thing that may be holding you back is the price of a ticket. Times are tough, so it’s hard to justify spending a month’s income on a plane ticket. So the question is: how do you get to Australia on cheap flights?

There are three primary methods of getting to Oz on a budget. First, you can buy your tickets way in advance. Second, you can search for last minute deals. Third, get a job on a cargo ship.

You’d probably rather not take that third option, so we’ll just discuss the first two.

In Advance

If you’re trying to find cheap airfares in the middle of December, forget it. Not only is Australia a popular destination for visitors, it’s especially popular in the summer, considering that the country is basically one huge beach. On the other hand, if you’re buying your tickets months in advance so you can take a trip in, say, October or March, times when there are fewer tourists travelling, you have a good chance of getting some pretty surprising rates on air fare.

Last Minute

When a plane is going to leave within 24 hours and they have some empty seats, they need to fill them, fast. So, they’ll post last minute prices. These are seats you can have at greatly reduced prices because the airline simply needs to sell them off ASAP. The downside is that you might not be able to be too picky about whether you’re flying to Sydney or Melbourne, whether you’re taking a day flight or a night flight, how many stops you’ll have to put up with and so on. You also need to be ready to leave at the drop of a hat, which might not work out for everyone. On the upside, if you want more adventure in your life, how better to get started than to look up ticket prices one night and be boarding the plane the next morning?

The Relaxed Life In OZ

Native White Cockatoo.

Outside of Australia, the impression most people get of the country is from TV and movies. We rent Crocodile Dundee and the character may as well be the ambassador. Luckily, that impression is a pretty positive one. We see images of Australia, Australian people, Australian wildlife, cities and culture and it looks like a lot of fun: real laid back, full of people who love to lounge around on the beach and in bars joking around, drinking and barbecuing surf and turf. Getting to this vast continent is easy as travelling through it as there are cheap flights in Australia, however the journey is usually quiet long for people travelling from the USA or Europe.

The funny thing is that that’s really not too far off from what Australia is all about. No stereotype can capture the complexities of an entire people, but this is one of those cliches that’s at least rooted in some degree of truth.

Any culture is really defined by a few things above all else: the local atmosphere, the food, and that culture’s sense of humour. Chinese and American humour tends to be fairly broad, capable of being either witty or crass, slapstick or subtle. Japanese humour tends to focus on puns and wordplay (which is why it really doesn’t translate well). Australian humor is generally pretty sharp, and a little crass, which shows how laid back they really are Down Under.

How often in the US do you see comedians being asked to apologize for crude jokes? How many times have you seen Sarah Palin demand an apology from some television show or other for teasing her? How did folks get so uptight in the US, anyways? In Australia, a comedian like Simon Morley isn’t merely tolerated, he’s practically a national treasure, having debuted his world famous “puppet” show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

This laid-back, casual attitude doesn’t only represent Australian humour, but the Australian attitude towards life. Where an Englishman or an American is ready to leap off a bridge, an Australian rolls with the punches and shrugs it off with a beer and a laugh. Where a Frenchman or a German is devastated, an Australian is able to laugh at his own misfortune. Australians are in on the joke.

It makes perfect sense that they would be. If you lived right on the golden sands of the beach, if you could find some of the weirdest, funniest animals in the world in your backyard, if you lived somewhere where having a beer before noon doesn’t make you a pariah, what would you ever have to get down about?

The Major Industries in Australia

Mining and farming are two of the major industries in Australia. Despite an ongoing economic slump in Australia, there are predictions that the production of iron ore will increase and help to improve the economy in Australia. The Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics has predicted that an increase in the production of wheat will bring in more profits for Australia, because wheat is a valuable export commodity. The farming industry in Australia is facing a thriving future once again after surviving some of the worse drought conditions in over one hundred years. The mining industry in Australia has suffered and continues to recover from its boom to bust predicament.

Due to the fact that Australia is covered by vast amounts of desert areas and receives little rainfall, irrigation is used in many areas of Australia to produce agricultural crops. Beef is one of Australia’s most profitable agriculture products with its chief exports going to Japan and the United States. Australia has benefited financially from the outbreak of the mad cow disease which occurred in many other countries. Although, Australia is too humid and dry to maintain many types of crops, their flourishing grape vineyards is contributing to the prosperity of Australia’s wine industry. Australia’s warm climate and spectacular scenery makes tourism a lucrative industry in Australia.

Cities in Australia have received huge profits from sheep farming, which produces a large quantity of meat and wool. Cattle ranching is enormously profitable in producing meat for domestic use and for exporting. In Melbourne, the automobile industry, manufacturing industry and tourism are major sources of income for Australia. Melbourne hosts many major sporting events which increases the profits for the tourism industry. Directly east of Melbourne is Latrobe Valley, which has the world’s largest supply of brown coal. Brown coal is used to produce electricity in Melbourne. Half of Australia’s domestic oil is produced in the fields of the Gippsland Basin, which is east of Melbourne. A substantial number of Australia’s mining and mineral production companies are headquartered in Melbourne.

Sydney is Australia’s largest city, and its major industries are manufacturing and the seaport industry. Sydney is a chief port for exporting consumer goods, such as wool, meat, coal, wheat, flour and timber. Sydney has overtaken Melbourne as the capital of Australia’s financial industry, making Sydney a very successful and wealthy city.

Travelling through the Outback

The space is endless in outback Australia.

Australia can be seen in one month, but it depends on where you want to go and how deeply you want to explore each individual region of the country. Locating deals on airfares to Australia is a good way to start your trip down under as it is not the cheapest place in the world to get to.

It is helpful to begin in Sydney, the largest city in the country, to introduce yourself to Australia. Since many of the country’s important landmarks are found here, the visitor will be able to cover all of these just by travelling through this one area. Then it may be a good idea to tour the Blue Mountains in New South Wales. It may be helpful afterward to take a trip around the periphery of the country, where most of the cities are, including other important urban centres like Perth, Melbourne, and Brisbane, so that you see all of these places, and then move inland so eventually you are in the outback.

Not only will you see the fabulous cities and explore the cultural activities available, but you will also view beautiful scenery and many national parks featuring flora and fauna that you can see nowhere else in the world. While in Australia, it helps to talk to the local people to discover what they consider to be must-see sights in their country that tourists will love. Often they will be able to tell you of places that don’t get talked about in travel brochures, but will thrill and delight you all the same. Some of the important landmarks that tourists often end up visiting if they tour the country include the Great Barrier Reef, Ayers Rock, Kangaroo Island, and Great Ocean Road

The outback is the inner part of Australia that has a very low population density. It is a very desolate place and is home to many different animals. It is important to carry water and food rations with you, in addition to ensuring that you dress appropriately for the journey so that you are neither too hot during the day nor too cold during the night. It is helpful to have a local native guide when embarking on the trip.

Who Else Wants Cheap Airfares to Sydney?

Arriving into Kingsford Smith Airport, Sydney.

With the internet, it is becoming easier for everyone to do their own research when looking for flights and book their own flights online. So if you’re looking to find a cheap airfares Sydney, is it easiest to do it yourself or to hire a travel agent?

The answer to this depends on your personality and the type of person you are. If you know that you are good at doing research, especially online, and you have some time to do it, you may want to book your own flight.

There are places where you can search many different airlines and do the comparison yourself, to find the best deals and the flights that meet your own personal preferences. However, if you are pressed for time or struggle with using search engines, a travel agent can still find you great deals.

If you have the time and the ability to do research, it pays to book ahead. You can often get great deals and discounts for future flights if you book them many months in advance.

In addition, if you are researching flights over a period of a few weeks, you will have a better idea about how much a flight to Sydney will typically cost, so you will know if you are getting a good deal or not.

Totally Australia- Book a Flight and check it Out!

Outback farm in Australia.

When you think of Australia, what comes to mind? Is it throwing some shrimp on the  barbie, or perhaps sinking some amber necter in the pub with some friends? Perhaps you think of dingoes and koala bears when you think of Australia. Whatever comes to mind isn’t it about time you booked a flight to Australia and checked out what Down Under is all about?

Australia is an island country that is full of bright sunshine, choice waves, and beautiful accents. You can enjoy some fun in the sun while you are on your way to the Sydney Opera House or while you are snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. There are dozens of opportunities in Australia that cannot be had anywhere else. Experiencing them is a once in a lifetime thing for most people. Jump on the next flight out and experience the Aussie culture for yourself. Play some rugby or cricket in the park, and then go surfing in the afternoon to cool off.

Australia is like no other place in the world. It is a diverse territory that is not only dessert, but surrounded by a beautiful body of water. This means that the outdoor enthusiast gets the best of both worlds, dessert,wilderness,tropics and ocean all in one. Australia is very laid back- so much so, that it is said that the official dress is bush wear or surf wear. If you are not prepared for the water or the bush, you are not prepared for Australia. Popular brands known worldwide include Billabong and Quicksilver. If you have any interest in Australian culture, the best place to learn it is in Australia itself. Book a flight to this beautiful island and learn everything there is to know about Australia while you get a great tan, learn to surf and perhaps, see a kangaroo.

GFC not the only reason for a drop in Sydney Tourism

In the two years since the GFC (Global Financial Crisis), tourism to Sydney has dropped by 3.5 per cent. Sydney is a long way from the rest of the world and with less money in people’s pockets, they seem to be reluctant to spend it coming to Sydney. Domestic tourism has also fallen. With the rise of the Aussie dollar, Australians can now enjoy more bang for their buck by traveling overseas. The United States gets you a real value holiday. Australians are even using their holidays to go to the annual Macy’s sale to save even more. And there’s no doubt Sydney is expensive, a cup of coffee will usually set you back $3.50.

View of Sydney Harbour Bridge from the north pylon.

Sydney ranks 24th on the Worlds ‘cost of living scale,’ higher than Barcelona, Dublin or even New York. It’s cheaper to go to the movies in London or New York than it is in Sydney and a liter of milk costs twice as much in Sydney than it does in New York.

So where is everyone going? The number one tourist destination is France followed by America, sliding up the ladder is Malaysia which has reached the top ten. Believe it or not, another region bucking the trend is the Middle East, so even though images from our television might be telling us one thing, tourism figures are telling us another. The strong Aussie dollar and the weak US dollar has everyone going. And not just to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, but Qatar with billions of dollars spent on new hotels and airport facilities. Even Oman in getting in on the action.

So if perceptions of violence are being ignored in the Middle East try typing ‘tourist bashed’ in Google and the first things to pop up are reports of violence against tourists in Sydney. The good news? At least there’s an app. Tourism Australia has released a free iPhone app to coincide with the forthcoming Ashes series this summer. It might be the beginning of a new trend.