Gold Coast Travel: Sydney rocks – with style

AUSTRALIA’S oldest city has something for everyone from the opera house to the nation’s oldest pub and a book shop with its own art gallery.

Neil Finn of Crowded House performs during their 20th anniversary show at the Sydney Opera House.

EVERYWHERE you go, you always take the weather with you, and never has that been more true of Sydney late last month.

Australia’s oldest city turned on its finest weather in late November for the triumphant return of beloved band Crowded House to the Sydney Opera House.

The Neil Finn-fronted Australia/New Zealand outfit played a series of open-air live shows on the steps of the Opera House from November 24-27 to mark 20 years since they originally dissolved.

Crowds gather ahead of Crowded House performing their 20th anniversary show at the Sydney Opera House.

In November 1996, the band made history by playing the first ever gig outside the opera house with its now iconic Farewell to the World concert.

That concert, which was shown live on television across the world, attracted more than 100,000 people to watch the final appearance of the band’s line up in pouring rain.

But 2016 was a different story, with warm evenings and not a drop of rain as the boys walked out on stage dressed as Gregorian monks to the roars of more than 5000 fans and launched into the famous opening lines of Mean to Me.

Neil Finn of Crowded House performs during their 20th anniversary show at the Sydney Opera House.

With a guest appearance from one-time band member Tim Finn and amid flying bras and paper planes, Crowded House worked through some of its biggest hits including Weather With You, It’s Only Natural, Fall at your Feat, Pineapple Head and of course, Don’t Dream It’s Over.

It is the third major event the opera house has hosted this year following the Vivid Festival, which featured headline act New Order, as well as a November appearance by The Simpsons creator Matt Groening.

Nick Seymour of Crowded House performs during their 20th anniversary show at the Sydney Opera House.

But Sydney’s CBD has plenty to offer for tourists looking for attractions both old and new.

In The Rocks, one of Sydney’s oldest areas, there is plenty of exciting and new features among its historic buildings, some of which date back to the founding of Sydney in 1788.

Located next to Circular Quay, the Rocks features modern accommodation such as the Rendezvous Stafford Hotel, just metres away from The Argyle, a modern dining and party precinct built into a 19th century era storage facility.

Behind the bar at El Camino Cantina.

Among them is the highly popular El Camino Cantina Mexican restaurant which gives diners a view of the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House.

The gentrification and repurposing of older buildings has given the area a great deal of its character, with long-running business such as the Pancakes on the Rocks continuing to operate after more than 40 years.

Also located in the area is the nation’s oldest pub, the Fortune of War, which opened in 1828.

The close location of the Rocks to the Sydney heavy rail system means visitors staying in the area have close access to many of the city’s most popular locations, including Darling Harbour, the Queen Victoria Building and the Airport.

The public bar of the Fortune Of War.

The historic Queen Victoria Building dates back to 1898 and was named for the reigning British Monarch of the day.

It, and its neighbouring building, the Galeries, feature a range of major retailers and locations including the famous Japanese bookshop Kinokunyia.

The bookshop has been in the city for 20 years and features both an in-house art gallery and a collection of books, comics and other items.