Destinations

 Want to get away for a quick fling in the new year? Think Oz. It’s summertime down under so be sure to pack a swimsuit.

Northern Californians can do the non-stop kangaroo hop from San Francisco on Qantas. Once there, the exchange rate is extremely favorable, and the Aussies love Americans. Visiting Sydney and Melbourne for a week can be charming, exciting, adventurous, and a gourmet treat.  All of the above comes with just a little planning.

One week will put you in the right frame of mind for a more extensive exploration at some future time. Australia is a huge country with two backs “… laid back and outback”. Start with the laid back in two bustling biggies, Sydney the physical city and Melbourne, the cultural city.

Four things in Sydney should not be missed. Bondi Beach is one of the world’s great beaches for swimming, surfing and people watching. The beach can attract 50,000 people on a Saturday or Sunday. On the rim of the beach is a collection of restaurants with everything from exquisite dining with spectacular views to fast food.

Sydney’s Opera House offers a varied menu of delights in multiple art forms. Its five theaters offer everything from opera, to concerts, to theater of the absurd, plus art exhibits. The building itself is a cultural and architectural masterpiece. Take the guided daytime tour to know what you want to come back to enjoy in the evening.

For a breathless morning, climb to the top of the Harbour Bridge and look out at the whole city as well as its several picturesque harbors. Climbing the bridge is the single biggest tourist attraction in Sydney.

A 15-minute Sydney Seaplanes flight for lunch at the Cottage Point Inn costs $350, which includes a lovely lunch in a charming setting. The real treat is the flight over the dramatic coastline of awesome cliffs and endless beaches. If you’re lucky, as I was, you can look down from your low-flying seaplane at breaching humpback whales. After a three-hour lunch, the seaplane returns to pick you up for the return flight.

Off to Melbourne, a non-stop celebration of fashion, shopping, food,sports and entertainment. There are several must-do attractions in this city. Start with a Hidden Secrets Lanes and Arcades walking tour. It’ll take you through back streets, alleys and pathways crammed with outdoor dining and shopping of every description. You’ll see stunning graffiti walls loaded with artistic non-offensive meanderings.

The truly overwhelming Melbourne sights are to be seen from the air. Go with Global Ballooning for a fantastic trip over the city. There’s no other city in the world where you can drift right over a city’s rooftops. The passenger baskets carry up to 10 persons, and in 25 years of service there hasn’t been a serious injury. It’s a $350 treat.

To see dwarf penguins au naturale, go out to the Phillip Island nature parks, a nonprofit area dedicated to nature conservation and ecotourism.
Watch the parade of penguins that come in each evening from Bass Strait off the Tasmin Sea. These are the world’s smallest penguins, each weighing about two pounds. They seem oblivious to being stars on parade as they march right past the spectators.

Not to be missed is the Queen Victoria Market. It’s Melbourne’s shopping center, and there’s nothing quite like it anywhere in the world. It’s the largest covered open-air market in the Southern Hemisphere, with more than 1,000 stalls offering everything from clothing to hardware to artifacts.

But the real treat is at the food stalls, displaying seafood, meats,fruits, vegetables, deli gourmet items, baked goods and some other foods that are hard to describe. Take the Foodies Dream Tour, and enjoy a sampling introduction to the foods Australians eat.

You’ll come home to California with going back to Oz firmly implanted in your mind. You’ll want to explore its other charming cities and its wild
outback. Australia’s catch phrase ought to be, a one-week taste will make you want to come back for more.

Ed Arnow’s “On the Go” column about travel and leisure appears monthly.
He can be reached at BrentwoodBuzz@aol.com.