The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 147

0 I The Spirit of Adventure THE AGE $135 per person (twin share) 2 nights, 4 star accom. 2 breakfasts Triple Award Winner Free Call 1800 033 214 PINNACLE VALLEY RESORT TRAVEL SATURDAY 15 FEBRUARY 1997 Internet: traveltheage.com.au Edited by JANE HUTCHINSON Picture: TONY PERROTTET There's more to Sydney than the Opera House and Taronga Zoo. TONY PERROTTET takes a look at what the savvy tourist should see and do in the Harbor City. O. WHAT is an Un- 1L Tourist, and am I one?" Thus asks Jacqueline Huie at the jl start of her volumi-ri nous guidebook, Un-Tourist Sydney.

Although "Un-Tourist" sounds a little like being one really isn't all that difficult. Basically, you qualify if you don't want to do any of the following: whiz through Sydney on a tour bus while a guide jabbers away senselessly; be trampled by crowds at Taronga Zoo; buy stuffed koalas with convict chains at the (5 Rocks; have an over-priced brunch on Sydney Harbor in some replica 19th-century schooner (not to mention being trapped on a hellish disco-' cruise, or a true Sydney eyesore like the Chinese junk or Dixieland pad-dlesteamer); or pay a fortune at a big name restaurant for what turns out to be a plate of standard fish-and-chips. In short, you're an UnTourist if you'd prefer not to be ripped off, exploited or made to feel like a sap out-of-towner. That definition would include most people, I suspect and certainly most visitors from Victoria. The following is an assortment of tips and observations, all tried and tested in a recent two-week visit to Sydney.

Many are gleaned from Jacqueline Huie's guide book; others were picked up during a misspent youth in the city; still others were taken from the advice of Sydneysiders who unlike New Yorkers, many of whom have never been to the Statue of Liberty tend to explore their city to its furthest reaches, in the pursuit of such life necessities as the freshest focaccias and perfect rock oyster. HARBOR HOPPING SYDNEY is as enmeshed with the sea as Rio, Honolulu or Hong Kong. Apart from the 70 beaches within the city limits, the harbor can be used as an open highway, with ferries as the world's most spectacular form of public transport. The trouble is, the schedules of this fine system are a mystery even to most Sydneysiders. Some ferry routes run on the half hour; others, such as the one to Watson's Bay, run only on weekends.

When in doubt, call the Public Transport Hotline, toll-free on 131 500. Better still, pick up a small booklet called Go Walkabout with Sydney Ferries from the information office at Circular Quay: it lists a dozen ways to combine ferries with hikes and strolls, including some brilliant out- mm Lebanese restaurants at the corner of Elizabeth and Cleveland streets. They're all dirt cheap, BYO and excellent. Also in Surry Hills, one of Sydney's most unusual new museums is hidden away in a tiny lane: the Brett Whiteley Studio. This was where Wliiteley had his workspace at the time of his death in 1992.

The workroom upstairs remains as he left it, with an unfinished canvas; downstairs has been turned into a gallery for his paintings and sculpture. But apart from being tough to find, it's only open on weekends (2 Raper Street; ph: 02 9225 1881). It's not far to a new photo gallery called Toast II, in a vast, bright warehouse space, again in Surry Hills (85 Commonwealth Street; ph: 02 9212-1109). CONTINUED TRAVEL 4: UNTOURIST SYDNEY where to stay; after dark and Sydney 's ultimate splurge the Opera House, but on a fine day nothing can really beat the outdoor Oyster Bar just along the promenade by Circular Quay. Take a seat by the iron railing, order a plate of freshly shucked Sydney Rock Oysters and watch the sun catch the sails of the yachts as it sinks behind the Bridge.

A TASTE OF THE ARTS THE Wharf Theatre (Pier 4 on Walsli Bay, ph: 02 9250 1700) offers the all-inclusive cultural package: you can enjoy a great show with a magnificent Harbor view and meal to boot. I wish I could recommend the restaurant, but the waiter was such a prat we refused to eat there (and oddly, none of the tables for two had much of a view). It turns out that the real Wharf deal is to buy an "antipasto plate" for $10 at the bar and take it out on to the open-air deck with a bottle of Hunter Valley white. Any show at the more experimental Belvoir Street Theatre (ph: 02 9699 3444) Belvoir Street, Surry Hills is well worth catching and you can eat beforehand at one of the nearby ings. The most pleasant is the walk from Cremorne Point around to Mosman (you can actually keep going to Taronga Park).

For the more energetic, take the ferry to Manly and follow the 10 kilometre track through native bushland to the Spit Bridge (it's part of the national park; the only catch is that you have to get a taxi back when you've finished the walk). And Sydney's best ferry ride? The Sydney Morning Herald voted the River Cat service to Parramatta as the best in town. This was a mystery to me: maybe it was an off day, but I found it dull as dishwater sailing up a bloody sewer" one passenger remarked uncharitably). Rumor had it that an Explorer bus would meet the Cat to take people to Parramatta's attractions, but the only thing waiting for us was a shuttle service to the local leagues club. I hopped on the Cat and went straight back to the bright lights.

TABLES WITH A VIEW SYDNEY must have more places to soak up the sun's rays while getting at a fraction of the price at lunch time. Inside, Peter's will cook up whatever you select or serve sushi, marinated prawns and the like. There's a bottle shop within the market, outdoor tables with umbrellas, and coffee shop for that final macchi-ato. The view over Blackwattle Bay won't he appearing on any postcards, hut it's still a great Sydney experience. (Note tl lat on weekends the place can be a mail-house: go on a weekday.) Early risers can also watch the fish auction from the public viewing gallery, weekdays at 5.30am.

ilially, you may never be able to nffcml an entree in Gay Bilson's mcgaliyped Bennelong restaurant at sloshed on chardonnay than anywhere else on earth. The Watson's Bay Hotel (ph: 02 9337 4299) in Military Road, Watsons Bay, still has the ne plus ultra of pub beer gardens, with its great views across the moored yachts to the city skyline. In the Rocks, the cafe at the Museum of Contemporary Art is bathed in sun at lunch time, although its outdoor tables can be booked up weeks in advance; the food is impeccable, and a few glasses of vin blanc might help when contemplating the museum's latest post-post-modernist show (ph: 02 9241-4253). The Botanic Gardens Cafe, hidden among the palm fronds and Moreton Bay figs near the duck pond, is still the most serene lunch spot in Sydney. There's a more formal restaurant upstairs, (ph: 02 9241 2419).

And if your wallet's feeling healthy, head over to The Bathers Pavilion on Balmoral Beach, where you can throw yourself in the water after dessert (there's also a cheaper cafe in the pavilion; ph: 02 9968-1 133). In a class of its own is the Sydney Fish Markets (ph: 02 9660 1611) at Black Wattle Bay in Pyrmont, just near the start of the Glebe Island bridge. Buyers from Sydney's finest seafood restaurants congregate here at dawn for an auction of the day's catch, but you can eat the same fish i LAST year th Sydniy Morning PtT HtmU touted Store Beach as 31-. .11 0 LXdl I I Svtf-rv's best. ThU truly obKtm ftp- i of me- i oa tbe harbor new SM-k to ct fM octy by boat prtw odvra you're in your always was, with the greasy ftsh- nd-chip shop still: BDing strong (though faefti nw priU your barn- i northern end with "the tetett in I o6era Sean i -1 Maroowi (get it? FanHtrcrnaT) dith ci up truly Bdectic creatJom (ph; 02 I 65 49Z) Onxatoc at th op of the I Oub ha fabulous vista 02 9365 Bear by i '1 Tto to- taef Ki-txw i rtttiw w- njt'r tto wave the wuxt it vtu not to it a Km thoM fconui twuncet ft-' i.

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