The Sydney you haven’t seen
Wrestling with what to do in Sydney that you haven’t already done? From beehives to parkour, Ronan O’Connell has the buzz on the Emerald City’s lesser known attractions.
Beyond Sydney’s tourist-soaked sites such as the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, this Australian city hides a host of fascinating, offbeat travel experiences. Now that New Zealanders are free to visit Australia again, they can join in Sydney’s beekeeping craze, learn one of the world’s most outrageous sports, or visit a unique home that operates ‘‘off the grid’’. If they are not quirky enough, check out the wild theatrics of Sydney’s pro-wrestlers, or explore the secret garden inspired by the death of a controversial artist.
This is your unconventional guide to Sydney.
Beauty borne of tragedy
Perched on the edge of a pristine bay, with phenomenal views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney skyline, Wendy’s Secret Garden inhabits perhaps the finest location of any public park in the city. It is also intertwined with the remarkable tale of a fallen star.
Late last year, the Australian record for an art auction was broken by the late Brett Whiteley, who won many of Australia’s top art prizes before his illustrious career came to an abrupt and grim end in 1992, when he died from a heroin overdose, aged 53.
Devastated by the passing of her husband of 32 years, Wendy Whiteley channelled her grief into creating a tribute to him, and one of Sydney’s most unique tourist attractions. This garden overlooks the subject of Brett Whiteley’s record-breaking $6.1 million painting, Lavender Bay.
His ashes are buried in an undisclosed location within the garden, which is a labyrinthine space filled with shaded nooks, lush vegetation and unique sculptures. Sitting in the shade of the garden’s giant fig tree, peering through a web of plants at the harbour bridge in the distance, is a wonderfully relaxing experience.
The new buzz in Sydney
They’re doing it in backyards, offices, and even on rooftops. Participants in one of Sydney’s most unusual pastimes are finding there are many places they can tend to a beehive.
New South Wales has more than 5000 registered amateur beekeepers, who don full-body protective suits and masks to tend to their own hives.
The number of beekeepers in the region has more than doubled in the past decade, due partly to the advent of the Flow Hive, which lets you collect honey without the difficulty and danger of opening a hive, which can be home to thousands of bees.
This hobby is so popular that each month there are a number of beekeeping events open to the public, including workshops on urban beekeeping, classes on how climate change is affecting wild bee populations, and lessons on operating a Flow Hive.
The Sydney Bee Club also holds open days at the Randwick Community Centre, where visitors can learn the basics of beekeeping. Check the club’s website and eventbrite.com.au for event details.
Theatrical combat
It’s a journey that begins in Sydney warehouses and can end in front of sold-out stadiums in the United States. While the final destination is ultraglamorous, there’s a lot of pain and sacrifice for Sydney’s pro-wrestlers as they seek to become the next Hulk Hogan or The Rock.
Australia is popular with America’s top prowrestling organisations, such as WWE, and visitors can watch the next potential superstars at one of the city’s regular wrestling events.
Sydney’s International Wrestling Australia organisation has two major events coming up on
July 2 and July 10, the first in Kingsford and the second in St Johns Park. Tickets are available from the IWA website, iwawrestling.com.au.
Off the grid
The suffocating environment created by the coronavirus pandemic, which has triggered lockdowns and denied us global travel, has meant that a sense of space and freedom are more valued than ever. Perhaps then, Michael Mobbs was ahead of his time when he converted his Sydney home into an off-the-grid, self-sufficient property, which has become an unlikely tourist attraction.
Some 25 years ago, this former environmental lawyer turned his two-storey terrace home into one of Australia’s most eco-friendly properties.
The sewage, water and electricity in Mobbs’ home does not run through government networks, and is instead powered by enormous batteries, a bank of solar panels, and a rainwater tank.
He has a treatment system that recycles his dirty water, chickens that lay eggs in the backyard, an impressive mulching approach, and even some pet spiders. It takes just A$300 a year to run his home, Mobbs claims. He explains how it all works to participants of his regular one-hour house tours, which can be booked through his website, sustainablehouse.com.au.
Jumping over Sydney
They hop off roofs, run along ledges, climb up walls, vault off railings, and generally throw their bodies through the air with courage and abandon.
This is the daring style of parkour, one of the world’s most unusual sports, in which participants use the environment around them as a giant, 360-degree apparatus upon which to perform tricks.
A form of urban gymnastics, parkour has become increasingly popular in Sydney, particularly with young people. But all ages are welcome at Sydney’s parkour centres and events, where participants can learn how to leap, swing and balance while negotiating obstacle courses.
Sydney has two branches of Australia’s biggest parkour training centre, the Australian Academy of Parkour, Exercise and Self Defence – one in Botany and one in Chullora. Instructors will provide tips to newcomers and guide them on the safest ways to learn the extreme sport.
There’s also Moving Bodies parkour centre in Mt Kuring-Gai, which also offers ninja classes.
This story was published as part of an editorial partnership with Destination New South Wales.
New South Wales has more than 5000 registered amateur beekeepers, who don full-body protective suits and masks to tend to their own hives. The hobby is so popular that each month there are a number of beekeeping events open to the public.