To be honest, Australia was never one of my dream destinations. I dunno. I know there are a lot of beautiful spots in the country, but I was never really interested in it. But I’ve met so many Australians while traveling— traveling must really be in their blood, and they are everywhere. They’ve told me so much about their country, and  some of them eventually became good friends. And if there’s one good reason to visit a country, it’s to catch up with your friends.

I’m not really into huge cities so I tend to avoid them. At most I spend one night, take a look around and then head elsewhere. But flights to Sydney are way cheaper compared to other destinations in Australia, so I decided that’s going to be my first stop. Most of the friends I’ve met while traveling are also based there so Sydney became my primary destination. I had to spend more than a night in the city though. There’s no way I can meet up with all of my friends if I just stay for a day or two. The Sydney Airport was pleasant. Maybe because I arrived during the middle of the day, but the lines were tolerable at the immigration. There are stores selling prepaid sim cards which was really convenient. I guess I arrived at the perfect time since Vodafone had some sort of promotion. The plan I got included a lot of extra data, I never had to use Wi Fi during those 3 weeks I spent in the country. Getting to the city center was easy too. If you plan to spend a number of days in Sydney or New South Wales, get an Opal card at the airport. You’re gonna need it to ride the subway and city buses. From the International terminal, it costs AUD 15.80 to get to the city center. (It costs AUD 15 from the domestic terminal). If you need to go to one of the suburbs, you have to pay a bit more depending on the distance. You can also take public buses from the airport. It’s gonna be a bit cheaper by about AUD 3-4, but why bother when the train gets you to the city in 15 minutes while those buses can take more than an hour and you have to make a number of transfers. Shuttles are also available at the airport but they are more expensive (about AUD 18) and it can also take more than an hour to get to your hotel. The one benefit though is that these shuttles drop you off at your hotel or hostel. Taxis cost about AUD 40-70 depending on the traffic situation. It’s a good option if you’re traveling as a group. That’s too expensive though if you’re traveling alone.

Sydney has a very efficient public transport system so it’s easy to go anywhere. Transport options become limited if you venture into the suburbs, but as long as you’re near the city center you can practically go anywhere with ease thanks to the extensive train and bus routes. Even late at night when the trains stop running there are buses so you won’t have to pay for an expensive cab ride after a night out.

Public transport in Sydney are reasonably priced. Try eating out though and your eyes may pop out. I’ve met many Australians while traveling and they all said that Australia is an expensive country to travel to. In fact, many Australians travel more outside their home country since it’s way cheaper. This explains why a lot of them have never been to several attractions in the country that I was interested in seeing. lol. So yeah, I expected this trip to be expensive so I was prepared to spend a lot of money. Turns out i wasn’t prepared enough. Out of all the countries I’ve been to, Australia is the most expensive. So if you’re backpacking, it would be advisable to work in Australia for a couple of months so you’d have more travel money. Actually this is what a lot of backpackers do. They go around Southeast Asia first then end up in Australia where they work for a couple of months. Then once they’ve saved enough money they start exploring the country. There are lots of jobs available, a lot of them are even posted on bulletin boards in hostels. There are lots of jobs available in Sydney like random construction work, but most backpackers end up in the rural areas doing farm work since those jobs don’t require much credentials. If you’re not going to work in Australia, prepare to spend a lot of cash.

Places to stay are also expensive in Sydney. Hostel dorms cost about AUD 40 on the average per night. That’s about 30 US dollars. You might think that’s not too bad, but wait until you see the state of these hostels. For the same price in other countries (or elsewhere in Australia), you get to stay in really nice hostels, some may even be described as fancy. For that price, all you’ll get are shitty cockroach infested hostels in Sydney. I’m not kidding. Try to splurge a bit more and you can stay at nicer ones. But most backpackers can’t afford to stay at those nice hostels for more than a couple of days.

Regarding those hostels, a lot of them advertise themselves as party hostels. True, some of them are, but many of these so called party hostels have no social vibe at all. Do a bit of research about a certain hostel if you want to socialize. A lot of these hostels cater to long termers. These are people who have jobs in Sydney and are therefore staying long term. A lot of them have been staying for months, therefore they seem to be tired of the whole getting to know every room mate routine at hostels. I understand where they are coming from. If I have new room mates every 2-3 days I’d get tired of getting to know every one of them, especially since they’ll be gone in a day or two. And the whole routine of asking “where are you from?” “where have you been?” does get redundant and tiring after a while. This really kills the social vibe though. Some long termers are still friendly and they can be a good source of tips and recommendations around the area, but since they have jobs in the morning they won’t be too keen on going on a night out. Most of them are also trying to save money so they won’t be too keen on day tours either. Again this kills the social vibe at these hostels. Before choosing a hostel, read reviews online to see if that hostel really has an active social atmosphere.

Sydney gets the bulk of tourists in Australia and you can clearly see why. It’s huge and there are so many things to see and do. On top of the must see list is the famous Opera House. The architecture up close is indeed amazing. You can do a tour inside for AUD 27, but a lot of people are perfectly fine with admiring the structure from the outside. Directly across is the Harbour Bridge, another famous attraction. You can climb the bridge for a fee. The cheapest option takes you to the inner arch for AUD 158. To climb all the way up to the upper arch, you have to shell out AUD 293. If you wanna climb during sunset though, it costs AUD 358. If you wanna climb at dawn it’s AUD 378. As you can see these prices are a bit outrageous for the average backpacker so skipping this activity was a no brainer for me. lol.

Most tourists check out the Taronga Zoo. Entry costs AUD 46, though you can get about 5 bucks off if you purchase tickets online. I thought of checking this out, but people were saying it’s like any other zoo in a major western city so I chose to skip it. For a more intimate encounter, I’d recommend visiting Featherdale Wildlife Park instead. It’s quite far from the city center, but it’s easy to get there. Take the train and find your way to Blacktown station. Follow the signs to the bus stop. Bus schedules are also posted in several areas. In my case I took the 725 bus to Doonside that passes by Featherdale. There’s no need to purchase a ticket way in advance for the bus since you can pay in cash once you board. Entrance to the park costs AUD 32, though you have to pay extra if you wanna have pictures with a Koala. I preferred going here since you get to interact with some of the animals by feeding them or even petting them. It’s also kind of a best of Australia’s wildlife. Kangaroos, wallabies, dingoes, koala bears, emus, Tazmanian Devils— name any animal associated with Australia and you can find them here. If you wanna hold a Koala in your hands though, this isn’t the place for it since it’s not allowed in New South Wales. Better wait until you get to Queensland for your koala fix.

Sydney is also famous for its beaches and with good reason. Walking along the coast from Bondi to Coogee is actually a very popular activity since the scenery is spectacular. The best part? You can do this for free! if you just wanna relax on the beach, there are many options. Bondi is the most famous one even though it’s not necessarily the most beautiful. Most people flock here though so it’s the perfect place if you wanna people watch. If you’re planning to do the walk along the coast you’re gonna pass by a lot of less crowded beaches, and these ones are arguably more beautiful. A few of those are Tamarama, Bronte, and Clovelly. I actually preferred hanging out at Bronte than at Bondi. I highly recommend staying in these areas for a more laid back vibe, but if you choose to stay in the city center going to the beaches is easy. You just have to take the train to Bondi Junction and then transfer to a bus. Alternatively you can just ride any bus that goes to North Bondi, Bondi Beach, Watsons Bay or Dover Heights. Taking a single bus takes longer though depending on the traffic situation.

The best beach for me though is Manly Beach. Many locals actually prefer going there instead of Bondi. To get there, you need to take a ferry from Circular Quay. A single trip costs AUD 7.60 and it only takes 30 minutes. You can get there faster if you take the high speed ferries run by private companies, but i didn’t really see the point since 30 minutes is such a short time. And the view from Circular Quay to Manly is amazing. The beaches surrounding Sydney are also great for surfing. You can’t go wrong in any beach, though if you wanna ride lots of waves you’re better off going to the less crowded beaches.

Since Sydney is a huge city, there are lots of options if you wanna go out at night. The famous clubs charge at least AUD 50 to get in. You can check out dive bars instead especially the ones around Kings Cross to save money. But even at these places that don’t have any cover charge, beers cost AUD 10 on the average. For cocktails expect to pay AUD 15-20. You can clearly see why I never got drunk, not even once while i was in Australia. hah.

As I’ve mentioned above I’m not really into big cities, but i did enjoy my time in Sydney. There’s so much variety and i was able to see and do a lot of stuff. I was also able to catch up with a number of friends which made my stay extra special. I would have spent more time in the city if it wasn’t so expensive.