In the morning, perhaps after jogging along or surfing through the sky-blue waters of a rugged Pacific bay, things get started in Sydney with a healthy brekkie — some combination of eggs, seasonal produce, smoked fish, and freshly baked bread — and a cup of gourmet coffee, roasted and brewed and served with the same care a sommelier might present and pour a cherished vintage of Châteuaneuf-du-Pape. There’s no hurry to finish anything.
After brunch, on sunny days one might head for the beach — Bondi, Manly, Tamarama, take your pick from many others — to sun underneath the Antarctic ozone hole*, to picnic with friends, to help fill in the dots of the beautiful picture of beautiful people similarly enjoying a day of leisure. It’s time for a late lunch and glass or two of wine before too long, then it’s time to head home and relax for awhile after that busy day running around town.
Happy hours bring Sydneysiders out in droves, and after drinks it’s on to dinner, where one might fancy a juicy Australian wagyu burger, or perhaps Australian oysters or seafood, or maybe just a quick kebab or taco from the deluge of wonderfully sh*tty NYC-style delis and takeout joints. If one still has enough left in the tank, perhaps the evening ends with Australian wines or craft brews in one of Sydney’s lively hotels (bars).
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you an average Tuesday in Sydney; if you didn’t know better, you might think all those CBD office blocks are a ruse to make the rest of the world think people actually have day jobs here. I’m exaggerating (a little), but it’s easy to see why Australia’s most-populated city always ranks highly on the annual “world’s best places to live” reports: the lifestyle is ridiculously, hopelessly appealing, assuming you’re okay financially; this city ain’t cheap, and neither are the taxes.
One question I always consider while visiting new places is whether or not I’d live there. Honestly, I’d live most anywhere for some period of time (I said most anywhere, not everywhere), be it for just a few months or for a few years, but after 10 days getting to know Sydney as intimately as possible, I can say that in the right situation I could see myself sticking around for a long while.
Why?
For me it’s important to live somewhere near water — ideally water in which I can swim — and coastal Sydney of course fits that bill. Bondi Beach, pictured at the very top, is the city’s most well-known swimming and surfing hole, but there are so many others. Bondi Icebergs, for one, features a stunning all-weather pool located at one end of Bondi’s cresecent-shaped beach; you can see the powerful ocean waves crashing against it.
Bondi Icebergs also unofficially marks the start (or end) of a mildly challenging 6km hike that stretches between Bondi and Coogee, winding up, down, and around high cliffs, small beaches, residential areas, and a sprawling coastal cemetery. It’s a good workout at walking pace, but I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of runner’s jealousy as all the local runners passed us; if I lived in Sydney, I’d run this route often.
Bondi Icebergs is open to the public, for a fee, but if you want to take an ocean-side pool dip for free, just about halfway between Bondi and Coogee is Bronte Baths.
When the beaches on Sydney’s eastern shores aren’t enough, there’s always lovely Manly Beach, accessed via a short ferry ride from Circular Quay. No matter how svelte you are, don’t be shocked if you feel a little Louis CK-like anxiety about taking your shirt off at Manly, Bondi, or whichever beach you visit — my god, Sydney, you guys are fit.
Eating (and drinking) out is a real pleasure in Sydney, from brekkie to late-night munchies. Locals are deservedly proud of the collective cold shoulder they’ve given Starbucks (nice one, for real, but what about all those just-as-sh*tty Gloria Jean’s?) and, conversely, of their serious coffee culture. Sydneysiders caffeinate with style on the regular at hotspots like Bills Bondi, where you can have artisanal cups like this one…
… paired with, say, gravlax on crusty sourdough bread topped with fresh dill, cream cheese, and shaved radish.
One of the many wonderful things about the average Sydneysider diet, too, is an affinity for all things beetroot, like the fresh beetroot spread used in this fantastic homemade veggie burger, topped with caramelized onions, at cozy Annandale cafe Lemonia.
Unique seasonal specialties abound, too, like this blueberry risotto at The Commons.
They say that once you have craft you never go back — at least I say that — so I’d need quick and easy access to quality, ideally affordable craft beers at any place in which I’d live for awhile. At the fulcrum of Australia’s fledgling craft beer empire, Sydney is awash in hotels and beer bars specializing in craft on draft; the “affordable” part is still something of a work in progress, but no city is perfect.
There are a number of microbreweries located right in central Sydney, but two of the most interesting ones are an easy bus ride away in the northern suburbs. Big winners at last October’s first-annual Craft Beer Industry Association Craft Beer Awards, Modus Operandi has set up shop in Mona Vale.
Here you can taste the brewery’s full range of beers, some of which aren’t available anywhere else, like a white IPA brewed with jasmine green tea that was on tap during my December visit.
Tasting is encouraged, and favorites can be taken home by the growler or — get this — by the one-liter can, the latter taken straight from the tap and sealed with the CANimal.
Bar-friendly foods are available for soaking up the booze…
… or you can just lay around and sleep off your buzz if necessary.
Just down the road, accessed via the same bus route leading to Modus Operandi, Nomad Brewing Co. is another upstart microbrewery already making waves locally.
The tiny tasting room is a comfortable place in which to kick back a bottle or two of their four signature brews, or to try their limited releases and collaborations with such breweries as Sixpoint and Cigar City.
The arts scene, too, is thriving in Sydney, and I certainly appreciate how things often lean towards the “weird sh*t” side of the spectrum. Such is the case, for example, at the annual Rocks Village Bizarre, where over the course of seven consecutive Fridays the city’s Rocks district is taken over by everything from pop-up karaoke alleyways…
… to ripped fire-wielding dancers (performing in between a burlesque strip tease and jazz trio)….
… to inflatable frowning bunny rabbits…
… to a dude wearing a skin-tight silver outfit and multi-colored Speedo underwear, hair fashioned into an Ed Grimley point, leading a high-energy dance-in, dance-out dance party.
Sydney isn’t perfect — I mentioned the high cost of living and high taxes, right? — but 10 days left me feeling that it is, indeed, pretty damn close to it.
* The ozone hole that has spread to southern parts of Australia is no laughing matter: according to The Ozone Hole Inc., around 1,200 Australians die annually from skin cancer. Yikes — don’t forget the sunscreen, guys.
