Essential Secret Guide to Sydney Ahead of the Australian University Games

With the Australian University Games set to land in Sydney on Sunday 28 September, students from 42 Australian Universities will converge on Sydney to compete in over 30 sports around the city.

• Upstairs at Newtown’s The Marlborough is Miss Peaches Soul Food Kitchen, serving up steaming gumbos and other Deep South fare
• Check out Australian steakhouse restaurant, Hogs Breath Café, Pyrmontfor an exclusive University Games $9.90 meal deal
• Behind an unmarked door in a laneway on Mary Street in Newtown, you’ll find Mary’s, the hot new bar and burger joint that Sydneysiders are flocking to
• Brooklyn Social, Surry Hills’ new neighbourhood dive bar and diner serving fast food and music from midday till late
• Yum cha at the Sydney Fish Market – Gathering around a lazy-Susan for a relaxed weekend morning’s feed is a great Sydney tradition. For a break from the Chinatown and Chatswood classics, hit Fisherman’s Wharf, where you can enjoy prawn dumplings, silken wontons and pork buns from a vantage atop the fish market, overlooking the city’s fishing fleet

• Visit Cargo Bar, one of Sydney’s most famous bars and Home Nightclubone of the largest nightclubs in Sydney for a fun filled enjoyable night out at Kings Street Wharf
• A glamorous urban oasis right in the heart of the city. Each Saturday Pashatakes over all ten bars at ivy and its surrounding laneways offering weird and wonderful roving entertainment – think circus, dance, acrobatics and street performers   
• Why not explore the emerging small bar scene in Sydney and check outGrandma’s. Located down an innocuous basement in the CBD, Grandma’s is a relaxed and welcoming venue specialising in tiki/rum style cocktails

• My Walking Detour has launched a new full day guided walking tour along a spectacular stretch of harbour foreshore
• Fantasea Bondi Boat, twice daily Sydney Harbour adventure cruise that will take you to see amazing views of Bondi Beach
• Snorkel with sharks at SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium. A new one-of-a-kind experience that will bring guests up close and personal with some of the ocean’s most amazing creatures
• Eat and drink through Sydney’s emerging small bar scene on a Two Feet and a Heartbeat walking tour
• Learn more about Sydney’s famous Sydney Opera House on The Essential Tour, a one-hour tour that explores inside the World Heritage-listed ‘House’
• Learn about Sydney’s indigenous history on The Rocks Dreaming Tour
• Spend a day at Sydney’s iconic city beach – Bondi Beach. Take part in a surfing lesson with Let’s Go Surfing, a team of friendly professional teachers to show you how to catch a wave coming in from the blue Pacific. Set in the grounds of the local public school on Campbell Parade, Bondi markets is ideal for finding that little something to take home a little piece of Sydney’s beach culture.
• Go horse-riding in Centennial Park in the heart of the city. Other popular activities in this vast green space include roller blading and bike riding
• Browse The Rocks Markets for jewellery, art and craft made by passionate local people and if it’s a Friday, you’ll find The Rocks Foodies Market,packed with locally made treats
• Buy produce direct from the farmer at Eveleigh Markets, held every Saturday selling direct to the public
• With so many great museums in Sydney, the new Sydney Museums Passmakes it easy to experience Sydney’s fascinating heritage, combining four of Sydney’s most unique museums into the one pass. They include Museum of Sydney, on the site of the first Government House; Hyde Park Barracks Museum, a UNESCO World Heritage listed convict site;Susannah Place Museum, Sydney’s last surviving example of a simple working-class terrace row; and Justice & Police Museum, Sydney’s home of crime