The ultimate Sydney staycation: opera, art, music, dining
A night at the opera, a revolutionary musical, art, fine food and some surprise discoveries — what more could you want?
The view of Circular Quay and the Sydney Harbour Bridge from a 10th-floor balcony at Pullman Quay Grand is like one of those panoramic postcards so popular years ago. You know the ones — long and crisp, sometimes with a 3-D effect to make everything shimmer and shine on a tilt. It’s a week after NSW’s devastating deluge in late March, the sun is shining like a glorious benediction and Sydney the showgirl city is putting her best foot forward.
I’ve lived in Sydney on and off since my last years of primary school and have worked in the inner city for 30 years yet still find unknown corners to explore, discoveries to make, vistas to enthral. This two-night escapade is about looking closely, considering Sydney anew, making the most of the staycation concept that has taken on fresh relevance during the past 12 months. With this well-located hotel as my base, the aim is to wander and wonder, but not stray too far.
Pullman Quay Grand is an Accor property and accommodation comes with a well-conceived kitchen, laundry, tons of space and furnished balcony facing west to the harbour proper or east to Garden Island with side glimpses of the Sydney Opera House. The latter category also overlooks the Royal Botanic Garden, which is fortuitous if you’re booked, as I am, for Opera Australia’s open-air La Traviata. Step across Macquarie Street and advance, literally, down the garden path to the harbourside event site at Fleet Steps, Mrs Macquaries Point. Twilight gilds the bounty of this flourishing oasis to the brightest of greens. There are joggers, power walkers, pram-pushers and idlers out and about at the magical hour before nightfall. I pass wildflower meadows, bunyas and palms, bushy bundles being swallowed as shadows lengthen. I tap along in “evening heels” as one should dress up, even a bit, for the opera, but secretly want to skip with delight. It’s a flawless performance with the Sydney Harbour Bridge backdrop gleaming like a painted scrim and even when a chorus of fruit bats becomes an unwanted part of the act, the audience just smiles knowingly. “That’s Sydney for you,” says the chap behind me.
Next morning I am back in proper footwear, following a different path towards the Art Gallery of NSW, past another array of plantings, the tallest and spikiest of which seem to be pointing at the cranes, spires and jagged edges of construction sites in this northeast end of the city. “It’s all about infrastructure,” as state politicians like to remind the voters. Turning my back on the jackhammers and traffic, it’s an easy stroll to Botanic House, a newish conservatory-like restaurant lapped by vegetation where Australian-Vietnamese culinary star Luke Nguyen oversees the dining offerings. It’s a casual but pretty place and as airy as a birdcage. The $69-a-head tasting menu unfolds in perfectly sized proportions across eight courses, with the option of adding the likes of a basket of crab and scallop dumplings. I wonder if it isn’t one of Sydney’s best-kept food experiences? The Asian experience is then extended along another leafy detour as I pass such botanic exotica as pink bananas and sacred lotuses.
Afternoon tea? A few more laps of the garden are required before buttermilk lemon scones at the casual Crafted by Matt Moran at the Art Gallery of NSW, freshly opened on the site of the super-chef’s former Chiswick at the Gallery. My waiter is from Costa Rica and he proudly points out his country’s official slogan, Pura Vida, tattooed on his arm. We talk of sloths and humming birds as the afternoon light shines in. “You don’t need to ask for a table with a view,” he points out. He’s right. All the big windows frame blues and greens and scudding clouds. On show at the gallery is The National 2021: New Australian Art, a biennial survey of contemporary works, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pieces, that reaches across Carriageworks and the Museum of Contemporary Art. The big news is the expansion of the main art gallery under the umbrella of the Sydney Modern Project, an annexe due to be unveiled by the end of 2022, which will double the space to house collections and show international exhibitions. Designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of Japanese architectural firm SANAA, the expansion will feature indoor-outdoor pavilions following the topography of a site that flows towards Woolloomooloo and incorporates the transformation of a historic oil tank into an art space.
There’s much to consider, and kilojoules to be burned, on my stroll back to Pullman Quay Grand to further explore what could be called the “history quarter” beside and behind Circular Quay, virtually on the doorstep of the heritage Rocks precinct. At the Museum of Contemporary Art, I’m keen to see the latest iteration of Vincent Namatjira’s 15m-long foyer wall mural, alive with the reds and oranges of desert country, which was unveiled in February. Look closely at the “cameo” depictions of his Indigenous heroes to spy his great-grandfather Albert Namatjira, AFL player Adam Goodes, land-rights activist Eddie Mabo and boxer Lionel Rose.
Then up the hill a bit to the corner of Bridge and Phillip streets, where Museum of Sydney, one of the Living Museums group’s 12-strong assembly of historic sites, is always a delight to visit. It’s a smallish facility that tends to fly under the cultural radar but every exhibit and moment counts here, from special showings to permanent acquisitions such as detailed displays around First Fleet ships and passengers. Be sure to pause in the forecourt and consider it’s built on the foundations of Sydney’s first government house and the 29 engraved timber pillars to the western side form a sculptural piece by Janet Laurence and Fiona Foley. Titled Edge of the Trees, the soaring installation signifies first contact between Gadigal people and the British in 1788 and harks to 29 native clan groups. Even the materials and textures are imbued with meaning — sandstone and wood for country; steel for the built environment — and embedded organic materials are inset in windows, including shells, human hair, feathers and bones.
Then there’s Hamilton, the most talked-about stage production in recent history. It’s newly opened at Lyric Theatre Sydney in Pyrmont and is the talk of the city. The applause rings in my ears for days. The entire audience, all in chic black masks supplied on the night, stands for an ovation that lasts until everyone drops from roaring and shouting and whooping. It feels as if we’re emerging from an era of prohibition, allowed to gather and celebrate and kick up our heels.
Before leaving the city next morning for the train trip north to my coastal home, I return to the MCA for breakfast at its rooftop cafe, where outdoor tables are filling fast, hearty serves of smashed avocado on toast are flying off the kitchen pass and talk at neighbouring tables is all about visiting the open-air gin festival “on the rocks” being held just down below on the west concourse of Circular Quay. Here’s looking at you, Sydney.
In the know
La Traviata’s season ends on April 25. Hamilton’s Australian season opened at Sydney Lyric Theatre on March 27.
The National 2021 is at the Art Gallery of NSW until September 5, at Carriageworks to June 20 and the MCA to August 2021
Susan Kurosawa was a guest of Destination NSW.
