sydney

Just what constitutes a small bar? In NSW, the small bar licence caters for up to 100 people; when we think about small bars, Melbourne bars more broadly — spring to mind. But what about Sydney? Set inside a garage down the end of an alleyway off Clarence Street in the CBD, Cantina OK! (that…

In a city obsessed with water views, Bantry Bay remains a comparatively little-seen wonder. This gangly strip of water at the top of Middle Harbour is cradled by the bushland of Garigal national park. Along the bay’s western shores are historical magazines, once used to store explosives, but these days, Bantry Bay is a repository…

Only in Sydney can you turn loose change into something worth a small fortune. Many Sydney locals used to drop their “shrapnel”, 1 and 2-cent coins, into ash trays, fruit bowls many into the boxes of Salvation Army collectors. The coins were phased out in 1992 but still remain legal tender as long as you…

Sydney is blessed with lots of beautiful beaches, some big and world-renowned, others much smaller and not so well-known. With so many quality beaches on offer, Sydney is almost unrivalled in the world. But these often get crowded. What can you do? There are a few secluded beaches in and around Sydney.  Be mindful that…

Something evil has been stalking the western suburbs of Sydney and Blue Mountains for close to 80 years. Reports of big cats that shred livestock and kill pets have been around since the 1930s, with at least 600 reported sightings in the past two decades alone. While the puma-sized creatures proved elusive during several government…

  The Grand Organ in the Sydney Opera House has six divisions, five manuals plus pedals, and is the largest tracker action organ ever built, with 131 speaking stops served by 200 ranks of pipes consisting of 10,244. It also took 10 years to build. It was budgeted for $400000 but ended up costing $1.2…

In 2010, it took 120 eggs to hold it together and four burly men to flip it, but a Sydney cafe set a record by making the world’s largest burger. The whopping beef burger cooked up at Ambrosia On The Spot, tipped the scales at 95.5kg, making it the largest ever created at the time…

The Corso. What can we say about this iconic retail strip? More than two million people walk the length of this buzzing pedestrian mall each year, which is lined with 200 retail stores, bars and eateries and also pulses with the sound of street performers. The Corso, named after a famous street in Rome, was…