Public Transport in Sydney

Well, what we’d like to talk about today is public transport in Sydney. Now this is…not the most glamorous of topics, I guess that people want to hear about, however if you’re planning a trip to Sydney, public transport’s pretty important. It’s the best way to get around and you need to know a few of the facts about getting public transport in Sydney. Now there’s 3 real options and depending where you go, what you’re doing, it really dictates which one of these 3 you’re going to take. 3 options are trains, buses and ferries.

 

So first of all, trains. Trains to Sydney are not too bad, they’re clean first of all. They’re fairly frequent, they’re pretty safe way to go. In terms of frequency, especially during peak hours, which is probably 7AM to 9AM in the morning and between 4 and 6, very extremely frequent, although they can get a little bit crowded during that period of time. But even in the non-peak periods the trains are pretty frequent as well. So if you’re getting a train, it’s both clean and safe, you can usually get a seat, except during peak periods when they can be fairly crowded. If the trains are actually running where you want to go, to then trains are a very good option, they’re very fast, far quicker than buses on the same route, they’re expensive, although the prices are about the same. But they can be a pretty good option, so that’s trains.

 

Your second option is buses. You know the thing about Australian Transportation is in general the most routes don’t have both buses and trains. Depending on what part of the city you’re trying to go to, you could either take a train or a bus. But in most cases you can’t take both to the same destination. So if the destination that you’re looking for is on a bus route, then you’ll probably want to get a bus there. Buses in Sydney are pretty high standard there, the majority of buses are provided by usually the state government-New South Wales government. All the buses are very modern; in that case, they run pretty much on time more or less, though it’s a little more difficult to keep buses on time than trains obviously. But they’re pretty much on time; they’re fairly frequent, fairly clean and quite safe for going, relatively inexpensive. So there are private buses which are really of 2 types; either in the outlying suburbs, along routes which aren’t taken by state buses and that’s not as common you would come across when you’re on vacation; and also private buses quite a few run between various hotels, hostels and the airports and those major hubs; but really the airport shuttle run, things like that is where you’re more likely to come across private buses; but the majority of them are state government provided and are quite good.

 

Now your third method of public transport that you’ll come across in the normal course of things will be ferries. Now ferries operate on Sydney Harbour and obviously and in the various waterways surrounding or within the Sydney metropolitan area. And where possible I really recommend that you do get ferries as a pretty good means of public transport. And I recommend that for a couple of reasons; where there is a ferry route between 2 destinations it’s usually the quickest way to get there as a rule, or at least the shortest way to get there. So it can be fair…or it can be the cheapest way, it can be the shortest way. The other thing about ferries is that you really are doubling up, most of the ferry routes are on Sydney Harbour and your public transport, your movement from one spot to the other is doubling as a Harbour cruise. Probably the most beautiful harbour in the world and you’re cruising upon it, going from point A to point B, you can get outside, take in the beautiful nature and the sights and sounds of the Sydney Harbour. And you can do that while you’re indulging in your public transport. So that can be a really good way to go and as I’ve mentioned in previous episodes, as I’ve mentioned in the past Manly Ferries, one of my favorite ferry rides can be a really good daytrip in itself if you take that ferry.

 

So they’re really your 3 options for public transport – buses, trains or ferries; now a little a bit about the costs and some of the best ways to…and some of the passes that are available. Now there’s a website 131500.com.au which I know is very confusing URL and it’s based on the phone number 131500, which is what you can dial here in Australia to get information about public transport. Anyway, I’ll put a link in the shownotes that there lies the various routes and the passes and the tickets that you can buy. But in general I recommend 2. If you’re here on vacation, you’re here for a relatively short stay, there’s a couple of options that are particularly good for you. If you’re just looking for a daytrip, you can get a day-tripper, a day-tripper pass is about 16 Australian Dollars that gives you unlimited for 24 hours or at least on the day that you purchase it, all the way through to 4 o’clock the following morning. You get unlimited buses, trains, ferries throughout the Sydney metro area. So if you are staying within the metro area that can be a really good option. It’s far more cost effective to do that and you will and truly get your money’s worth if you’re just getting around to see a few of the sights. So that’s one of my recommendations.

 

If you’re here for a longer trip as well another one to consider is the Sydney Pass. The Sydney Pass is kind of the ultimate all-inclusive kind of ticket that is for 8 days and you get on in either 3, 5 or 7 of those days depending on what you pay. You get unlimited public transport in Sydney, which is the same as the day-tripper includes all your buses, trains and ferries, but it also includes the Sydney Explorer and Bondi Explorer. Now I spoke a little bit about those in Episode 8 I believe it was or Episode 9 and about how valuable that Sydney and Bondi Explorer can be if you want to see a number of attractions in a relatively short time, and I especially recommended early on your trip to Sydney. You can get the Sydney Pass which not only gives you unlimited transport for 3, 5 or 7 days out of an 8 day period, but you can also have unlimited Sydney Explorer and Bondi Explorer as well. If you’re going to do some heavy duty traveling I’ve a relatively short period, that Sydney Passes can be a good way to go as well. It’s more expensive, you’re looking at about 110 Australian Dollars for the 3 days, but if you…especially if you’re going to take advantage of the Sydney and Bondi Explorer which I think are 40 odd Dollars each for a day, this can be a much, much more cost effective way to go. Anyway, that’s a little bit about the public transport system in Sydney. An important knowledge if you’re thinking of visiting.

 

The article above is a transcript of Episode 11 of “The Sydney Visitor” the definitive Podcast guide to visiting Sydney, Australia.

Bondi to Coogee Walk

The Bondi to Coogee Walk extends for about 6-kilometers from Bondi South to Coogee in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. It takes about 2-hours from Bondi to Coogee, that’s just a steady pace walking, at a reasonable pace without too many stops. Most people, like to just draw that out a little bit. There are a stack of places that you can stop, places for a swim, for a coffee, for drinks, something to eat along the way, so if you prefer you can draw it out and take up to half a day or longer if you like.

 

I prefer to make the walk twice, say if you started at Bondi, walk all the way to Coogee, stop there for lunch or a quiet drink in one of the restaurants or cafes there, then turn around and walk back in the afternoon. This can make a very pleasant habit.

 

The Bondi to Coogee Walk is very easygoing, and, you don’t need too many intensive preparations.  The walk is well sign posted, it’s pathways all the way, so you can’t really get lost. There are plenty of places to stop for food and drink along the way. The going is pretty straightforward, there’s some uphill and there’s some downhill, but nothing too strenuous for your average person of reasonable fitness.

 

What are you likely to see if you travel the Bondi to Coogee Walk? Well, if you start at Bondi, you’ll walk past the Bondi Icebergs, and pass to the south up onto Mackenzies Point. This is a point that looks over to the North, so you can see North and South Bondi, to the south you can look all the way down to Maroubra Beach in the distance. There are some pretty spectacular views, and if you have a look around up there at Mackenzies Point, there’s actually some old aboriginal carvings of a whale.

 

It takes some looking around or asking around, but these are amongst the first Aboriginal carvings that were reported in Australia.

 

If you keep walking south and you enter a gradual downhill, and the very beach first that you’ll come down to is called Tamarama.  This beach is also known as Glamarama because of the large abundance of movie stars and the rich and famous that like to hang around there. This is a very small beach, used mostly by locals, and the well to do.

 

Tamarama has a little bit of a surf there and at times it can be a little bit rough and dangerous. Tamarama’s a patrolled beach in a nice spot.

 

If you keep walking south past Tamarama, you’re up a gentle rise, over the crest and down into a beautiful beach called Bronte Beach. This is my favorite of the beaches that you’ll likely encounter on the Bondi to Coogee Walk. Bronte’s a very picturesque beach. It’s nowhere near as big as Bondi, but it’s got a very large grassed area immediately behind it on the promenade. It has a particularly large surf, but again, it’s well patrolled and if you swim between the flags, you shouldn’t have too many problems.

 

Bronte Beach has a large café strip as well, there’s some great cafes up there along the southern side. It is a great spot to stop for breakfast or coffee, if you’re that way inclined.

 

Once you finish through Bronte, you’ll keep walking south and you’ll notice only the side that the rock has been carved away to make way for the road. The walls are 15 to 20 feet high on either side. That is where the trams used to be back at the turn of the century. That rock was moved away so the tram line could run to Bronte Beach.

 

Waverley Cemetery has got to be the cemetery on the most expensive real estate in Sydney. It’s a really dramatic coastline, and the views are amazing, so just looking along the ocean you’ll see you’ll see this very large cemetery over quite a few acres, on your right hand side. Waverley cemetery  is home to a lot very famous Australians  People like Henry Lawson, a famous Australian Poet, Victor Trumper, who played a fair bit of Cricket and was batsman of some renown, Lawrence Hargrave, Henry Kendall, and many others have found their final resting places at Waverley Cemetery.

 

Past Waverley Cemetery is Clovelly, which is a small but very sheltered beach. There’s not much to surf there at all, so if you’re into much more of a calm paddle then Clovelly is the spot to stop for you. Stop for a bit of swim there, there’s also an ocean pool as well, where you can get in and have a look.

 

After you cross the car park at Clovelly, you’ll walk up some reasonably steep stairs and from the top of the stairs, you walk down and into Gordons Bay. Gordons Bay is an interesting place.  There’s not really a spot for swimming, there’s no beach, but it’s a very popular snorkeling and scuba diving area.

 

There is an underwater nature trail,so if you like Scuba diving, Gordons Bay is actually a really good, convenient local spot in Sydney. You follow a chain around there, and it is a very good dive.  The dive is fairly shallow and divers probably wouldn’t get much more than 12-meters in depth.  This means from your average tank you’ll get around an hour on the bottom.

 

Finally if you walk down to Gordons Bay and crest you’ll come down into Coogee and Coogee Beach. This is a great spot, which you’ll approach from the north, down into Coogee Beach.  There are lots of cafes, lots of restaurants, lots of hotels, good places to stop for a beer, something to eat and everything else you could desire. From Coogee you can turn around and walk back if you like, or you can get a Bus 353 back to Bondi Beach.

 

If you really want to do what the locals do, then get amongst the Coogee to Bondi Walk because it’s a great walk and a great way to showcase some of the eastern beaches of Sydney.

 

 

 

This article is taken from an episode of “The Sydney Visitor”, the definitive podcast guide to visiting Sydney Australia.  www.thesydneyvisitor.com.

 

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