Explore Alternative Sydney

Unusual Visitor Destinations in Sydney – Australia’s Best City

Oct 4, 2008

Many will know Sydney's major attractions. The Harbour Bridge, and the Opera House are two. There is another less-well known side to Sydney which is introduced here.

Sydney is arguably Australia's best city. For some, it is the world's best city. While everyone knows about the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House, and the delights of Sydney Harbour, Sydney also has a hidden side. Exploring Sydney's alternative side will expose other parts of this great Australian city, sometimes, as will be seen, literally.

Aficionados of the film ‘The Matrix’ will recognise the Forty One Restaurant situated at the top of the Chifley Tower from a scene involving Cypher and Agent Smith. The Tower is located at 2 Chifley Square in the centre of Sydney’s financial and legal district.

At the Sydney Hospital on Macquarie Street there is a small pig, ‘Il Porcelito’, whose nose is supposed to be rubbed before a donation is made by his trotters and a wish made. There are those who believe that wishes made here are granted.

The Queen Victoria Building is well-known as a classic of Victorian Municipal grandeur, containing many well-known shops as well as many individual retailers. What is less well-known about it is the Great Australian Clock which hangs from the ceiling. The clock, which is best observed from the upper balconies of the QVB (as the Queen Victorian Building is known locally), contains 138 figures, including an Aboriginal elder) and almost a thousand light bulbs.

Directly opposite the Queen Victoria Building in the basement of the Hilton Hotel lies a literally buried treasure of Sydney, the ‘Marble Bar’. This magnificent drinking establishment was originally build in 1893 out of hundreds of tonnes of high quality marble in Italian Renaissance style and remains one of the drinking ‘wonders of the world. The bar was moved, piece by careful piece to its current place in 1973. In the evenings free music makes this a fine place to visit.

The Dead Centre of Sydney?

Sydney’s Central Station contains a disused ‘Mortuary Station’ which was once the boarding point for coffins being carried to the city’s Rookwood Necropolis. Although no longer used, there is still a branch line leading to the cemetery.

Australia’s earliest headstone is now in Vaucluse House, Vaucluse, Sydney and is dated 1788. It originally lay on George Street, now one of Sydney’s busiest thoroughfares, and commemorates George Graves, a boatswain’s yeoman in the HMS Sirius.

While on the topic of burials, Rookwood Necropolis is the largest cemetery in Australia. It was established in 1868 and over a million bodies lie there, an astonishing figure when it is considered that the current population of Australia is only about 20 million.

Legal Nudist Beaches in Sydney

There are three legal nudist beaches in Sydney at Obelisk Beachwhich is on the southern side of the National Park area of Middle Head. This is most easily accessible by bus along Military Road (Route 14) to Spit Junction. The second is Cobblers Beach which is on the northern side of Middle Head and accessible by the same bus route as Obelisk Beach. The oldest of the three is Lady Bay and was granted legal status in 1976. It is close to Watsons Bay which is easily accessed by Sydney Ferry from where the walk to Southern Head passes it. Beware, however, of the occasional exhibitionist!

The copyright of the article Explore Alternative Sydney in Australia Travel is owned by Alistair McCulloch. Permission to republish Explore Alternative Sydney in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.