The Sydney Help Thread

Right, so I have booked flights from New Zealand to Sydney, arriving on the 3rd of SEPTEMBER and leaving on the 20th of SEPTEMBER . From the 3rd to the 14th SEPTEMBER I will be in Singapore and then coming back to spend the rest of the time in Sydney.

Now, I need help from Sydney people ...

What to do and where to go .. and how to get about doing it
And to ask other questions such as where to find what and is [name] worth going to, or is [name] too far out of the way etc etc

Maybe we could organise a meet or something on the weekend.
Early days yet, but...


So, first question

Toys R Us stores ... seem to be the most limited and the most accesable to trains/boats/buses are those at: Bankstown, Cambelltown, Chatswood and Parramatta. How far from the CDB are we talking here via public transport, how far are those stores from the main public transport hubs (thinking train station here) and are other stores like Toyworld/Toy Kingdom/or whatever they are called, Big W, Kmart, Target in the same area or miles away - ie, all in the same mall, multiple malls or stand alone stops?

My thought is that TRU stores seem to be different based on other trips to Australia, while the other chains all seem to have the same stuff at the same time...

EDIT: Added the key words of SEPTEMBER to my post. Whoops, sorry about that.

Toys R Us in Penrith and Cambelltown are stand alone stores with nothing much nearby for toys and are a bit out of the way.
Campbelltown: 15 minute walk from the station in the complete opposite direction of the shopping center (so about 25-30 minutes if you want to go shopping afterwards.
Penrith: Best to catch a bus from Penrith station.
In the main part of Penrith and Cambelltown have shopping centers with the usual Target/Kmart/BigW/etc (and next to Campbelltown, Macarthur Square, which is better for stores then Campbelltown itself).

Parramatta, Liverpool, Chatswood, Hurstville and Miranda are all in Westfields so they have the usual Target/Kmart/BigW/etc in the same center.
All but Liverpool are about 5 minutes from the train, you have a 15 or so minute walk from Liverpool station to Westfields.

We don't have Toyworld in the Sydney metropolitan area as far as I know, but we do have a few Uncle Pete's Toys

Pity about the dates, the Parramatta Collectables Fair is on February 21th so it looks like you'd miss it.

There are a few months between Feb and September anyways..

Thanks for the insight so far.
Keep them coming :-)

lol, I wasn't sure what month you were travelling so I just mentioned the fair in case :p

As far as other stuff to do, you could go to Sydney Aquarium and Sydney Wildlife World next to it. They have a discount pass if you go to both.
If you didn't know, it's in Darling Harbour. You can get there by getting a train to Town Hall station and then riding the monorail to Darling Harbour.
Or you could go to Taronga Zoo. Catch a train to Circular Quay then catch a ferry to Taronga Zoo wharf to get there.
They have a pass that covers zoo entry as well as the ferry which aparently saves you 10%.

You could do the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. Catch a train to Circular Quay, then it's a short walk along George Street, then up Argyle Street to Cumberland Street.
And to finish up this post you could also visit the Australian National Maritime Museum or the Powerhouse Museum.
That's about all I can think of off the top of my head, though more might come to me later ;)

From the CBD the two most accessable TRU stores are Hurstville & Chatswood. Both are around 20 minutes (make sure you avoid the trains that terminate at Hurstville) and fairly close to their respective stations. Parramatta is a little further out and tends to run out of TFs fairly quickly, but is still quite accessable. Bankstown TRU is miles from the station. Trust me, you don't want to go there via PT.

aaaaw, cant you extend til the 22nd so you can at least come to the Parramatta toy fair on the 21st, and after that attend the mandatory minimeet-up? Shame:(

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Originally Posted by liegeprime

aaaaw, cant you extend til the 22nd so you can at least come to the Parramatta toy fair on the 21st, and after that attend the mandatory minimeet-up? Shame:(

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September people, SEPTEMBER!

Whoops, as I typed this I had not seen that I had failed to mention September in the first post. I thought I had .. but yeah..

Sorry

The Moore Park TRU is accessible by buses and would take about the same time as getting to Chatswood or Hurstville. TRU's can often be empty, the Parramatta and Chatswood stores in particular can be graveyards for weeks.

There are a few stores in Chinatown that carry Transformers, but they either deal in KO's or over inflate their prices.

don't forget kinokuyna or whatever the hell it's called does have some statues and TPB's. There's also kings for more statues and comics.

Well, just spent 3hrs (maybe a bit more) making a custom Google map of Sydney to plot all the TRU, Big W, Kmart, Target, Uncle Pete's, JB Hi Fi, David Jones and Myer stores.

This was in order to see what area had the greatest contribution of stores, and to see exactly where they were and how close to the train stations they are.

Now I need to collate that information into a list of places that I need to go to (timing permitting) and how I get there and what type of bus/train ticket I need to purchase.

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Originally Posted by Zippo

Well, just spent 3hrs (maybe a bit more) making a custom Google map of Sydney to plot all the TRU, Big W, Kmart, Target, Uncle Pete's, JB Hi Fi, David Jones and Myer stores.

This was in order to see what area had the greatest contribution of stores, and to see exactly where they were and how close to the train stations they are.

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Can you share that custom google map? It would be useful to other visitors (I'm heading to Sydney later this year too) and also to the other Sydney fans.

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Originally Posted by Paulbot

Can you share that custom google map? It would be useful to other visitors (I'm heading to Sydney later this year too) and also to the other Sydney fans.

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ooh do tell Paulbot, up for another Parra Fair and post fair OTCA meet-up ?:):)

Possibly, and although I've been to Sydney several times, I'm still confused by the train system ticketing so I look forward to seeing the answers to Zippo's latest question.

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Originally Posted by Paulbot

Possibly, and although I've been to Sydney several times, I'm still confused by the train system ticketing so I look forward to seeing the answers to Zippo's latest question.

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it's based on distance travelled, the rumour going around is that by mid year ticketing will be similar to Melbourne, I.E. based on zones rather then distance travelled

Zippo: Please please please do organise a fan meet while you're in Sydney!! Many of us have known you for so long online but never met IRL.

We haven't had an international fan meet in Sydney since 2002 either. :)

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Originally Posted by Zippo

Now I need to collate that information into a list of places that I need to go to (timing permitting) and how I get there and what type of bus/train ticket I need to purchase.

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Wouldn't mind seeing that map myself, just make sure to check the map against the stores own list of stores (unless that is how you did it) as I have had an occasion or two where GMaps has said a place is somewhere but it wasn't.
It might just be easiest if you got a "Daytripper". That pretty much covers every Sydney area train station shown on the first map in the link below.

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Originally Posted by fatbot

the rumour going around is that by mid year ticketing will be similar to Melbourne, I.E. based on zones rather then distance travelled

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Well it's already partly got a zoned system if you use TravelPass: http://www.cityrail.info/tickets/commuter/travelpass

All I did was go to the stores website, and copy the address given into Maps and then add a pin to identify it.

Map as it is, CDB is not finished yet:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UT...2f62fb31b41bb6

Looking at a Travelpass ticket. Seems cheap enough at $68 for a weeks travel.

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Originally Posted by Zippo

Looking at a Travelpass ticket. Seems cheap enough at $68 for a weeks travel.

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Yeah, the purple should do fine, I think that covers it all.
Some errors with a few of the locations (example, Campbelltown and Macarthur Target are in different locations then the ones on your map)
but we can all go over it once you have finished and input everything that you want.

Question - I had a look on the AU Post website for opening hours of CBD based post offices. None seem to be open on the weekend, which means I will have to be organised on Thursday and Friday to post things back, though I didn't plan on going out to the 'burbs till Friday to actually shop.

So, any know if there are post offices around the CBD that are open on Saturday at least? Thanks

The one on Martin Place is open on Saturday morning.

I thought post offices were open on Saturdays til 12 only, hmm guess its a per branch thing...my local one surely is open til that time

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Originally Posted by liegeprime

I thought post offices were open on Saturdays til 12 only, hmm guess its a per branch thing...my local one surely is open til that time

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that depends if the local one is own by auspost or a franchisee. Most franchisee opens on saturday till midday, whereas austpost don't regardless of how busy the local area is (happy to be corrected)

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Originally Posted by Saintly

(happy to be corrected)

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Doubt you will be, that is my understanding of their operation

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Originally Posted by Saintly

that depends if the local one is own by auspost or a franchisee. Most franchisee opens on saturday till midday, whereas austpost don't regardless of how busy the local area is (happy to be corrected)

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You are almost correct, a number of franchises will open from 9am to noon on Saturday but some do close earlier like my local one which closes at 11am. It just depends on the actual franchisee.