Sydney Resort Review

Have you holidayed at Sydney? Here's your chance to tell other owners what it's really like. How big is the pool? How hot is the hot tub? What do you wish you had known before you left home?

I took a solo trip to Sydney during Christmas vacation and what a treat. It was the first time I used my travelshare option so I was really able to live it up. My credits covered my airfare, condo, 2 city passes (each for 3 days and a break in between for Christmas Eve and day), a 10 hour trip to the blue mountains, bridge climb, and buffet at the top of the Sydney Tower. I only had to pay for food, souveniers, and limited travel.

The resort is only a condo. There is no pool or outdoor sitting area. No worries, you are a short walk from the harbor with plenty of wonderful sitting areas. No pool, but you are a short hop on hop off bus ride to either Manly or Bondi beach. I upgraded to a sky condo. I don't recommend it. For the extra credits I could have stayed a couple extra days. You would think that being higher up would give you a better view but it only gives you a better view of the upper floors of the high rises. You do get a minimal view of hyde park but now enough to warrant the extra cost. There is no balcony. Not even a small one. I was in a studio which was adequate for one person and would probably be fine for 2. The bathroom is small but big enough to get around in . Hot water plentiful. Not much space to put stuff.

The kitchen is what you would expect of a studio. A small fridge with almost non-existent freezer. This didn't present a problem as I was able to keep what I needed in the refridgerator. A small stove and microwave took care of my breakfast needs. pots and pans etc are put in whatever place they could find so they are sometimes in odd places.

The bedroom had a nice, comfortable queen size bed, a flat-screen TV, a desk, and a small closet. Really no place to put clothes. I ended up hanging things that needed to be hung up and leaving the rest in the suitcase.

The staff were wonderful. The only thing I would recommend is tht they become more aware of what eating establishments are opened on holidays. Otherwise they were very knowledgeable and friendly. The internet is next door and inexpensive. A couple dollars gave me enough time to check my email, facebook, and keep contact with the states. And the proprietor was very friendly and a pleasure to chat with. He gave me a lot of interesting information about "normal" life in Sydney.

For those thinking that you will see all of Australia in 10 days, that would be like travelling to California and deciding to see Niagra Falls since you had come so far. I'll visit the Barrier Reef on my next visit. Ten days in Sydney was about right. I wasn't so exhausted that I needed a vacation to recover, but I was busy every day and I saw a lot. The only thing I missed was the Taronga Zoo but I was told that with everything else I was doing I was covering the zoo anyway.

Overall, I highly recommend a trip downunder. it was a memorable Christmas.

I took a shuttle from the airport and they had no trouble finding the condo. It cost $15 but by booking my return trip with them at the same time I got the round trip for $25. When it was time to leave I just had the front desk call for the reservation the day before and they were there when I was ready to go.

There was instant coffee, tea, and hot chocolate provided. They also had some other kind of coffee that you have to make but not like brewing it.. not sure and didn't use it. There was real cream in the refridgerator. I'm not a coffee drinker but they were happy to refill my chocolate and herb tea as needed.

A few more things that I didn't find a link for. Everything I did was within easy walking distance or free bus from the condo. The only time I paid for any transportation at all was when I purchased the hop on hop off bus pass and when I used my credits to purchase a 4 WD trip to the Blue Mountains. If you are in reasonably good shape (I'm no athlete) you can walk the leisurely 15 minutes to Darling Harbour. If you want to go to the Quay you just need to go to the corner to catch the free bus that runs about every 15 minutes. It does stop running at 6:00 so as long as you plan for that you are in good shape. I was exhausted every day and found myself dragging back to the condo, but that's because there was always one more thing I wanted to see before I headed back. If you have a good sense of direction it is a piece of cake, if not, you will have some amazing unplanned excursions as I did - I found myself exiting the Harbour at the wrong place several time.

Another plus for visiting Australia - no tipping. Actually I did tip at some of the nicer restaurants as I didn't feel right about not doing it, but even there I felt comfortable keeping it at 10%.

Souveniers are very reasonably priced overall. Uggs slippers cost about $45 and I got an adorable nativity set which used koalas, kangaroos, kukaburras, etc as all the characters for $130. Those were the most expensive things I bought. I brought home kangaroo jerky, tim-tam cookies, and for my boys I had to bring a kangaroo scrotum bag for good luck, long life, and fertility. My son the geologist was thrilled with his "rock" as the geologic makeup of Australia is billions of years old. And who can leave Australia without boomerangs? I got one for each of my kids and a purse and some outback jam for my daughter in law. I'd say I spent about $500 all together on souveniers. About 40000 credits and $1000 paid for the whole trip.

First thing to know, your owner status does not transfer. So don't expect any of the perks that you might have received at a North America resort.

Unless you really need a car for a road trip, you can get nearly everywhere on public transportation. Just purchase an Opal card at a nearby convenience store and you can use it on ferries, buses, and trains. There is no cost for the actual card, you just add funds to use it on public transportation and there are "Top Up" kiosks at most stations if you need to add funds. The trains run pretty regular and the closest station is only a short walk (Museum station).

There are grocery stores and restaurants within walking distance.

Sydney is FABULOUS and there are a lot of things to do and see...way more than we could see in the 8 days we were there. Not to miss...the Saturday markets, especially at The Rocks. The Botanical Garden is beautiful. The Opera House tour is worth it...followed by a show if you can. The Bridge climb is not as hard as you might think and totally worth it.

We took the bus to Bondi Beach and the ferry to Manly Beach. Both were beautiful. We were there in Spring so the water was a bit chilly but it was still great.

We returned home from 5 weeks in Australia on 12 March,(all in Worldmark/Wyndham properties) The last place we visited was Sydney. We arrived at the airport from Melbourne at 9:30 pm,on 4 Mar 2017, our prepaid transportation didn't show up, (AirBus Sydney) couldn't contact them no answer.

We called Worldmark Sydney and told them we were at the airport and our transport did not show; the Worldmark Clerk told us that most of the streets were blocked off around the Worldmark Sydney and he wished us good luck and gave us some excellent advise.

So...We got a ride with the airport shuttle folks, Redi Shuttle (good People). The driver was great. We were unable to get all the way to the Worldmark Sydney's location because it was Mardi Gras in Sydney, no warning of that from anyone. Mardi Gras was a Gay and Lesbian event that has taken place annually in Sydney since the mid 1970's. There were 10's of thousands of parade watchers and participants. A very colorful event. Well it was raining, it was dark and there were people everywhere, on the sidewalks, in the streets.

Our driver had to let us out 1 1/2 blocks from the entrance of Worldmark Sydney because the Police had various streets blocked off and that was the closest we could get. After a speedy exit from the shuttle and another direction check with the driver saying just go that way about 1 1/2 blocks.

We had 4 pieces of luggage, a backpack and a large carry bag between my wife and myself, we are both 63 years young.Remember this was the last stop on a 5 week adventure. The sidewalks in this area are sloped and are a mixed textured surface that luggage wheels do not really like, the cut cross walks have reflector bumps on them and the luggage wheels disliked this surface even more. The wheels wanted to go everywhere but not the direction we were going.

At the first cross walk, there were at least 4 police officers directing the sparse vehicles and the parade participants and the massive crowds for this was the ending area of the parade and the crowds were all compacting in this 4 or 5 block area of downtown Sydney. We were in the middle of it.

While making sure my wife was with me with our raft of luggage between us, I looked to my right a there 3 feet from me was a young lady leaning on a wall of the building talking on her cell phone, this young lady was dressed very scantily with red feather headdress and white feathered wings, a see through costume with patches of extra lace in certain areas, well you get the picture.

As we started crossing the street the mob coming towards us was like a wall and it opened for us and the 100 or so people we were flowing with passed through the on coming crowd seamlessly. A young couple asked my wife if they could help her.

Too late we were at the, not very well marked, Worldmark Sydney and the automatic door opened, we ducked into the reception area; the Desk Clerk said, "The Stevens, we were concerned". WE checked in went upstairs sat down on the couch opened the sliding door to the 12th floor balcony and laughed at all the commotion down on the streets below. Yes another week of adventure has begun.