Take a tour
These fascinating guided tours aren’t just for tourists
Sydney Architecture Walks: Utzon and the Sydney Opera House
Hours on your feet: 3 What to bring: Hat and sunscreen Time Out tip: You can get a coffee and a toilet break halfway through in the Opera House foyer Perhaps the only thing more gobsmacking than the Sydney Opera House itself is the story of how it came to be. For instance, did you know Jørn Utzon’s design wasn’t even shortlisted from among the 233 entries until the late arrival of the fourth judge, Eero Saarinen, who plucked it from the maybe pile? That Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe hated the design? The ironies pile up in this excellent walk, led by Eoghan Lewis, who in addition to being an architect and Opera House expert is an inspired storyteller. Lewis leads the walk around the iconic structure, while explaining the philosophy behind Utzon’s design (inspirations included Mayan ruins, birds, fish and walnuts). Go under and into the building to learn how the architect tackled problems like drainage and expansion; hear how the media first fawned over, then later castigated him; and discover how badly off the rails things went after Utzon was fired. ND Meeting point: Museum of Sydney, Cnr Phillip & Bridge Sts, Sydney 2000. 0403 888 390. www.sydneyarchitecture.org. 9.30am. $45-$59. Tue Jun 5.
Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney: Aboriginal Heritage Tour
Hours on your feet: 1.5 What to bring: Hat, camera and picnic blanket Time Out tip: Allow a bit of time to relax in the gardens afterwards to explore the Calyx Stingless bee colonies, climbing Moreton Bay fig trees and juicy Davidson plums are just a few of the natural wonders you’ll see and taste on this tour of Sydney’s harbourside horticultural oasis. You’ll wander through Farm Cove and learn about how the Gadigal people lived and worked with the seasons before the area was colonised. Time Out visits on a sunny Thursday morning, and our guide, Henrietta Baird, cheerfully imparts her knowledge of every plant, tree, flower and nut on the 1.5-hour tour. While this is a tour of beauty, you’ll also gain insight to the practical uses the flora is put to by Gadigal people. Soft yellow banksias can be used for maintaining embers and as a painting tool; candlenuts can be soaked and eaten or used for their multipurpose oil; paperbark is used for everything from wrapping food to swaddling babies; and those tall, thick Gymea lily stems were used to practice spearing, while the bases can be roasted and eaten. JK Meeting point: Garden Shop, Botanic Gardens Restaurant, Mrs Macquaries Rd, Sydney 2000. www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/whatson/aboriginalheritage-tour. Wed, Fri & Sat 10am. $41.
Bonza Bike Tours: Sydney Classic Tour
Hours on your bike: 4 What to bring: Camera/phone, comfortable clothing and footwear, hat, water and snacks. Bonza Bike Tours supply sunscreen Time Out tip: Take photos during the stops and during the walking parts of the journey Getting to know Sydney by pushbike can be a sweaty affair, but it’s worth the workout. We took to the saddle a for a 17km ride around Sydney with jovial tour guide, Brady. We rode from the Rocks up Observatory Hill, onto the Sydney Harbour Bridge, through Barangaroo Park and Darling Harbour, then past Mrs Macquarie’s Chair and all the way to the Sydney Opera House. The pace is pretty easy going even for kids and older folks. The guides liven up local history with some fun facts. Did you know Sydneysiders originally thought they’d have to drive over the arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge? Madness. At the halfway point, we stop at Sydney’s oldest continually licensed hotel, the Lord Nelson Brewery. There isn’t time for a feed, but there is time for beer, so pack snacks or grab nibbles from the shop next door. OG Meeting point: 30 Harrington St, Sydney 2000. 02 9247 8800. bonzabiketours.com. Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat 10.30am-2.30pm. $99-$119.
Culture Scouts: Inner West Tour
Hours on your feet: 3 What to bring: A water bottle (there’s a bubbler at the station), hat, camera, beer money Time Out tip: Encourage your guide to finish up at Young Henrys for a well earned thirst quencher You’ve heard of artists Numbskull, Lister and Skulk, but how many times have you stopped to look at their work? On Culture Scout’s walking tour of the Inner West, you learn a little more about the art you already know – like the heritage-listed ‘I Have a Dream’ mural (did you know one of the artists served time for murder?) – and about smaller tagging, stickering and vigilante paint jobs of Newtown and Enmore. Our guide Craig (aka Bunkwaa) points out artworks we may have missed, showing us Krispie’s handpainted cartoon stickers, artist Will Coles’ metallic gun, and pictures creatively painted inside grey squares left behind by council clean-ups on Goddard Street. But there’s also time to appreciate the works right under our noses, like Lister’s ballerinas on the Hub building, or ‘Save Our Coral Reef’ by Phibs and George Rose. EJ Meeting point: Newtown Station, Newtown 2042. www.culturescouts.com.au/innerwest-tour/. Thu-Sat 10am. $95. Check website for dates.
Diego Bonetto: Seaside Foraging Workshop
Hours on your feet: 3 What to bring: Camera, pen, windbreaker Time Out tip: Check out Diego’s Mushroom Foraging Tours and Oliver Brown’s Instagram feed for more delicacies from the wild Wild food expert Oliver Brown says, “The beach isn’t just about swimming between the flags and eating a Calippo on the way home.” Brown is one half of the duo behind the Seaside Foraging Tour in Clovelly, facilitated largely by the entertaining Diego Bonetto – a professional forager and edible weeds activist. The tour shows you that seaside snacks are growing in the surf fringes, lawns and rock platforms right where you swim. The workshop’s aim is to gift you with the knowledge to identify medicinal and edible plants growing all around us. We’re led around Gordons Bay to the Shark Point rock platform on the northern end of Clovelly. Diego and Oliver collect as we go and give information about the goods they’ve picked up. We taste everything, from tangy rock samphire to lemony dock leaves and freshly plucked urchin gonads. Delicious! CF Meeting point: Clovelly Rd, Clovelly 2031. 0411 293 178. www.diego bonetto.com/foragingtours/. 9am. $40. Check website for dates.
Barangaroo Aboriginal Walking Tour
Hours on your feet: 1.5 What to bring: Sunscreen, hat, comfy shoes Time Out tip: Get your hands dirty and experience the wide range of natural colours abundant in the ochre-rich sandstone In small groups led by one of several Aboriginal guides, you can explore Barangaroo Reserve, which sits on the edge of the harbour and has been redeveloped with over 75,000 native plants. History and wisdom are woven into humour and personal anecdotes from the tour guides. It’s a leisurely stroll, with many stops to touch, smell and taste the plants that have sustained communities that lived in harmony with the land. You’ll learn which plants can cure toothaches, repel mozzies, or be ground into flour for a sweet bread. EN Meeting point: Barangaroo Reserve, Sydney 2000. www.barangaroo.com. Tue-Sat 10.30am. $23.98-$38.92.
The tour shows you seaside snacks growing where you swim